UFC on ESPN 15 went down inside the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada yesterday (Sat. August 22, 2020) with an exciting Bantamweight fight between former Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and top contestant Pedro Munhoz. After 25 minutes of action “The answer” narrows the razor-thin split decision profit (highlights). In the co-main event, Mike Rodriguez knocked out Marcin Prachnio in the very first round (see it here).
Biggest winner: Frankie Edgar
After years of thinking about moving to Bantamweight, ‘The Answer’ finally pulled the trigger to drop another weight class. And his debut in the 135-pound division was a memorable one, as he and Pedro Munhoz went to war for 25 minutes, giving fighting fans around the world one of the best bouts of the year. Eventually, Edgar escaped with a split decision victory. And it was also a win-win situation, as Frankie was on a two-fight skid and a third straight defeat would have left him in No Man’s Land. While his win over Munhoz was huge, it will only get tougher for “The Answer” going forward, as the 135-pound division is currently extremely stacked. So if Edgar wants to fight for his third separate division title, he will have to take on bigger challenges – and defeat them. For now, “The Answer” can enjoy the fact that he did not go 0-3 in his last three outings.
Second: Trevin Jones
Trevin Jones showed exactly why you always answer the door when the UFC comes on short notice. Jones stepped in to get Top Bantamweight prospect Timur Valiev after Mark Striegl tested positive for COVID-19. After being overworked for the better part of 1.5 rounds, Jones marked Valiev with a perfectly placed shot on the chin, sending him crashing onto the canvas. After piling on the ground-and-pound, Jones found himself the owner of an enormous come-from-behind win in his Octagon debut. Not a bad way to make your entry into the world’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) organization on the planet. Not to mention the extra $ 50,000 post-fight bonus he won for his spectacular finish.
Biggest Loser: Timur Valiev
After delaying his Octagon debut several weeks, Valiev finally made his first walk in the UFC cage to go up against Trevin Jones. And although it started as well as Timur could imagine, it turned into a nightmare for him, after he stopped via technical knockout (TKO). The loss snapped his streak of six fights and marked an enormous step backwards for the promising prospect, meaning he will have to work overtime if he wants to garner some of that hype back. Clearly, it was not the best start to ‘The Lucky’s’ Octagon career. And while many will still be envious of seeing just what kind of (if any) damage Valiev can do in the Octagon, his TKO loss in his debut took a lot of wind out of his sails from the jump.
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