(#5) Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier vs. (#6) Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje
In his 20th UFC fight, Poirier staked his claim for a lightweight title shot with a fourth round TKO victory over the formidable knockout artist, Gaethje. The Diamond came out striking, looking crisp and aggressive with his boxing. While Gaethje blocked what he could with his arms, Poirier’s jab and right hook were still finding the mark. Gaethje invested heavily in vicious leg kicks which started slowing Dustin late in round one, but Gaethje was already wearing a lot of damage on his face.
As the damage to Poirier’s lead leg accumulated, it was Gaethje pressuring, taking the center and stuffing takedowns. An unfortunate eye poke halted the action, but the firefight was already on. Gaethje continued his savage assault to the leg, but combos by Poirier were piling up damage to Gaethje’s head with no real investment in the body. With a completely mauled lead leg, Poirier was heading the wrong direction and his failed takedowns were costing energy. His hands, namely the straight left, continued to serve him well, but the leg damage led to Gaethje’s first big punch, a heavy right hand, which looked to stun Poirier but a lot of reaching by both men resulted in another eye poke and point deduction for Gaethje to end the third round. Unfortunate, but it was the right call by referee Herb Dean.
Heading into the fourth, Poirier was likely ahead by 4-points on the cards but momentum had certainly started to mount against him and he wasn’t going t be able to fight forever on one leg. Timing the incoming kick, Poirier countered with the straight left that badly wobbled Gaethje. He swarmed and landed enough follow up strikes to get the finish….a good stoppage to end a great fight. After the fight Poirier asked for a title shot against current champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, not that he doesn’t deserve it, but he just doesn’t have the best angle. However, there are some good potential #1 contender fights for him vs Kevin Lee or Edson Barboza, but a rematch with former champ Eddie Alvarez to settle their no contest from last year makes the most sense.
(#12) Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit vs. Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira
Cowboy Oliveira got the biggest win of his career when he tapped Condit, the former interim welterweight champ, with a guillotine choke in the second round. Of all the ways the fight could go, that was probably one of the least expected outcomes. Cowboy came out bouncing around early in a very explosive, karate-esque stance, reminiscent of Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Condit chased him into the clinch and the fight went to the ground, where a jittery Cowboy burnt a lot of energy and got reversed from failed guillotine. Condit wound up on top, slowly grinding and took Cowboy’s back in the scramble off the fence. For a moment things were dicey as Condit locked up the body triangle and worked for the choke, but Cowboy was saved by the bell at the end of the first round.
To start the second, Condit seemed confident and took the center but wound up on his back from odd high kick. The veteran reversed from scramble, but got cut badly in transition by an elbow from Cowboy. He was working top position well until he got up kicked by Oliveira and bucked. While scrambling back to their feet Condit got caught in a standing guillotine, which he fought valiantly for a while but got dragged to the ground and eventually tapped.
This was a huge feather in Cowboy’s hat and hill likely get top-15 ranking as a result, but as a long time fan of Condit, this was a tough pill to swallow. I have watched his career since the WEC days, and Carlos has always been a tough out. This loss makes four in a row and seven of his last nine, for a guy that has been notoriously hard to finish that’s two submission losses in his last four. It’s tough to say what’s next. He’s only 33 and still eyeing a fight with Matt Brown that would be a barn burner for sure. I’m not pointing the finger, but a change of scenery may do him good at this stage in his career.
Marvin “The Italian Dream” Vettori v. Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya
The highly touted, undefeated Adesanya improved his record to 13-0 with a surprising split decision win over the 24-year-old Italian. Vettori came out with early pressure, but Adesanya was moving incredibly well. He utilized inside leg kicks, a good jab, and a multitude of feints to keep Vettori out of rhythm. The striking disparity became evident in a hurry but Vettori was game although he was stiff and hesitant. Eventually, Vettori looked to grapple but his double-leg got stuffed and Adesanya continued the inside leg kicks, jab/right hand, and found some big right hands to the body.
Despite being beat up and one-sidedly dominated on the feet, Vettori never quit. Adesanya maybe got a little too cute for his own good fighting southpaw and gave up the takedown to Vettori into half guard. He didn’t show much of anything from his back but managed to fight back up, fail a lateral drop into another clinch and takedown for Vettori, but Herb Dean separated them relatively quickly for an uneventful ending. Adesanya clearly won the fight with relative ease, but somehow one of the judges saw the fight 29-28 for Vettori. The fight was never really close but it wasn’t a landslide win for Adesanya either. 29-28 unanimous decision would have accurate.
Adesanya needs to fight a top-15 middleweight next, preferably someone with a strong grappling pedigree or a competent striker. Brad Tavares comes to mind, he picked up a win on the prelims and is currently ranked 15th. Vettori is still only 24 and has a world of growth ahead of him, a top-15 opponent makes sense for him too.
(#7) Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson vs (#10) Cortney Casey-Sanchez
The Karate Hottie earned a narrow split decision win over Casey-Sanchez to continue her push towards the top of the women’s strawweight ladder. Waterson used movement to get the better of the striking for the first few minutes but Casey’s massive size and advantage made a big difference, hurting Waterson twice with big right hands. Waterson was giving up three inches in height and what appeared to be a lot of weight but managed to implement a good fight IQ to land clutch takedowns and use speed negate the size advantage.
The grappling took its toll on Casey, although Karate Hottie had to navigate some tricky submission attempts. Casey actually ended the third round with Watson’s arm in a bad spot, but didn’t have time to finish the submission. In the end, Casey’s size and power advantage weren’t enough to overcome the technique and timing of Waterson. The judges scored it a 29-28 split decision, for Waterson who should crack the top-five rankings now and probably fight the winner of (#3)Claudia Gadelha/(#6)Carla Esparza or (#4) Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Casey-Sanchez doesn’t own a great win/loss record, so she’ll likely fall outside the top-15 now.
UP NEXT…UFC Fight Night Sat. April 21st
