The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 140: Magny vs. Ponzinibbio

#4 Best: The matchmakers are hitting their stride

The UFC matchmakers should be credited for putting together fun fights like Guido Cannetti vs. Marlon Vera

When longtime UFC matchmaker Joe Silva stepped down at the end of 2016 to be replaced by the team of Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard, major questions were asked in terms of how the UFC would move forward with their bookings. After a series of events that featured tons of close decisions in 2017, I personally questioned whether Shelby and Maynard were doing things in the right way.

Thankfully, I appear to have been proven wrong. 2018’s seen a couple of bad shows – the Fight Nights from Hamburg and Moncton come to mind – but for the most part, this year has been filled with great UFC shows, even if the cards haven’t looked the strongest on paper in terms of name value.

Not every show can be “stacked”, though – the UFC simply doesn’t have enough big names for that any more – and so the best we can hope for, particularly on the Fight Night card which are always going to be lower on the big names, are a lot of exciting fights featuring a healthy mix of prospects and veterans.

It had been suggested that last night’s show would potentially set records for low TV ratings, but on paper, fights like Magny vs. Ponzinibbio, Walker vs. Rountree and Cannetti vs. Vera were always likely to deliver fireworks. Lamas vs. Elkins and Prazeres vs. Fabinski were much less so, but then those fights delivered in execution too – showing that the UFC matchmakers do know what they’re doing.

The UFC’s matchmaking still isn’t perfect, but to be fair to Shelby and Maynard, the oft-criticised title fights are usually the choice of higher UFC brass looking to make a quick buck. It should be the lesser shows and undercards that are used to judge the matchmakers – and judging by last night’s show, they’re doing well.