The best and worst from UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos

I wasn’t expecting too much from last night’s UFC on ESPN card if I’m honest; I was excited about the main event between Francis Ngannou and Junior Dos Santos, but that was about it. In execution though, I’ve got no qualms in saying that the show turned out to be one of the best cards of 2019 thus far.

We were treated to 12 fights and just 4 of those went the distance, with the majority of the rest being finished in brutal fashion. And at the end of the day, that’s what we all watch the UFC for, right? Sure, there were a couple of things that weren’t perfect, but when I’m stretching to find the ‘bad’ parts of the card – Vinc Pichel vs. Roosevelt Roberts was a bit forgettable but wasn’t bad per se – you know it’s a solid show.

Here are the best and worst moments from UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos.

#1 Best: Ngannou’s face-melting power nets him a likely title shot

We all knew that the likelihood of Francis Ngannou vs. Junior Dos Santos going the 25-minute distance was pretty low, but for the fight to finish in just under a minute was totally spectacular. Essentially, Junior fouled up pretty badly – swinging a wild overhand right and leaving himself open to the counter – and Ngannou indeed countered, hitting him with some swift and brutal punches that sent him down and finished the fight early.

It wasn’t the most brutal knockout of Ngannou’s career – his KO of Alistair Overeem still owns that title – but it was definitely impressive and should be enough to get him a title shot against the winner of the upcoming Daniel Cormier/Stipe Miocic fight. I’m sure I speak for most of the MMA fanbase too when I say I hope it’s Cormier; nothing against Stipe but we’ve already seen him face Ngannou and Cormier vs. ‘The Predator’ sounds fantastic.

How would such a fight go? In all honesty, I don’t know, as it’s hard to tell from three super-quick KO’s whether Ngannou has closed the holes in his game that were so visible in that fight with Miocic in January 2018. But he’s got the face-melting power to take out anyone in the UFC right now so you could never count him out.

In a tangent, it was also nice to see Ngannou’s fellow African fighter Dalcha Lungiambula pick up a UFC debut win on the prelims; more worldwide talent for the UFC to choose from means more great fights and to date, Africa hasn’t really produced many great fighters. Hopefully, that’s changing.

#1 Worst: The Cejudo conundrum

Joseph Benavidez earned a title shot last night with his win over Jussier Formiga, but will he get it?

The co-main event last night between Joseph Benavidez and Jussier Formiga might’ve been my favorite fight on offer, and it ended in pretty wild fashion too, as Benavidez was able to find his range and stun the Brazilian with a head kick before finishing him with a barrage of punches. Benavidez – who now physically resembles a tiny Frank Shamrock – looked awesome and has clearly earned a Flyweight title shot. So why am I talking about him in the ‘worst’ section?

Well, because we just don’t know what’s going on with the UFC Flyweight title right now. Current champion Henry Cejudo is coming off surgery and won’t be around until 2020 most likely which is fine, but he also holds the UFC Bantamweight title – so which one will he choose to defend first? Benavidez, in all honesty, is the most deserving challenger across both divisions, but then there’s a strong case for Aljamain Sterling having earned a shot at 135lbs, too.

The problem is that Cejudo seems to be calling out largely irrelevant fighters like Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, and due to their bigger name value, there’s every chance the UFC does book something like Cejudo vs. Cruz in early 2020. Which would hold up both divisions badly and be totally unfair to someone as deserving as Benavidez.

I hate to say this, but last night’s Benavidez/Formiga fight probably should’ve been for an interim Flyweight title; it was the least a knockout like the one delivered by Benavidez deserved.

#2 Best: 205lbs is becoming interesting again

Could Alonzo Menifield be the next big thing at 205lbs?

Light-Heavyweight was traditionally the UFC’s ‘glamour division’ thanks to the presence of legends like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, and Chuck Liddell, but recently it’s become the poor man of the promotion. Controversial champion Jon Jones has dominated all competition and as veterans like Mauricio Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira have slid down the ladder, it’s been journeymen like Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos who have risen up to take their spots.

Well, we might finally be seeing a new generation emerging at 205lbs, and we saw exciting finishes for two of them last night. The afore-mentioned Dalcha Lungiambula put a beating on late replacement Dequan Townsend, finishing him in violent fashion in the third round. Sure, the Congolese fighter looked raw, but he showed hugely impressive power and athleticism, and with the right guidance, he could easily develop into a contender.

Alonzo Menifield meanwhile looked fantastic in the opener, shrugging off Paul Craig’s attempts to grapple before destroying him with a heavy right hand. It was Menifield’s second UFC win and while it’d be ludicrous to suggest he’s the ‘next big thing’ after two wins, with his punching power and apparently strong fight IQ, he’s got a lot of potential.

Throw the two men in with Eryk Anders – who also won last night – and other rising talents like Johnny Walker, Dominick Reyes, Aleksandar Rakic, Michal Oleksiejczuk, and Magomed Ankalaev and – whisper it – the future of 205lbs might not be as bleak as we once thought.

#2 Worst: The Maia/Martin fight

Demian Maia's fight with Anthony Rocco Martin was largely forgettable

The only fight I didn’t enjoy last night was the Demian Maia/Anthony Rocco Martin clash. Maia ended up winning a majority decision, with two judges giving him 29-28 scorecards and the third inexplicably going for a 28-28 draw, but it was one of the more forgettable fights of the Brazilian veteran’s career.

Maia essentially managed to eke out the fight by outgrappling Martin for the first two rounds, but he never came close to a submission victory – usually preferring to pin Martin on his back against the fence and land short punches – and he appeared to run out of steam in the third round, allowing Martin to outstrike him, but ‘Rocco’ simply wasn’t active enough to warrant picking up a victory.

For me it felt like Maia did what he had to do – at 41 years old it’s admirable that he’s still competing at the top against tough guys like Martin – but Martin missed a chance for a breakout performance as he just didn’t come in aggressively enough with his striking in the third round particularly. It never looked like Maia would submit him, so why not take some chances? As it was, this was easily the most skippable fight on offer last night.

#3 Best: Drew Dober’s cool knockout

Drew Dober's knockout of Polo Reyes was very impressive

I’ll be honest and say I’ve never really been that taken with Drew Dober – he’s been around in the UFC since 2013 and despite having 12 fights in the Octagon before last night with 6 wins to his name, I always found him a bit forgettable outside of the odd fight, like his wild 2018 brawl with Frank Camacho. That changed last night though, as he violently turned out the lights on Polo Reyes in the first round.

Reyes – always a wild fighter – came in looking to brawl, but bit off way more than he could chew as Dober simply landed the harder, cleaner punches, finally ending the fight with a beautiful left hook right to the chin. It was Dober’s first finish since his 2017 knockout of a horribly aging Josh Burkman and was probably the biggest win of his UFC career too.

The likelihood of Dober becoming a genuine contender in the Lightweight division is still low; he still feels a bit athletically limited to me when compared to the very best fighters at 155lbs and he’s still liable to make a fight-ending error – as we saw against Beneil Dariush – but he’s probably earned another step up the ladder with last night’s knockout. Someone like Edson Barboza might work, actually.