UFC 261 Reaction: "I'M THE BEST!"
(Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports) via bloodyelbow.com
Three title fights, two defended belts, and one broken leg -- UFC 261 Usman vs Masvidal 2 was fucking awesome. In case you weren’t able to catch the fights this past Saturday, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you missed out on arguably the best main event of the year thus far.
Fortunately, I was able to catch the fights just in time to see Chris Weidman snap his leg clean in half after attempting a leg kick on Uriah Hall. If you get queasy easily, you may want to look away because this is possibly the most gruesome injury in the UFC since Anderson Silva broke his leg the same way back in 2013.
Disgusting. Jesus Christ. I hate to see this yet I can’t look away. What I’m trying to understand is whether or not Weidman felt any sort of pain or not until he attempted putting his full weight on that noodle of a leg.
As I mentioned, this hasn’t happened since Anderson Silva broke his leg nearly eight years ago. What’s even crazier about the injury is that Chris Weidman was Silva’s opponent when the injury occured. The disgusting leg-snapping saga has officially come full circle. After shit hit the fan just about every fighter in the UFC took to Twitter to react to the brutal injury:
The Hall vs Weidman was just the beginning of a beautifully crazy main card. The first of the three title fights was in the women’s flyweight division as Valentina Shevchenko took on Jessica Andrade.
Shevchenko has been dominating the flyweight division for quite some time now. After winning the belt against Joanna Jedrzejczyk (who spells their name like that anyway?) back in 2018, the Bullet has successfully defended her title in five consecutive fights; three of which came by KO/TKO while the others were both unanimous decisions.
I am convinced there isn’t a soul in the flyweight division that can compete with Shevchenko’s technique and execution. Andrade was the only person I thought had a legitimate chance of shaking up the Kyrgyzstanian beast, but boy that turned out to be a freezing cold take.
The Bullet made light work of Andrade. Shevchenko is known for her incredible striking technique and implementation of leg kicks, but ironically she dominated this fight on the ground for the most part. The challenger finished the bout with only 0:57 seconds of octagon control compared to the champion’s 5:11.
Don’t get me wrong, Shevchenko didn’t forget about her fists, elbows, knees, and just about everything she could use to fuck Andrade up. She finished with 32 significant strikes compared to Andrade’s 10, over half of which (18) came from a ground-and-pound position.
Eventually the ref decided Andrade had enough of a beatdown after Shevchenko locked her in a crucifix position and went to town, bloodying up her forehead in the process. What a way to start the trilogy of title bouts.
The next fight I want to discuss was, in my opinion, the most anticipated matchup where truly anything could happen and either fighter could win. “Thug” Rose Namajunas became the first woman in UFC history to regain a title after knocking Weili Zhang out in the first round.
As much as I love Thug Rose, I was under the impression that Weili Zhang was in the same boat as Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko -- unstoppable freaks of nature. For starters, Zhang was on a 21-fight win streak after losing only her professional debut years ago. In her last bout she literally deformed Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s head after pummeling her for five straight rounds.
(Photo via talksport.com)
When it comes to Rose vs Zhang, everything happened so fast. One moment they’re standing up feeling each other out, and the next moment the Strawweight champion of the world was unconscious on the mat. Example #593846 on why the UFC is fucking awesome.
Namajunas connected with a high leg kick to Zhang’s jaw just 80 seconds into the fight. Zhang instantly went limp as she fell back onto the floor, and Thug Rose took full advantage by jumping on her and pounding hammer fists until the ref called the contest.
Zhang immediately came to her senses after the fight was called and appeared to be furious with the referee’s decision. At first I thought it was an awfully early stoppage, but after watching slo-mo replays on repeat it appears that Zhang was lights out as soon as Rose made contact.
I could go on and on about why Thug Rose is one of my favorite fighters, but I’ll let this video of her pre-fight and post-fight do the talking:
“I’M THE BEST!” Indeed you are, Rose, indeed you are. Seeing such raw emotion in Namajunas’s expressions as Dana White wrapped the belt around her gave me chills. As amazing as this knockout victory was, I’m not so sure it was even the KO of the night.
The main event of the evening, and potential performance of the night, was Kamaru Usman absolutely destroying Jorge Masvidal for the second time; this time by way of knockout in the second round.
I wouldn’t say I hate Masvidal, but I strongly dislike his antics outside of the octagon, so seeing him get slept after only six minutes of competition was a thing of beauty. Don’t get me wrong, Masvidal is easily one of the best Welterweight fighters in the world, but Kamaru Usman is in a league of his own.
One thing I will say is that Masvidal took his loss like a champ in a classy post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. It amazes me how respectful the majority of these guys are after essentially fighting to the death in front of a colosseum style audience -- sports are cool.
Like Masvidal said, Usman came into this fight with a completely different game plan than the first bout. Usman has never been known for his standup game as he typically wins by dominating the ground game, clinch control, overall octagon control, and accumulating points on the scorecard in the most boring way possible.
Usman came into this fight night on a mission, and he succeeded in emphatic fashion. Trying to find a high quality video of the knockout legally is near impossible because Dana White has a massive stick up his ass when it comes to UFC copyright and distribution, so here is a bummy video I found in the comment section on Twitter that sums up how the fight went for Street Jesus:
Easily one of the cleanest knockouts I’ve seen in a long, long time. Masvidal never saw it coming, especially after talking shit before the fight, claiming Usman “doesn’t hit hard at all.” You sure about that Jorge? Usman is known for his ground game and with good reason, but his striking ability is incredibly underrated.
Now that Khabib is officially retired from the UFC, Kamara Usman is, in my opinion, the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The ONLY person that compared to his dominance was Khabib, and he’s already called it a career. That being said, there is one fighter that gave Usman a run for his money and has had his number for quite some time now.
If Colby Covington isn’t next in line for a rematch against Usman, I’ll riot. As despicable as Covington is as a person, he is a damn good fighter. After Usman takes care of “Chaos” Covington, the only logical thing to do would be to shift weight classes and attempt to become a champ-champ; though I’m not convinced Usman has any interest in doing so.