UFC 301 saw Alexandre Pantoja retain his UFC flyweight title, Jose Aldo continue to be hailed as the GOAT, and Michel Pereira maintain his winning streak, despite concerns that Pantoja may be past his prime.
UFC 301 is now history. Alexandre Pantoja remains the UFC flyweight champ, Jose Aldo is still the GOAT, and Michel Pereira continues to rock. Let’s dissect the aftermath of UFC’s recent Brazil expedition and what’s next.
Alexandre Pantoja, still the reigning UFC flyweight champion, prompts questions. A tweet from Russell Westbrook (@beer_cheese6900) asks, “How high is Orolbai’s ceiling after watching that fight? Are you buying tickets for the Ruffy hype train? If you were running the place, would you keep bringing big shows back to these lackluster Brazilian crowds? Is Pantoja regressing/past his prime?”
Let’s tackle the last part first. Pantoja, on Saturday, became only the second man in history to successfully defend the UFC flyweight title more than once. He secured a unanimous decision win over Steve Erceg. That makes Pantoja the second greatest flyweight ever. When No. 1 is Demetrious Johnson, well, you’re only ever striving for the silver medal anyway.
Pantoja’s current winning streak has been largely defined by his elite grappling and almost reckless aggression. He fought a more measured and responsible fight on Saturday. He scored nine takedowns on a man who had only given up two prior to this fight. Championship stuff, indeed.
However, Pantoja, at 34, is probably at the end of his prime. He’s doing a lot of the same stuff in every fight and it’s working because of his rare doggedness and durability. But someone is going to stymie his grappling and then Pantoja’s disregard for defense in the striking phase is going to burn him.
Vincenzo Erceg put up a much better fight than Brandon Royval. He’s been in there with the champion and nearly beaten him, so he’s a top-five flyweight. Erceg is only 28 years old and he’s been in the UFC for less than a year. He gained some valuable experience from his fight with Pantoja.
The question of how bad was the Erceg robbery arises. To suggest this was a robbery is a little bit crazy. Rounds 1, 4, and 5 were all clear rounds, but the other two were very debatable. Absolutely not a robbery, just a competitive fight between top fighters.
Jose Aldo returned from retirement to school Jonathan Martinez. It was an exceptional performance by a man who is nearly a decade removed from his prime. As for what comes next, I suspect Aldo will not return to the UFC. This was the final fight on his contract and it seems the UFC did want to re-sign him before 301 but he passed.
Michel Pereira obliterated Ihor Potieria in just 54 seconds. Pereira is now 3-0 in the UFC middleweight division with three Performance bonuses and a combined fight time of three minutes and one second. He is clearly much better suited to 185 pounds and looks so much better at middleweight than he ever did at 170.
Myktybek Orolbai won a unanimous decision victory over Elves Brener on the undercard this Saturday. He’s young and talented, and most importantly, he has a name that’s hard to spell and a fun hat. Mauricio Ruffy ran over Jamie Mullarkey on the undercard and had the commentary team drawing comparisons to Conor McGregor.
The UFC 301 main card was quite good. But the undercard underwhelmed for sure and overall this felt like a Fight Night instead of a pay-per-view. But that’s the price we paid for UFC 300.
Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in tweets! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.