UFC 263 Full Reaction: Was This The Best Fight Card Of The Year?
(Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports via mmajunkie.usatoday)
UFC 263 was one of, if not the, best fight cards of all time. The can’t-miss pay-per-view event hosted two title fights alongside several big-name bouts such as Nate Diaz vs Leon Edwards, which did not disappoint. There was blood, there were knockouts, and there was a new champion crowned. It’s safe to say Dana White has solidified his position as one of the greatest presidents and promoters in all of sports.
Now it’s time for me to pretend like I’m some sort of MMA expert and present you with my honest reactions to last night's card. Without further adieu:
PRELIMS
Hooper vs Peterson
Where do I even begin? This card was beyond stacked, even the early prelims had some dogfights between lesser-known fighters looking to climb the ranks. One preliminary fight in particular that caught my eye was Chase Hooper vs Steven Peterson.
If you aren’t familiar with Hooper, he’s an up and coming youngster (21) with unworldly talent in the realm of jiu jitsu. Throughout his time in the UFC, he has formed a relationship with a former ONE champion and UFC contender, Ben Askren. Considering their ground-first, lackadaisical stand-up game is nearly identical, it’s clear as to why Askren has taken a liking to the featherweight. “Funky” has even gone to the extent of claiming that Hooper is Askren’s son considering they are both curly-headed wrestlers.
Anyways, enough about Hooper’s personal life -- the kid is talented. Personally I had a 3 unit play on the youngster, but of course that didn’t work out. Peterson came out on top in a unanimous decision, but Hooper showed a lot of potential.
Being known as a one-dimensional fighter is never a good thing, especially when you’re in the highest level of competition in fighting, but some guys make it work. Hooper seems to be one of those guys. In his bout against Peterson, it was clear that he’s been working on his stand-up game to some extent considering he landed a few clean jabs and counter-strikes.
McKinney vs Frevola
Hooper vs Peterson was only the beginning of a phenomenal prelim card. Next up, Terrance McKinney nearly broke Jorge Masvidal’s UFC record for fastest KO in his professional debut. As soon as the ref said “fight,” McKinney and his opponent, Matt Frevola, walked towards each other and touched gloves just as any fight would normally begin. Immediately after touching gloves, McKinney came straight down the middle with back-to-back ferocious jabs that made perfect contact. Frevola was sat down instantly, and before you know it the ref jumped in to call the fight after just seven seconds.
That’s not all, folks. While celebrating his victory, McKinney ended up blowing his knee out while jumping off the cage of the octagon. You never want to see someone get hurt, but I couldn’t help but chuckle. After not even being touched in the fight, barely breaking a sweat, how ironic is it that a celebration will keep you sidelined for over a month?
Dober vs Riddell
To cap off an already electric prelim card, Drew Dober and Brad Riddell faced off in what turned out to be the fight of the night. This lightweight bout was destined to be a three-round dogfight. Dober and Riddell both have iron chins to go along with their knockout power. In other terms, they both punch hard, but refuse to go down.
Dober and Riddell were back and forth the entire fight, though there was a clear victor in each round. Dober won round one 10-9, and considering all three judges scored the contest 29-28, I’m guessing Riddell took rounds two and three. Both of these guys showed they can not only compete in the incredibly competitive lightweight division, but also put on a show for the fans. Don’t be surprised if we see either one of these guys grace the main card in their next fight, they’ve earned it.
MAIN CARD
Hill vs Craig
The transition from prelims to the main card was seamless considering the quality of the prelim fights were so high. The undefeated Jamahal Hill and the way-too Scottish Paul Craig (seriously how do people understand his english?) opened up the pay-per-view portion of the fight night giving fans a show to say the least.
Just minutes into the first round, Craig was able to maneuver Hill into what appeared to be an arm triangle before sweeping him around and practically bending his arm in half (the wrong way) right in front of the ref. Not only did he snap Hill’s arm the wrong way, Craig continued to pound Hill’s skull in while watching his arm flail around like one of those wacky inflatable tube things.
Unfortunately I can’t show you the actual arm breaking considering ESPN would shove a copyright strike up my ass, but in this video you can clearly see the awkward bend in Hill’s left arm.
One would assume the ref sees a broken arm and immediately stops the fight, right? Well… not really. I have no clue what was going through the referee’s head, but there was absolutely no reason to let the fight continue while Hill’s BROKEN arm was flopping around like a dead fish. Craig did his job; the fighter should never stop fighting until the ref jumps in, and this one was on the ref.
Maia vs Muhammad
The next four fights were all major box-office events. After Paul Craig dismantled Jamahal Hill, Belal Muhammad put on a spectacular display of fundamentals and technique against UFC legend Demian Maia.
Maia has fought nearly every “great” to come through the welterweight division, and Muhammad securing this victory could be huge for his journey to a title shot. If Muhammad keeps performing like that, he’ll get his shot in no time.
Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz
First things first, Nate Diaz is an absolute ANIMAL in the octagon. I don’t care if he lost or won by knockout, you better have some respect for one of the all-time greats in the UFC.
Coming into this fight, Diaz had nothing to lose. He closed as a +400 underdog on the majority of sportsbooks for a reason. Edwards is an athletic freak of nature currently on a nine-fight win streak who’s fought at welterweight for the entirety of his professional career. Meanwhile, Diaz was coming off a brutal loss to Jorge Masvidal at 170 lbs and has always been known for his success in the lightweight division. That being said, these are the kinds of fights Nate Diaz gets out of bed for.
On the scorecards, rounds 1-4 were 100% without a doubt in favor of Leon Edwards. Round 5 though… round 5 was a different story. Beaten to a bloody pulp, Nate Diaz refused to go down; he even congratulated Edwards mid-fight on every significant strike he managed to land (which was a lot). That didn’t matter for Nate though, Diaz is known for being a championship round fighter, and boy did he prove it on Saturday.
It’s almost as if Nate Diaz performs better while doused in his own blood. I don’t understand how someone’s brain can work like that, but then again I don’t get paid thousands of dollars to beat people up in front of a colosseum-style audience. If it works for Nate, it works for Nate.
Late in round 5, Diaz caught Edwards with an absolutely vicious jab which eventually caused him to wobble and stumble towards the fence. Of course I loved seeing Nate rock him, but what I didn’t love was seeing Nate stand there and point at Edwards rather than charge him and beat his ass while he was still out of it. Just watch:
Nate had a chance to come away with one of the most unlikely 5th round comebacks in UFC history, and instead he chose to taunt. I’m sick. All that being said, this was easily a contender for fight of the night and both of these guys deserved some sort of performance bonus from papa Dana.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno
In the co-main event of the evening, the little-guys (literally they’re like 5’4) took the stage to get the championship portion of the fight card underway. Figueiredo claimed the flyweight title last year after Henry “Triple C” Cejudo retired wayyyy too early for my liking, but I digress. Don’t get me wrong, Dues da Guerra is a beast in the octagon and many experts thought of him as a top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Brandon Moreno thought otherwise.
Moreno pulled off a spectacular rear-naked choke in the third round to submit Figueiredo and become Mexico’s first-ever UFC champion. It’s always cool hearing Bruce Buffer scream “AND NEW” into the mic, but this one felt special.
Moreno’s post-fight interview nearly brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t think of a better candidate to represent Mexico on this global stage of combat sport.
Adesanya vs Vettori
Adesanya is a man amongst boys, a god amongst mortals, a 5-star restaurant in the midst of a run-down strip mall -- no one in the middleweight division can touch him.
Sure, Izzy suffered his first career loss to Jan Blachowicz in his last appearance, but we have to remember that bout was fought at light heavyweight rather than middleweight. We’re talking about 185 lbs and 185 lbs only; the only person in this division that can compete with Adesanya is Robert Whittaker, a contender who Izzy has already beaten once.
I’ll be the first to admit though, Adesanya showed a lot of flaws in his fight against Blachowicz. Stylebender doesn’t get taken down often, but when he does he stays down for a long, long time. Blachowicz was the first fighter to truly expose this weakness in Izzy's game by using his size and mass to control the octagon.
Fast forward to Adesanya vs Vettori, and the Italian challenger attempted essentially a photocopy of Blachowicz game plan from UFC 259. This time, Adesanya was prepared.
Adesanya successfully defended 10 out of Vettori’s 14 takedown attempts (71.4%), and when he did go down he found a way to get back up immediately, even turning the top mount onto Vettori on a few occasions.
Vettori was shook. His entire game plan was out the window because god knows he and everyone else in the UFC has no chance against Adesanya in the stand up.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again -- Israel Adesanya is without a doubt the number one pound for pound fighter in the world. I can’t wait to see Adesanya vs Whittaker 2, because after that performance that’s likely the only competitive matchup Dana has for him.