The best and worst from UFC 248: Adesanya vs. Romero

#2 Worst: Li’s hopes of breaking into the elite shattered

Jingliang Li was largely outclassed by Neil Magny

Let me paraphrase this by saying that I’m not trying to take away anything from what was a truly fantastic performance from Neil Magny; the TUF veteran returned from an extremely long layoff of well over a year to completely dominate an ultra-tough opponent, and he will rightly find himself ranked back in the top 15 following his win.

However, it was still disappointing to see Jingliang Li – a fighter who’d been on a hell of a run and who’d put together 7 wins in 8 fights – be thoroughly beaten in such a way, essentially stopping his charge towards the elite level at 170lbs dead in its tracks.

After a pretty middling beginning to his UFC career, ‘The Leech’ had looked fantastic recently and appeared to have everything needed to become a big star for the promotion, but this changes everything for him.

It’s not that he lost to Magny, but that he was absolutely dominated by him – and of course, Magny is a fighter who has failed to break into that elite pack on more than one occasion in the past.

Can Li rebound? Perhaps, but at 31 this probably ends any hope of him becoming a title contender, and for a fighter who’s shown himself to be both exciting and charismatic in recent years, that kind of hurts.

#3 Best: The return of the Sugar Show

Sean O'Malley impressed hugely in his win over Jose Quinonez

Prospect Sean O’Malley – one of the earliest graduates of Dana White’s Contender Series – had been on the shelf for some time following some questionable drug test results, and coming into last night’s fight with Jose Quinonez, it was probably fair to wonder exactly how much he’d be able to bring to the table. Well, it turns out that ‘Sugar Sean’ can still bring a lot.

He absolutely destroyed the usually tough Jose Quinonez inside one round, essentially hitting him with every strike he threw while seemingly not absorbing a single blow in return. When O’Malley ended the fight with a head kick and some follow-up punches, it simply sealed what was a flawless victory for the Bantamweight prospect.

How far can O’Malley go? Judging by last night, he’s definitely got elite-level potential, and he almost certainly needs a step up in his next fight. John Dodson – who recently defeated another prospect in the form of Nathaniel Wood and who is a rock-solid veteran – would probably do. It’s time to see if the ‘Sugar Show’ is the real deal.