Even before the first punch was thrown, UFC 311 provided some chaotic excitement. A restructure of the main event the day before fight night will do this. But Saturday’s event gave us even more surprises than just that, because now that the blood has dried on the screen in Inglewood, California, there’s a lot to digest.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from UFC 311.
1. We didn’t learn anything new about Islam Makhachev, but we got a quick reminder.
This man is the lightweight champion for a reason. While we can all appreciate the Rocky Balboa-esque storyline of a guy like Renato Moicano getting that unexpected title shot after Arman Tsarukyan’s late withdrawal, in real life there are still levels to this game.
It was never going to be a very hard fought battle. Moicano is a solid fighter who has accomplished a lot with what he has, but Makhachev is the best in the world. Whether he deserves to be considered one of the lightweight greats of all time is still unclear, and this move denied him the chance to do much that would prove that. This isn’t his fault. It’s really just bad luck.
A meaningful expansion of the legacy will have to wait. Nevertheless, it will go down in the history books as a record-breaking title defense. Even though it looked like a pretty easy job for the champion.
2. It serves them right to make Merab Dvalishvili an underdog.
The disrespect! He won the 135-pound title last fall and then defended it against a very strong challenger: Umar Nurmagomedov. But making him such a huge underdog against a largely unproven talent? That was definitely a misjudgment.
Longtime trainer Ray Longo said it best between rounds. Nurmagomedov didn’t like the (expletive) pace.
But who else but Dvalishvili does this?
The guy’s revs are outstanding, and somehow he makes it look funny too. Nurmagomedov may have been a threat early on, but Dvalishvili’s constant motor wore him down both mentally and physically. If he can keep this up without getting himself down while trying to keep the UFC on a steady diet of title defenses, it sure feels like that belt isn’t going anywhere for a while.
3. Nobody believes like Jiri Prochazka.
Don’t look now, but Prochazka might have added some defense to his game. It really seemed to surprise Jamahal Hill in their light heavyweight undercard fight. Hill had a lot of breathing room in this game and was exposed to some heavy counterattacks. He stayed tough as long as he could, but in this division no one can get clean shots for that long.
That’s about as good as Prochazka has looked since his time in the UFC. It definitely has to be one of his best defensive performances. He always seemed far more interested in hitting than not getting hit, but here he managed to combine the two with great success.
Is it enough of an improvement to think that a third fight with 205-pound champion Alex Pereira would be different than the first two? Well, maybe not yet.
But who knows, with another quality win in the coming months?
4. Reinier de Ridder’s second UFC outing was much more impressive than his first.
He wouldn’t be the first fighter to deal with this nervousness in the Octagon. But after coming off a win in a sloppy performance against Gerald Meerschaert in November, de Ridder gave Kevin Holland the toughest schooling on Saturday night, reminding us what the UFC saw in him in the first place.
If this is the start of “RDR” gaining a foothold in the UFC middleweight division, be on your guard. His style and size could pose a problem for many competitors in this weight class.
5. Payton Talbott has been given a reality check, but all is not lost.
Talbott was the 10-1 favorite over Raoni Barcelos, which in retrospect was a little ridiculous for a 26-year-old with nine professional fights under his belt. The quick takedown and early ground control exposed some gaps in his game, but Talbott’s toughness and determination were never in question, even in the moments when he seemed to be sucking in air.
That will slow the Talbott hype train, but not necessarily completely derail it. At this stage of his development, being brought back to Earth for a short time is not the worst thing.