What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 2 in Philadelphia on Saturday? Here’s a thing or five …
1. Watch out, Gaethje gonna get you
To borrow a line from Sheriff Teasle: Whatever possessed God in heaven to make a man like Justin Gaethje? This guy, he fights like he owes a debt that can only be repaid in pain and blood – yours or his, it doesn’t matter. He’s just going to keep walking forward until a sufficient amount of human damage has been done. And he’s actually going to enjoy it, in his own way.
You’d think maybe Edson Barboza would be equipped to deal with that. He’s a veteran fighter. He can win a technical striking battle but he can also go all blood-and-guts when he has to. But then Gaethje baited him into a slugfest and Barboza couldn’t say no. He was also so busy trying to get free of that Gaethje pressure that he forgot to keep his hands up on the way out. Next stop: the land of wind and ghosts.
Now Gaethje has two straight wins after suffering those two straight losses and we find ourselves once again wondering what to make of him. Is he legit championship material, or is he just a Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robot come to life? In a perfect world, maybe he could even be both.
2. A guillotine choke that’s just tricky enough to suit its owner
He locks it up from an unconventional angle, and finishes it from an unconventional position. But once Jack Hermansson slaps it on you, that modified guillotine choke is nothing but trouble.
Don’t look now, but “The Joker” has won three in a row all while looking like the kind of guy who ought to get eaten alive in the UFC’s middleweight division. Now he’s submitted David Branch and is out here talking about, well, not exactly a title shot, but at least a fight that will move him closer to it. Little by little, that idea seems somehow less insane.
3. A triumph and a heartbreak – all with one punch
Imagine being Josh Emmett. You come back after a year away and some scary health issues, the kind that force you to reckon with the high stakes of this particular sport. You go up against a tough out like Michael Johnson, and you don’t get off to the greatest of starts. You’ve got less than a minute to go before you find out whether or not the judges were sufficiently impressed with you. Then you land one clean right hand and, never mind, you don’t have to worry about them after all.
What a moment. What a relief. What ecstatic joy.
Now imagine you’re Johnson and you go from feeling like you’re just seconds away from a third straight win to feeling confused about why the crowd is suddenly cheering so loudly while the ref hovers over you.
What bad luck. What a bad deal. What a way to end another night in MMA, where the highs have an almost pharmaceutical power to them and the lows just rip your heart right out of your chest on live TV.
4. The Waterson push pays off
Both ESPN and the UFC got behind Michelle Waterson in a big way before this fight with Karolina Kowalkiewicz, but then came the hard part – winning when the pressure was on.
Historically, that’s been where it gets tricky for Waterson, who has all the makings of a star if not for some key stumbles at key moments. This time, though, she found a way to get it done with a unanimous decision victory. That’s three in a row for a fighter who’s undersized for the weight class, but who seemingly everyone would like to see succeed. Here’s where things could get really serious soon. As in, title shot serious. Then the pressure will really be on.
5. No idea what Craig is saying, but I know you want no piece of his ground game
Seriously, who doesn’t know this one thing about Paul Craig at this point? Who doesn’t know that, while he seems at times plodding and predictable on the feet, and while American audiences will understand no more than two or three words of every 10 the Scotsman speaks in interviews, you don’t want to let that man grab onto you on the ground.
Nope, not even when he’s on his back. Certainly not when you’re up on the scorecard, cruising toward a decision victory. That’s the absolute worst time to go messing around with him in the grappling department. So why does anyone still do it?
I don’t have an answer. I’d ask him for his opinion, but I’m going to need an interpreter first.
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN 2, check out the UFC Eventssection of the site.
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