What mattered most at UFC on ESPN+ 31 in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. Derek Brunson fights back
The storylines leading up to Derek Brunson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan were all too familiar: The veteran who has fought all the best middleweights over the past decade against the beloved undefeated prospect who was perfectly placed to break through.
However, unlike a similar situation he found himself in against Israel Adesanya at UFC 230 in November 2018, Brunson did not succumb to the touted prospect in their main event showdown.
Brunson managed to avoid any serious danger against Shahbazyan and break the 22-year-old down en route to a third-round TKO. The difference in composure and fight tactics backed by experience were obvious in Brunson’s favor as the fight wore on, and that set up his third consecutive win.
At 36, it’s hard to know what Brunson can do in a 185-pound division that’s quickly becoming one of the hottest in the UFC. He’s done a lot of great things in the octagon, but has never reached a title shot. He deserves a chance to move in that direction with his current success, and that means a fight where he has more to gain than lose both in terms of ranking and name value.
2. Heartbreak for Joanne Calderwood
Joanne Calderwood deserved credit for taking a short-notice fight with Jennifer Maia when she already had a title fight seemingly locked up. Given her first-round submission loss, though, the decision feels terrible in hindsight.
Calderwood appeared to be well aware of the risks of her choice. She gave an honest take of her motivation pre-fight, claiming she didn’t want to be inactive for more than a year before challenging Valentina Shevchenko and she was simply itching to fight. All of that is fair, and if she’d won, a matchup with the champion would’ve been bigger. But now she’s in a rough spot.
Looking at the bright side, UFC president Dana White offered nothing but praise for Calderwood both before and after her loss. Her relationship with the UFC brass appears solid from the outside looking in, and that could mean a shorter road back her previous position.
As history shows, though, there are no guarantees. Calderwood’s road to a potential title fight was turbulent, but in reality, she was only on a one-fight winning streak and just happened to be the best option available for Shevchenko. With the 125-pound division growinging by the day, it’s going to be a challenge to secure that spot again. Her fate is in her own hands, though, and winning going forward will solve everything.
3. Vicente Luque earns another shot
Vicente Luque is one of the most consistent finishers in the UFC. It’s actually quite amazing. His knockout of Randy Brown marked the 11th stoppage in his 12 UFC wins, which is a remarkable rate on this level.
Dissecting Luque’s resume it would be fair to say he’s been able to put away anyone who he is relatively or clearly superior to. It’s when he goes up against the people on the next level that he can’t find that same success.
Luque has just two losses in his past 14 UFC fights. Those came to two-time title challenger Stephen Thompson and top welterweight contender Leon Edwards, who both beat Luque on the scorecards.
He clearly wasn’t ready for those fights then, but perhaps he is now. Luque is just 28 and he is doing all the right things to get back to the opportunities where he failed before. It might not happen next fight, but if Luque continues to beat opponents as he’s been doing, his chance to fight top competition is going to come back around.
4. Classless Kevin Holland
Kevin Holland revels in his “Big Mouth” moniker, but he would’ve been better off just keeping his mouth shut on this one.
After Trevin Giles fainted just moments before he was set to walk out to the octagon for his middleweight main card opened, Holland came backstage and spoke to reporters. It was there where he accused Giles of “holding his breath” so he’d intentionally pass out and get out of the fight.
Not a great look.
We don’t know exactly what caused Giles to collapse out of nowhere and force the commission to call his fight, but either way, you’d hope for some more class.
The point could easily be raised Holland is just doing his part to keep the storyline of a fight going in case he meets Giles down the line. However, he could have pushed that narrative a little differently.
5. A historic draw
The card opened with a bit of UFC history when Chris Gutierrez and Cody Durden fought to a unanimous draw. It wasn’t the first unanimous draw that’s ever happened, but it’s the first that did not include a point deduction.
On paper, it’s pretty straight forward. Durden had a strong first round with a lot of grappling control time and, under the newer set of unified rules, warranted a 10-8 round. The second and third were relatively standard 10-9 rounds for Durden. The result? 28-28 scores across the board.
It is pretty surprising this has never happened before, though. And it gives me a headache trying to figure out why. We don’t need to go into the painstaking details of why Durden’s prolonged grappling control gets a 10-8 when Gutierrez only gets 10-9 scores for damage inflicted in the other rounds. We know this judging criteria is highly flawed and scoring isn’t equal.
It might’ve been a first in UFC history, but it likely won’t be the last. With 10-8 rounds being handed out more frequently of late, fights where one side has that strong round then loses the other two are going to become more commonplace. So, get ready for that.
