UFC 252 went down last night (Sat. August 15, 2020) in Las Vegas, Nevada, hosting a championship trilogy fight that saw Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic defeat Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision to end to make up for their rivalry (see it again here). In the co-headlining action, Marlon Vera grabbed his biggest win to date after stopping Sean O’Malley in the very first round (res. Here).
Winner: Support Miocic
To whom he must follow: Francis Ngannou (net Jon Jones)
Francis Ngannou has already stamped his ticket on his second shot while trying to reach Stipe Miocic, after starting Jairzinho Rozenstruik in just 20 seconds. But today’s light heavyweight king, Jon Jones, came out of nowhere and tried to jump the line. And the fact that Dana White recently gave “Bones” an ultimatum to give Dominick Reyes a rematch when he moved his back to the 265-pound division, Jones fighting Miocic is a very big possibility … or at least we thought it was . Indeed, White recently confirmed that Jones would not jump the line and Ngannou would be next. For now, “Bones” Reyes can re-slaughter or continue to sit and possibly the winner of Miocic vs. To make Ngannou 2.
Winner: Marlon Vera
Again he has to fight alongside: Merab Dvalishvili
Lost in all the madness following Vera’s knockout victory over Sean O’Malley – like “Suga’s” unfortunate leg injury – is the fact that “Chito” has won six of his last seven fights, leaving him somewhat the dark horse in ‘ a Bantam weight makes distribution. He’s not loud, brash as flamboyant as many fighters, so he does not get a ton of eyes on him. But the man can scratch and he needs to start getting a little more share of the footlights and some bigger fights going on ahead. If we look at the bottom half of the Top 15, there are some interesting match-ups for Vera. He just defeated the no. 14-man, recently lost to Song Yadong (No. 13), and John Dodson (No. 12), lost yesterday. Dominick Cruz sits at no. 11, though I’ve quite sure that “The Dominator” would sign up for that fight based on pure name value alone. That leaves Merab Dvalishvili at no. 15. Merab defeated Dodson yesterday to score his fifth straight win. Afterwards, he called out O’Malley, but that’s a fight that will not happen once for two obvious reasons. That being said, Vera vs. Dvalishvili made his.
Winner: Jairzinho Rose Shrub
Again he must follow: Let us wait and see …
After Derrick Lewis knocked out Alexei Oleinik at the UFC on Vegas 6 last week (see it here), I called for a match between “Black Beast” (No. 4) and Curtis Blaydes (No. 3). Rozenstruik’s knockout victory over Junior dos Santos does not change that thought process. That being said, “Bigi Boy” can’t look back, because taking over someone behind him just doesn’t make sense. That all Rozenstruik can do right now is wait to see if and when Blaydes and Lewis trade leather, and maybe face the winner (or even the loser) of that fight.
Winner: Daniel Pineda
Again he has to fight alongside: John Makdessi
After six years away from the UFC, Pineda returned to the Octagon to score an enormous promotion over Herbert Burns – who was on a five-fight winning streak – via technical knockout. Despite the big win, it will still be a long way to go for Pineda to get to the cream of the crop. Here, a fight against a long-time veteran like Makdessi makes sense. “The Bull” has recently won his streak with three wins by Francisco Trinaldo, so he is looking to get back on course so as not to fall behind. Pineda has improved a lot since his first stint with the promotion, so giving him ongoing veterinarians like Makdessi is a good meter to see just how much.
Winner: Merab Dvalishvili
Again he must follow against: See above
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