UFC 231: What’s Next For The Losers?

UFC 231: What’s Next For The Losers?

By Ben Jessop

The much-anticipated UFC 231 took over Toronto last night and put on one of the best cards we’ve seen for some time. With the long-awaited clash of Holloway vs Ortega finally taking place, one of the best flyweight matchups you could make with Shevchenko vs Jedrzejczyk alongside a ridiculously stacked undercard, this event was sure to live up to expectations and it definitely delivered.

We saw some of the best fights possible, and saw every outcome, TKO’s, UD’s and submissions. The card promised a great night of fights and that’s exactly what we got.

Brian Ortega def by Max Holloway – Round 4 TKO

In arguably one of the best fights of 2018, Ortega and Holloway went to war, winning Fight of the Night along with Holloway earning a performance bonus. Although Holloway has faced a really difficult 2018, struggling to make-weight earlier in the year and with concerns about his health before this fight but with every fan crossing fingers, he made weight and unfortunately for Ortega came out looking as good as ever.

The fight in reality was dominated by Holloway right from the very beginning with his stand up game surpassing Ortega by a long shot. The concern for Holloway was Ortega’s insane jiu-jitsu and trying to not get tied up but with Ortega having a 14% takedown success versus Holloway’s impressive 83% takedown defence record, the fight stayed on the feet for the duration but with Holloway landing 290 significant strikes with a percentage 96.9% standing and Ortega landing 110, the fight was only ever really going in one direction. Out of Holloway’s 290 strikes, 244 were to the head. Ortega showed his granite chin along with real heart to continue to fight against the odds until the doctor stoppage in the fourth road as Ortega’s left eye was swollen to a point that he could no longer fight.

Dana White suggested in his post-fight interview that he wanted Holloway to move up to 155 having achieved everything possible at 145. With Dana also having Moicano in as the replacement for this bout, it would make sense for me to have Ortega take on Moicano again after their original fight back in July 2017. Both fighters have come on leaps and bounds since and it would be a real chance to see how top of tree should Holloway move to 155.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk def by Valentina Schevchenko – Unanimous Decision

This matchup was one that people had dreamt of for quite some time with both women proving themselves to be absolute beasts inside the octagon.

The fight went the whole distance and began as a very patient and technical procedure for both fighters. Jedrzejczyk was putting pressure throughout the opening rounds throwing her famous combinations and quick jabs but Schevchenko was more than happy to allow her to come forwards and wait for the opportunity when she left herself open. In the second round Schevchenko managed to hold Jedrzejczyk to the fence and inflict lots of damage and take her down and continued to enjoy throwing elbows down from side control. As the fight continued into the championship rounds, both fighters became more erratic, both hoping for a lucky strike to put the other out before the bell tolled. The judges didn’t have that much of a decision to make and scored it 49-46 for Shevchenko.

This was a heavy defeat for Jedrzejczyk and removes any possibility of a title fight any time soon. Prior to this fight we had back-to-back losses against champ Rose Namajunas and this loss is her fourth to Shevchenko if you include her four losses in Muay Thai competition. She’ll still be facing a top ranked fighter but none of those are unlikely going to push her back to title contender status. She has the opportunity to fight at strawweight or flyweight but either way she’ll just be looking to put a win on her damaged record. Perhaps fighting the likes of Alexis Davis would be a good match up and hopefully allow her the confidence to move forward after a win.

Alex Oliveria def by Gunnar Nelson – Round 2 Submission

In the bloodiest contest of the night, Gunnar Nelson defeated Alex Oliveria via submission on the second round. Gunnar Nelson was making his return to the octagon after losing via a first round KO against Ponzinibbio, with something to now prove, he looked better than ever in the cage. Alex Oliveria came into this bout feeling confident after his spectacular win over Pedersoli Jr in just thirty-nine seconds of the first round.

Nelson began to punish Oliveria early in the first round and caught him with a heavy combination and early low kick as he managed to bully him against the cage as Oliveria fought back with heavy elbows to the back of the head, the tussle for the takedown was a non-starter as the referee separated the fighters. On the restart Nelson managed to secure the takedown and but it was quickly reversed by Oliveria who began to put heavy fire on Nelson, as the first round ended it appeared Nelson was going to have to pull something out of the bag to get himself back on top form.

At the start of the second round, a heavy blow from Oliveria made Nelson’s nose bleed leaving him dripping blood and struggling to concentrate as he’s put us against the fence but Nelson’s superior grappling allowed him to bring Oliveria to the ground, after a while of top mount Nelson had to produce something and as the round came to close he managed to lock into a rear naked choke and that was that – Win via second round submission.

Oliveria held his own strongly throughout this fight and lost at the end of the second round via submission but comfortably won the first, I would personally like to see him matchup with Neil Magny. Both fighters are well-rounded and have strong striking power. There’s no need for Oliveria to be looking down the rankings even in light of this loss.

Kyle Bochniak def by Hakeem Dawodu – Decision

What could have been the best fight of the evening, unfortunately didn’t turn out that way. Bochniak was struggling from the outset to pronounce any dominance and just could not implement a game plan against Dawodu who took apart Bochniak with clinical and technical striking with a high percentage landing.

Bochniak chin survived the first two rounds and seemingly became re-energised in the third managing to land a takedown but was unable to achieve any real damage even from good grappling positions. Dawodu managed to find a gap and bring the bout back to its feet and continued to strike Bochniak until the bell called the end of the fight.
Dawodu was awarded the decision with scores of 28-29, 30-27 and 30-27.

Bochniak will be disappointed with another loss rolling on from Zabit Magomedsharipov back in April of 2018 but he will need to keep his eyes focused on taking down the likes of Darren Elkins in order to help springboard his name into the rankings.

Jimi Manuwa def by Thiago Santos – Round 2 TKO

Thiago Santos and Jimi Manuwa has the privilege of opening UFC 231’s main card last night, most likely because match-makers were sure these two heavy hitting lightweights would put on show and they did not disappoint.

Manuwa came in on the back of two losses so was hungry to prove himself against a formidable opponent, he landed a heavy straight left that Santos managed to counter with an explosive combination that put Manuwa onto the floor, as Santos continued to pour shots onto Manuwa he was finally able along the side of the cage. Manuwa managed to mount his own offensive and looked like a new fighter even after the hard shot he’d just taken, as the two exchanged heavy shots it was Santos that came off worst being heavily rocked along the fence but was able to keep himself going until the second round.

The second round started with a flurry of haymakers that both fighters were more than happy to partake in. Santos managed to throw in a shovel hook that seemed to make Manuwa more than willing to throw absolute monsters until Santos forced heavy knees and a huge hook to which Manuwa was weak on his feet but not entirely out, until Santos stepped backwards and unleashed a fight-finishing left hook that left Manuwa out cold.

This was Manuwa’s third defeat on the bounce with two being KO’s, I would like to see him up against the likes of Mauricio Rua, who is coming off of the win against Tyson Pedro on the 1st of December. With both drivers being aggressive and both looking to dominate, it would make for an interesting match-up but Manuwa would need to implement a much better game-plan than he did last night – Throwing haymakers at Rua is asking for trouble. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do next.