UFC 240: The Outtakes — as Holloway’s dominance at featherweight continues
UFC 240 in Edmonton was all about the highly anticipated returns of two of the very best featherweights to ever set foot in a cage.
Max Holloway and Cris Cyborg both suffered defeats last time out. Holloway took an unsuccessful trip up to lightweight in an attempt to become a two-weight world champion, while Cyborg tasted defeat for the first time in over a decade at the hands of Amanda Nunes.
On Saturday, Holloway and Cyborg both managed to bounce back. Holloway by dropping back down to his championship weight class and outclassing Frankie Edgar, and Cyborg by overcoming the extremely durable Felicia Spencer.
Now, with all of the emotions from what was an interesting night of fights back to a stable level, let’s take a closer look at some of the most significant moments that took place in Canada.
Edgar no match for Holloway in the champ’s return
It is almost impossible to predict how any athlete that gets used to dominance and success bounces back from adversity. That was also the case with Max Holloway coming into Saturday. As always, there were doubters. There were nitpickers. But there was also the same old Holloway.
“Blessed” looked like he had never left the division once the Octagon door slammed shut. He was right back to his undisputed featherweight king self. The swagger was oozing from the Hawaiian as he dismantled Frankie Edgar with a top to bottom dominant performance.
After looking small and perhaps a bit overwhelmed at lightweight, Holloway was in cruise control back where he belongs. In typical “Blessed” fashion, he was able to control the distance and tee off on his opponent, once again landing over 100 significant strikes.
Despite the slip up in the division above, Holloway’s greatness as a 145er is not to be questioned. That was Holloway’s 14th consecutive victory at featherweight. And as “The Blessed Express” continues to roll over every opponent in his division, Holloway had a very fitting way to sum up his unsuccessful adventure at 155 in his post-fight press conference — as in the champ’s words, you can only truly get to know someone’s character after they get tested.
Cyborg unable to put away Spencer in bounce back win
Cris Cyborg was in a very similar boat to Max Holloway coming into Saturday night, with the exception that Cyborg hadn’t lost in 13-years prior to her last fight. Unlike throughout most of the Brazilian’s career, the pressure was well and truly on ahead of her clash with Felicia Spencer.
Cyborg was expected to come out ready to kill. She had to make a statement in order to prove that her loss against Amanda Nunes was just a bad day at the office. And despite not being able to fully do that in the end, vengeance was certainly on her mind.
Despite getting cracked with a crafty lead elbow, which opened a nasty cut early on, Cyborg was not phased as she chased down her opponent with vicious bombs. Looking back on some of the shots which the former featherweight champion was landing, the biggest take away from that fight was probably Spencer’s toughness. That woman can take a shot.
But just being tough doesn’t win you fights. Cyborg won the fight comfortably on the scorecards, and looked impressive at times with her relentless offense. The issue was her defense, and the potential damage a fighter of Nunes’ caliber could cause in the event of a rematch, which is very likely on the cards next.
The welterweight division gains a new contender
Fresh out of the contender series, Geoff Neal continues to knock on the door of the welterweight division rankings. The 28-year-old, now 4-0, has been demonstrating his advanced skillset every time he’s set foot in the Octagon, with his victory over Niko Price on Saturday being no different.
After impressing in his previous fights, Neal showed out once again, this time putting together all of his attributes in a calculated victory over a very dangerous, heavy-hitting opponent. “Handz of Steel” showed incredible toughness and composure to hang in the striking exchanges with someone of Price’s power, before coming into his own and showing off his ability to finish off a fight.
The precision with which Neal was landing on Price in the final moments of the fight was razor sharp. And once he had assumed top position, the referee was just about able to step in there and stop the fight before Price’s lights were shut off. You can expect Neal to have a number next to his name later this week.
The flyweight division gets a second wind
It was just a few months ago, January of this year to be precise, when it seemed like the flyweight division was set to be axed from the promotion. Henry Cejudo was just about to defeat TJ Dillashaw for the bantamweight belt, and Dana White was ready to waive the 125er’s goodbye.
Fast forward six months, it seems like the division is slowly coming back from the dead. On Saturday, another very good contest at 125, this time between Deiveson Figueiredo and Alexandre Pantoja, showed just how much talent there is in that division.
The two Brazilian’s, who are both ranked in the top five, put on a show to open the prelims, with Figueiredo grabbing the unanimous decision victory after a three-round war. And with Cejudo set to defend the flyweight gold once he recovers from injury, there are plenty of candidates lined up to challenge for the throne.
Sports journalist based in CA, USA.
Twitter: @ArionArmeniakos
