What mattered most Saturday night at UFC on ESPN 4 in San Antonio? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. Leon Edwards is legit … but in an unfortunate spot
Look, here’s the deal with Leon Edwards (18-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC): He’s obviously very good at this fighting thing, which he’s proven over an eight-fight winning streak, with the last three against Rafael dos Anjos, Gunnar Nelson and Donald Cerrone being particularly impressive.
Unfortunately, he’s not yet captivated the masses with his work. Saturday’s unanimous decision over dos Anjos was his first career victory in the U.S., and all but one of his previous wins has been tucked away quietly on UFC Fight Pass or ESPN+ streaming events.
When you’re trying to argue for a title shot, as Edwards is, that lack of exposure certainly doesn’t help the cause. Moreover, Edwards is in a division ripe with talent and currently includes multiple legitimate title challenger options in addition to himself.
In another weight class, an eight-fight winning streak would probably secure a title shot. Edwards is stuck competing with the likes of Jorge Masvidal, Colby Covington, Robbie Lawler, and Tyron Woodley for the next shot at Kamaru Usman, though, and it’s hard to see a scenario where the UFC selects “Rocky” over any of those names.
Right now Edwards’ resume is up there with any other contender at 170 pounds. He absolutely deserves respect, because while his skills seem to be up there among the best, his lack of popularity could prevent him from getting what he wants. And that’s just the sad reality of the today’s MMA landscape.
2. Are we finally writing off Rafael dos Anjos?
At this point, dos Anjos’ (29-12 MMA, 18-10 UFC) dream of capturing a second UFC title in a second weight class appears right about dead. You couldn’t give him too tough a time for losing to Usman or Covington, but the defeat against Edwards had a slightly different vibe to it.
Outside of an elbow that opened a nasty cut around his eye, dos Anjos was never really in danger against Edwards. That’s the problem, though, because the Brazilian couldn’t create any opportunities for himself to open up a path to victory, which is an ability he’s shown throughout his career.
Dos Anjos will remain a serviceable welterweight contender for a while longer. He’ll probably main event more cards and might even put together another run that gets him on the cusp of title contention. With his 35th birthday approaching, though, this feels like the back end of dos Anjos’ career. We’ll see what he can do with it, but at 1-3 in his past four, the next one is big.
3. Greg Hardy ain’t going nowhere
After picking up his second UFC win in three promotional appearances, it’s time to come to terms that the Greg Hardy experiment is no longer an experiment at all. He has etched out a spot on the UFC roster, and all signs point to it staying that way for the foreseeable future.
It’s not yet time – and may never be time – to normalize Hardy’s place in the octagon. His often-discussed and highly controversial past should be included in every conversation and story about him, but clearly the UFC has accepted it. It even used that history as the key narrative going into Saturday’s fight with Juan Adams.
Adams failed to live up to any of his words about outclassing Hardy, and that’s because “The Prince of War” appears to be getting a pretty good grip on what to do when the cage door locks. It’s obvious from watching that Hardy is still green in many areas, but his size, athleticism and power cannot be denied.
Hardy (5-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has put the right people around him at American Top Team and is quite clearly taking the sport as seriously as he can. Will that lead to UFC championship level success that he is already talking about just six fights into his pro career? Only time will tell, but unless he has a slip-up outside the octagon, the UFC is intent on giving Hardy a platform to find out.
4. Dan Hooker might have limits, but he sure is fun
Seventeen of his 18 career victories are by stoppage, including all nine of his UFC wins. These aren’t the numbers of a heavyweight. No, it’s the resume of lightweight Dan Hooker, who again showed his highlight-reel potential with a blistering first-round knockout of James Vick.
Hooker (18-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC) kept his 100 percent UFC stoppage rate alive when he absolutely laid out Vick in an important fight for his career. After going 4-0 since moving up from featherweight, Hooker was dismantled by Edson Barboza this past winter in a fight where he showed an almost worrying amount of toughness before being stopped.
Not every fighter can bounce back from such a beating, but Hooker did in resounding fashion against Vick. The New Zealander has a lot of work to do before being looked at seriously as a title contender at 155 pounds, but even if he never gets there, his journey is going to be filled with many more entertaining fights and finishes. He’s just that dude.
5. Andrei Arlovski defies logic
Andrei Arlovski is legitimately one of the most puzzling cases in MMA history. Not in any sort of quirky way, or that he hasn’t lived up to potential. It’s mainly because he defies the logic of a fighter with his age and experience.
“The Pitbull” (28-18 MMA, 17-12 UFC) has been through losing skids of four or more fights on three separate occasions during his career. He was back in that situation again going into his rematch with Ben Rothwell, and not only did he win, but he set a new single-fight record for a three round UFC heavyweight fight with 152 significant strikes landed in the bout. Those are ridiculous numbers for any heavyweight, but for a 40-year-old? Absurd.
What allowed Arlovski to throw that output at Rothwell was the fact his chin held up on the other end. Arlovski has been knocked out 10 times in his career and for a period was ridiculed for having perhaps the “worst chin” in the division. Francis Ngannou is the only person to stop him in the past three years, though, and given the power “The Predator” carries, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Arlovski is very unlikely to reclaim the UFC heavyweight belt he first captured in February 2005, but to definitely state he’s incapable of anything would be foolish. He’s been left for dead time after time, but somehow here we still are reflecting on a winning performance on the Sunday after a UFC event.
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN 4, check out the UFC Results.
