UFC Norfolk: Benavidez vs Figueiredo - Feb 29 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

I referred to Figueiredo as a mini Yoel Romero the other day. This was Yoel all over, wasn’t it? Misses championship weight, so can’t win the title, then wins in brutal fashion on the night.

Poor Joey. And that’s probably the nail in the coffin for the Flyweight division. 

Whole thing is a mess. I don’t know what they do next. Do they give Figueiredo another chance at Flyweight or does he just move up to 135? And if he does move up, then what the fuck happens to the 125 belt? Because Fig Daddy Cool just eliminated the only other legit challenger in Benavidez. I really think they might just sack Flyweight off now. Must say though, the thought of Figueiredo at Bantamweight against the likes of Petr Yan, Aljamain Sterling and that lot gives me the horn. 

Felicia Spencer had a strong rebound from the Cyborg loss. Like I said in the preview, this was always going to be a bit of a showcase for her as Fairn isn’t much of a grappler at all. She was doing alright on the feet but she had nothing for Spencer once it hit the mat. Just a bad style matchup for Fairn. Spencer absolutely destroyed her once she got on top. 

Ankalaev vs Cutelaba was even more nutty than I imagined. I don’t think I’ve ever seen security have to step in and separate two fighters during the fucking Buffer intros.

Cutelaba is always trying these intimidation tactics but that shite’s not going to fly with a dude with Dagestani ice water in his veins. Then the fight starts, they’re both throwing with serious heat...then it’s all over in 38 seconds. I definitely felt like the referee jumped in too early. Cutelaba did look wobbly from the headkicks but the ref didn’t really give him much of a chance to fight through it. This wasn’t Wilder being saved from a bad beating from Fury. The fight had just started, Cutelaba got buzzed but he was firing back and I felt like it was a premature stoppage. I’m all for protecting the fighter but shots are going to land and people are going to get hurt in a fight, obviously. Pretty much all the fights in my Top 25 thread would’ve been over in 2 minutes with this guy reffing. Shame as well because it was just really starting to warm up and was looking like it was going to be some scrap. Surely they’ll run this one back on one of the upcoming cards? 

It was nice to see Megan Anderson get another controversy-free win. Although I must admit I was distracted for most of this fight by Dumont’s big jiggly bum. It was a sweet finishing punch by Anderson though. Scoring a first round KO is always a good statement if you’re going to call out the champ after. And although I don’t think that Amanda Nunes smoke will be good for her, at this point she might get the shot because there aren’t too many options. Her size and lankiness might at least make the striking with Nunes interesting. Maybe.

Not sure what direction they go for Nunes’ next challenger. You have Spencer and Anderson now in the mix coming out of this show. Both got first round finishes. Spencer does have that win over Anderson so you’d think she should be ahead. But I thought Megan looked the better of the two last night and had a decent post-fight callout. Fuck knows. Nunes vs Anderson at UFC 251 in Perth wouldn’t be the worst idea ever. Not sure they’ll want to put a third title fight on there though. 

Really enjoyed the main card opener of Grant Dawson vs Darrick Minner. Had no real expectations going in and was still disappointed that Chas Skelly dropped out. But I thought this was ace. Really exciting grappling battle. Minner came in as a late replacement and you could kind of tell his conditioning was suffering a bit for it and Dawson just got to him with that choke in the second round. Good stuff. Wouldn’t mind seeing Dawson vs Skelly rebooked after that if possible.

Thought the prelims were a bit of a mixed bag. 

Kyler Phillips looked pretty great against Gabriel Silva. Don’t recall seeing him fight before but he looked really sharp in the striking here and he won clearly for me on the cards.

Allen vs Breese was a bit of a downer but it kind of went how I expected. Was hoping Breese would have a successful comeback and hit the ground running but with the layoff plus Allen being pretty solid, I wasn’t all that optimistic for this one. And right enough, Allen...well, breezed through him for lack of a better term.

Found Tybura vs Spivak a load of gash. Pena vs Garcia was a bit dull as well, which is unlike Pena.

As far as debuts go, Spike Carlyle was one to remember. Only lasted 1:25 but fucking hell he’s a whirlwind of ginger hair and violence. 

I don’t know what the bollocks this was about either...

That laugh. The ‘Alpha Ginger’.

At least one of the elbows was illegal though, I’m sure. I’ll have to take another look. Cruz is appealing it apparently. Regardless, he might be one to keep an eye on.

Fun card, I thought. Roll on 248 next week. 

Edited March 1, 2020 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

16 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Must say though, the thought of Figueiredo at Bantamweight against the likes of Petr Yan, Aljamain Sterling and that lot gives me the horn. 

Indeed.

Also, imagine Figueiredo vs Horiguchi. 

[wandshogun09]

Or Figueiredo vs Marlon Moraes.

Another Figueiredo/Romero parallel. The nutcase translators.

Figueiredo with Wallid Ismail; 

Romero with Ray;

[Egg Shen]

Really good main card this, slow catching up but i enjoyed that.

Figuieredo looked like a beast, but i really felt like he KO'd the Flyweight Division there. I aint caught up to see if there's been updates but if he cant make 125lb what happens. Despite missing weight though he made a fan of me, the Ismail association is just a bonus, what a maniac. 

UFC interviewing Benavidez in cage after that though, poor taste that. Guy looked crushed.

They have to run Cutelaba/Ankalaev back. Stick that as a PPV opener and im happy. I can see why the ref jumped in but it looked like Cutelaba was playing games in there, playing possum, it cost him. The fight was banana whilst it lasted though.

[wandshogun09]

Poor Megan Olivi. 

[Egg Shen]

read on twitter that Dana plans on running the main event back

[wandshogun09]

I guess it’s the right call. What else can they do other than scrap the division entirely? I’m glad it sounds like they’re going to try to keep Flyweight going. Truthfully, MMA wouldn’t suffer much if the UFC sacked the weight class off but it’d be a shame for the guys in that division who feel at home at 125lbs if they were then forced to either become a small 135er or look for work elsewhere. Flyweight gets no love, and I know it’s not the most interesting division. But there are some quality fighters there. The division hasn’t been helped at all by Cejudo being out injured so long while still champ, now this Figueiredo weight miss. 

In hindsight, maybe Benavidez should’ve refused the fight when Figueiredo missed weight. It’s admirable that he fought on and I totally get why he did. The title was still up for grabs for him, plus he’d be getting 30% (I think?) of Fig’s dough. But maybe he’d have been best to say no and push the fight back to another card, force Figueiredo to make that weight. I know the UFC aren’t going to hold the loss so much against him given the circumstances but regardless, he still suffered a heavy stoppage here. That’s damage that’s already done now and possibly puts him at more of a disadvantage in the rematch. It’s a shame.

For Figueiredo, I hope this weight issue was a one off mistake. I don’t believe he’s missed weight before so maybe he was carrying an injury that hindered his cut or something. Fuck knows. Hopefully there’s no controversy in the rematch. I’ve got a feeling Figueiredo goes 2-0 regardless.