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Another UFC pay-per-view has passed us by and with it came a host of memorable talking points. The usual faces on hand when a big fight is going down were in attendance. Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier and, in the absence of Joe Rogan, Dominick Cruz reunited at the commentary desk, Bruce Buffer provided his always-electrifying introductions, and Megan Olivi had all the information and insight from behind the curtain.
At UFC 265, the promotion returned to Houston's T-Mobile Arena for the second time since the return of fans to arenas for PPV events. After Charles Oliviera's championship crowning in Texas at UFC 262 in May, the 16,000+ fans in attendance were hoping for a similar main event moment last night.
This weekend represented a card with some of the top names in the promotion. Alongside a blockbuster interim heavyweight title fight between hometown boy Derrick Lewis and unbeaten Frenchman Ciryl Gane, the likes of Jose Aldo, Pedro Munhoz, Michael Chiesa, Vicente Luque and Rafael Fiziev were also in action.
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With that said, here are the positives and negatives from UFC 265.
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Positive - A UFC debut three years in the making
It was hard to believe Melissa Gatto was actually going to make her debut until the octagon door closed behind her for UFC 265's second bout. In the time between the Brazilian signing with the UFC and her first fight, women's strawweight Angela Hill fought seven times.
Between her arrival and her debut, Gatto went through three fight cancelations. In 2019, bouts against Talita Bernardo and Julia Avila fell through before a 2020 clash against Mariya Agapova never came to fruition. Against Victoria Leonardo at UFC 265, Gatto finally had her chance to make an impression.
Despite not perhaps winning in the way she'd have wanted, the 25-year-old looked dominant across two rounds and showed a vast improvement in her stand-up game since she was last in action. After 'Fury' revealed an arm injury to her corner prior to the final round, the cageside doctor took a look and discovered a break.
Having extended her unbeaten record to 7-0, Gatto certainly made a statement to the rest of the flyweights. With a few more wins, the Brazilian could become a real player in the division.
Another positive from this fight was the doctor's decision to call the fight off. It doesn't matter if a fighter's coach lets them leave the corner and the competitor says they're okay to go, if a serious injury is clear, fights should be stopped and athletes should be protected. Props to the doctor for recognizing that.
Positive - Dominant and destructive
In my piece yesterday looking at five fighters to watch at UFC 265, I included Miles Johns because of his devastating knockout last time out. I mentioned that if he produces anything even slightly similar, it will be another performance to remember. He did exactly that.
Against a tough Anderson dos Santos, Johns was dominant throughout. After immobilizing the Brazilian's lead leg in the opening round, which was seemingly already compromised by ligament damage heading into the bout, 'Chapo' went to work. Although dos Santos clearly has a chin, his striking defense was practically non-existent.
Heading into the final round, a huge KO seemed overdue. Just over a minute into the third frame, about half of which had been spent with more friendly exchanges than you'd like to see in a fight, Johns landed a classic 1-2 combo to finish the fight. After ripping the body, the 27-year-old sent dos Santos' unconscious body to the canvas with a brutal right hand. With back-to-back highlight reel KOs, Johns' next appearance will certainly be one to look out for.
Positive - Menifield evolves against a tough Herman
Not many bouts have encapsulated the word 'fight' better than the clash between Alonzo Menifield and Ed Herman at UFC 265. It was an important night for knockout artist 'Atomic' and he delivered in style.
The American broke onto the UFC scene with an eight-second KO win on Dana White’s Contender Series. In his first two UFC fights, Vinicius Moreira and Paul Craig fell to Menifield’s power. Heading into UFC 250, the 33-year-old was 9-0 with eight knockouts and one submission. Menifield’s weakness in the later rounds became evident when Devin Clark handed him his first loss.
But having gone 1-1 since, Menifeld had to put in an impressive performance at UFC 265. Showing his evolution since his defeat to Clark, the 33-year-old went the distance against one of the toughest men in the UFC and didn't gas out early. After damaging Herman's leg early, Menifield fought a smart fight until the final buzzer, with a few bursts of power throughout.
The prelim bout was an incredibly entertaining watch and the performance from Menifield was fantastic. Hopefully his victory last night was a big step forward in his career.
Positive - Another strawweight contender enters the mix
How stacked is the UFC women's strawweight division? At UFC 265, one woman returned to contention and joined a stacked group of 115-pound elites.
Tecia Torres has long been one of the best in the division. Having lost four in a row, she's spent a long time trying to prove that once again. But last night, a dominant and impressive performance against Angela Hill extended her winning streak to three and showed why she belongs at the top. Prior to her victories over Brianna Van Buren and Sam Hughes, 'The Tiny Tornado' had dropped four straight decisions. However, every loss came against the best in the division and three of them were to former champions.
But since her defeats to Jessica Andrade, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Zhang Weili and Marina Rodriguez, Torres has looked back to her best and her main card victory at UFC 265 put her right back into contention. Against Hill, her striking looked crisp, fast and powerful. Against a game opponent, the 31-year-old landed the better shots in practically every exchange. If she can record a fourth consecutive victory against another top contender next time out, Torres could well see herself fighting for gold for the first time in her career.
Positive - Luque stakes his claim for a title shot
Hands up if you predicted a first-round submission victory for Vicente Luque over Michael Chiesa. If you put your hand up, you're lying.
In a crucial matchup that pitched the No.5 and No.6-ranked welterweights together, one man emerged a big step closer to a title shot. In one of the most anticipated fights on the card, 'The Silent Assassin' clashed with Michael Chiesa. With wins over the likes of Rafael dos Anjos and Neil Magny, 'Maverick' rose quickly to the 170-pound top-five and was unbeaten in the division heading into this weekend's PPV.
But against Luque, Chiesa's control and dominance in his fights came to an end. After taking the Brazilian down with ease, the former lightweight looked close to a neck crank finish on two occasions after taking the 29-year-old's back. But in a remarkable transition, Luque escaped the hold, reversed the position and locked Chiesa in a tight D'arce choke. The submission marked the second in a row for Luque, having defeated former champ Tyron Woodley with the same choke at UFC 260.
Now on a four-fight winning streak and with a victory over a top-five under his belt, Luque is certainly in contention for a shot at Kamaru Usman's welterweight gold.
Negative - The PPV curse continues
I thought it was crazy when we saw back-to-back devastating injuries at UFC pay-per-views, but three in a row, four in a row, five in a row? Passing over from the 250's to the 260's has brought with it some excruciating and gruesome injuries.
At UFC 261, we saw one of the worst injuries in UFC history when Chris Weidman suffered a horrific broken leg against Uriah Hall. It was quite the welcome back for the Florida fans. A month later at UFC 262, we had perhaps one of the worst audible injuries, as Andre Muniz turned the tables on grappling legend Jacare Souza. The prospect broke the veteran's arm and the sound of the snap was sickening.
To complete the hat-trick and continue the streak, Paul Craig brutally wrenched the arm of the previously unbeaten Jamahal Hill at UFC 263. The elbow dislocation was gruesome, the stoppage was late, and the flopping limb as Craig threw strikes to finally force the stoppage made it that extra bit grimace-worthy. And in the UFC 264 main event, Conor McGregor made it four and brought the attention back to the legs. In his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier, the Irishman suffered a horrific broken leg in the final seconds of the opening round.
With Victoria Leonardo's broken arm at UFC 265, the streak of PPV breaks and dislocations has moved to five. If I'm a fighter, I'm sticking to Fight Night's for the foreseeable future...
Negative - "It doesn't matter"
This result should really be a positive. Manel Kape entered the UFC as an extremely exciting and highly regarded fighter. But the former Rizin bantamweight champion fell to two decisions and went into UFC 265 with an 0-2 record in the promotion and in desperate need of a win.
In the opening round, the Portuguese-Angolan hit the air and landed a clean flying knee. Ode Osbourne crashed to the canvas and a few follow-up shots signaled the end of the bout. Despite Osbourne's complaints, the look in his eyes as Kape jumped on him was enough to make the stoppage a good one.
But despite the finish and the performance, Kape's post-fight conduct and calls for a bonus put a downer on his win. After such a big weight miss, to ask for an extra $50,000 isn't what you want to see.
The lack of an apology for the discretion was disappointing, but his response when Cormier told him he couldn't receive a bonus after missing weight was not good. To say "it doesn't matter" was a terrible response to a three-pound weight miss.
Hopefully the excitement of performing in front of a crowd and recording his first UFC win was the reason for it, but even so, it was a poor showing after an incredible stoppage.
