The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 148: Thompson vs. Pettis

#1 Worst: The awful Makdessi vs. Pinedo fight

Jesus Pinedo vs. John Makdessi was one of the worst fights of 2019

There were numerous forgettable fights on this card – the opening two were pretty poor and the fights between Luis Pena and Steven Peterson and Jennifer Maia and Alexis Davis were okay at best – but the worst offender by far was a Lightweight fight between John Makdessi and Jesus Pinedo. To defend both men to start with, the fight was a late-notice one after injuries sidelined the original opponents of both men.

But wow, this was a bad showing. The fight dragged badly due to the slow pace set by both men, and they seemed to be content to put on a point-fighting affair, catching one another at the end of the majority of their strikes with neither man coming close to a finish. The Nashville crowd booed throughout, and really, it was hard to fault them for doing so.

It’s not that either fighter is bad per say; Makdessi has some all-time great highlight reel moments on his ledger and Pinedo’s highlight reel suggests he’s usually exciting too. But this was just a bad clash of styles and it made for one of the worst televised fights of 2019. And on a show that was already beginning to drag a little, it was the worst possible thing that could’ve happened.