What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. MMA forever remains ridiculous
That main event between Jairzinho Rozenstruik (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and Alistair Overeem (45-18 MMA, 10-7 UFC) encapsulated everything that makes this sport so unpredictably wild.
After more than 24 minutes of forgettable fight time between the heavyweights, fans inside Capital One Arena started to hit the exits in sizable doses. Even I was convinced the fight had given us everything we were going to see, but then a ho-hum affair turned into one of the most memorable outcomes of the year in the span of one punch.
Not only did Rozenstruik score the third-latest stoppage in UFC history with his leaping left hand that finished Overeem with just four-seconds left in Round 5, but the impact of the blow led to the one of the nastiest injuries in recent memory.
Overeem’s lip was split open in sickening fashion by Rozenstruik. It’s perhaps the worst injury of its kind in the sport’s history, largely erasing the fact that main event wasn’t all that great before the finishing blow.
2. Not Dan Miragliotta’s finest hour
Veteran Dan Miragliotta is seemingly finding himself in the midst of more and more controversies of late, and that’s not the reputation anyone in his position should want to have.
After getting in hot water with the public for displaying personal bias against Bellator fighter Michael Page not long ago, Miragliotta found himself as part of the narrative for not one, but two bouts in Washington.
The conversation he had with Stefan Struve after the heavyweight absorbed his second low blow from Ben Rothwell was absolutely inappropriate. There’s no situation where it’s OK for a referee to tell a fighter his opinion on where things stand on the scorecards in the middle of a bout, but that’s what he did during his speech to Struve. It’s really not a great look.
Then there was the main event. Given how badly Rozenstruik’s punch ripped Overeem’s lip open, I’m glad “The Reem” didn’t take another shot to the face after getting dropped. On the merits of the actual fight-ending sequence, though, there’s some debate to be had. It was not even close to the worst stoppage we’ve seen, but Overeem did pop back up quite fast after the knockdown and, for all we know, could’ve evaded Rozenstruik for those final four ticks on the clock.
Miragliotta shouldn’t receive major heat for making a split-second judgement call in the headliner. That’s the job, and it’s not an easy one. His decision-making coming into question is not rare, though, and that’s obviously not ideal.
3. Stefan Struve came back for this?
There had to be multiple moments while Struve (29-11 MMA, 13-9 UFC) rolled around in agony after taking not one, but two low blows from Rothwell, that he questioned why he came out of retirement.
Struve hung up his gloves this year after a triumphant performance in Europe, where the Dutchman hails. It felt like a perfect ending, but then, like most MMA retirements, Struve waved it off and came back less than 10 months later.
His consequence for that decision? A loss that saw him take serious trauma to the groin and another stoppage loss because of shots to the head. It’s one of those results which could be utterly deflating and sap Struve’s will to compete, and it’d be hard to blame him if he chose to retire a second time.
4. Goodbye, Thiago Alves?
It feels pretty likely that Thiago Alves’ (23-15 MMA, 15-12 UFC) opening-round submission loss to Tim Means (29-11-1 MMA, 11-8 UFC) marked the end of his UFC tenure. For the first time in more than 14 years since signing with the UFC, “The Pitbull” is set to become a free agent.
Alves joined the promotion in 2005 and told me pre-fight that he’s never completely fought out his contract and would always renew before expiring. That didn’t happen this time around, though, and now Alves can test his market value.
Whether the UFC even attempts to retain Alves’ services remains to be seen. The former welterweight title challenger has lost six of his past eight,and it seems beating top-level talent is not something he’s quite capable of anymore.
Alves had one very decorated career inside the octagon. He fought for UFC gold, stepped in the cage more times than anyone in 170-pound history (26), landed the knockdowns in welterweight history (13), got the second-most knockouts (eight) and more.
The Brazilian said earlier this year that retirement was on the horizon for him sooner than later, because he intends to have a second career as a police officer. Perhaps the outcome of the fight with Means caused him to accelerate that timeline, but Alves could hold real value to organizations like Bellator, PFL and Rizin FF, so him landing at one of those spots on a sweetheart deal seems more likely.
5. Bryce Mitchell steals the show
Storylines were aplenty coming out of the card. Aspen Ladd rebounded from her first loss with one of the best corner-advice-to-fight-execution moments I’ve ever seen, Rob Font finally put consecutive wins together again and Makhmud Muradov sent Trevor Smith’s mouthguard flying into press row with one punch.
None of that compares, though, to the work of “Thug Nasty” Bryce Mitchell (12-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), who pulled off just the second twister submission finish in UFC history, making Matt Sayles (8-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) his victim.
It’s hard to overstate what a win like that can do for a prospect like Mitchell. He already has the personality and the undefeated record, but now he has a legitimately memorable highlight-reel moment on his resume. The finish went viral, and the added notoriety is only going to help raise the tide of his career from all angles.
