What mattered most at UFC 259 in the UFC Apex Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
1. Give Jan Blachowicz his respect
Is it finally time? Can we appreciate Jan Blachowicz in full now that he’s won and defended the UFC light heavyweight championship, and as a betting underdog in both scenarios, at that?
Blachowicz (28-8 MMA, 11-5 UFC) was the afterthought coming into the UFC 259. He was simply the platform to propel Israel Adesanya to greatness and a second UFC title. But apparently someone forgot to give him that memo, because Blachowicz put on a tactical and intelligent performance over five rounds to take a unanimous decision and retain his 205-pound title for the first time.
Despite overcoming the odds multiple fights in a row before this one, such as when he knocked out Dominick Reyes to win the vacant belt in September, Blachowicz was yet again pinned as the underdog. He was asked two questions at the UFC 259 pre-fight press conference on Thursday, and he just seemed like a supporting cast to Adesanya’s double-champ coronation.
He showed up when it mattered, though, and wisely got his hand raised to improve to 9-1 in his past 10 fights. Did we mention that he’s doing all of this at 38, as well? That definitely doesn’t get talked about as much as it should.
Blachowicz continues to find his best form late in his career, and he’s starting to forge his own path as a champion now that Jon Jones is gone from the division. The fact Blachowicz isn’t a big talker or a charismatic personality might make people continue to underestimate him, but at this point that’d be nothing short of foolish.
2. Israel Adesanya bites off more than he can chew
Israel Adesanya deserves all the credit in the world for his ambition. He could’ve taken the safer route in his career and just stayed in his lane at middleweight, where he’s clearly currently a notch above the competition. Instead, though, he “dared to be great.” It just didn’t pay off.
Adesanya (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) was by no means outclassed by Blachowicz. It was a competitive fight, but the reasons he came out on the losing end are the reasons why there are weight classes in MMA.
The pop on Adesanya’s shots didn’t seem to be quite as damaging as when they land on middleweights. Then when the fight hit the later rounds, Blachowicz was able to use his size and strength advantages to control Adesanya in the grappling department to secure the win.
No one has been able to do that to Adesanya at 185 pounds, which shows he perhaps aimed too high in this one. It’s not an unwinnable fight for him, but he needs to be perfect in there to get his hand raised due to the physical disadvantages.
Jon Jones would’ve posed real problems for Adesanya if that fight came together at light heavyweight or heavyweight. Could that narrative change if Adesanya fully committed to putting on the size and mass instead of weighing in at 200.5 pounds? Perhaps, but until that happens, he’s better suited for middleweight.
3. The disqualification debacle
Well, there’s a first time for everything, right? We’ve never seen a championship fight end in a disqualification prior to Saturday, when Petr Yan gave up the UFC bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling after an illegal knee strike ended the fight.
Make no mistake about it: Yan (15-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) deserved what came to him. Whether his corner informed him to do it in a miscommunication or not, the knee he landed on a grounded Sterling (20-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in the fourth round was blatant, illegal and grounds for the DQ. It’s just wild to see something like that happen at the very highest level.
It’s not how Sterling wanted to become champion, not how Yan wanted to give up the strap, and not how the UFC or the fans wanted this one to end. It was the right way for it to happen under the circumstances, though, and now it creates a compelling storyline at the top of the 135-pound division.
The big loser in all this is Cory Sandhagen, who isn’t going to be getting the next title shot while the UFC books a Sterling vs. Yan rematch. Other than that, though, there should be a lot of interest in a second fight.
Sterling started very strong against Yan, but as the rounds wore on it started to slip away. Yan was finding his timing, range, and really starting to sap the life out of his challenger in the championship rounds. His blunder washed all that away, but if it didn’t happen, Sterling was on his way to being in serious trouble.
It will be interesting to see what adjustments both sides make going into a rematch, where there’s sure to be even more bad blood than the first time around.
4. Dominick Cruz, Joseph Benavidez split results
It was pretty crazy to look at the UFC 259 lineup and see Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez listed for the preliminary portion of the card for their bouts against Casey Kenney and Askar Askarov, respectively.
The timing for both fights were crucial for their careers, and afterward it’s hard not to compare and contrast what’s going on with the former WEC alumni and longtime faces of the bantamweight and flyweight divisions.
Benavidez (28-8 MMA, 15-6 UFC) looked like an edge was off his game in a unanimous decision loss to Askarov. A few years ago it feels like he would’ve been able to outpace Askarov in the scrambles, but in this fight he couldn’t get ahead, and it cost him in the eyes of the judges.
That maybe isn’t giving enough to Askarov, but it’s hard not to think about it given where Benavidez is in his career coming off that mentally and physically crushing pair of title-fight losses against Deiveson Figueiredo in 2020.
Cruz (23-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC), for his part, rose to the occasion in a split decision win over Kenney. He looked sharp as ever over the course of three rounds, and against a rising name who many believed was there to take his spot. Can Cruz regain the UFC title he’s previously held on two occasions? Maybe not. But he at least gave himself a shot by beating Kenney.
If you gave Benavidez someone outside of the top 15 like Cruz got, then perhaps he would’ve won. But right now he future looks bleaker than his former two-time opponent.
5. How about that comeback?
Kennedy Nzechukwu has now felt both sides of the coin when it comes to a big in-fight comeback. However, it’s got to be a much better feeling to be on the winning end.
After getting hurt and swarmed by Carlos Ulberg (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the opening round of their light heavyweight bout, Nzechukwu (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) looked like he might get put out without landing a single punch. He somehow got his head together though – in part due to the guidance of his chief corner Sayif Saud of Fortis MMA – and somehow found a home for the kill-shot in the second.
Nzechukwu earned “Fight of the Night” honors for the largest statistical comeback in 205-pound history, and it’s quite the gut-check for him. Nzechukwu suffered a heart-breaking come-from-behind loss to Paul Craig in March 2019, giving up a submission with 40 seconds left after he was controlling the action for more than 14 minutes.
This was only Nzechukwu’s second fight since then, and against someone with only three MMA fights at that. But if you look at the big picture, the result against Ulberg, at minimum, showed Nzechukwu’s mental strides over the past two years.