Even before things went sideways last weekend and the event was moved from Las Vegas to Inglewood, Calif., the depth and quality of the card was being overlooked. The focus on the main-event combatants — and especially Jones — intensified after everything went down, leaving everyone else in the shadows.
The action took over when the athletes hit the Octagon on Saturday night, and a new set of stories and talking points emerged. Several really stood out.
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Here are 10 things we learned from UFC 232:
1. Jon Jones: Still unmatched
Jones again sits atop the UFC light heavyweight division after a third-round stoppage victory over Alexander Gustafsson in the main event.
A minute into the third round, Jones hit a beautifully timed takedown in the center of the Octagon and went to work, turning Gustafsson belly-down and unloading a torrent of punches that prompted referee Mike Beltran step in to wave off the fight. This was a classic Jones performance: He used the first round to find his range, the second to start opening up, and the third to turn up the pressure. He collected the dominant victory he wanted after cutting it close in his first meeting with the Swedish standout five years ago.
Few fighters are on Jones’ level in terms of talent, and his preparation and in-fight adjustments separate him from the pack. He finds little holes and exploits them, making opponents pay for leaving subtle openings that others wouldn’t even see. He attacks at all levels and in all phases. He is one of the most incredible talents to ever grace the Octagon.
Jones will never be able to escape his previous indiscretions, but his ability to set them aside and turn in outstanding performances like Saturday’s is a testament to his skills, his focus and the team around him.
2. Once more, but this time at heavyweight
After beating Gustafsson, Jones playfully invited Daniel Cormier to come back to light heavyweight and try to reclaim the title he relinquished Friday. Jones snickered at Cormier’s claim of being a “double champ” and his decision to let go of the belt now that Jones is back in the fold. He suggested they run it back once more at 205 pounds.
Given the tension between the two, a third fight is certainly a possibility and would be welcomed, but there really is little to be determined by them fighting at light heavyweight. They’ve done it twice already and Jones won both times, doing so more handily the second time around.
Yes, there are questions about Jones’ cleanliness and that could be a factor, but why not fight at heavyweight?
Cormier is undefeated as a heavyweight and has won his last two fights in the division in impressive fashion. He is the undisputed heavyweight champion and many believe that fighting in that class is where DC might hold an advantage over Jones, which could be why “Bones” continues to push for the fight to take place at 205.
If Jones is looking for a way to add to his legacy and set some of his troubles behind him, however, a clean run-up to a third fight and then beating Cormier at heavyweight would be one way to do it.
3. Amanda Nunes, two-division UFC champion
Nunes is the new women’s featherweight champion and the first female to hold two titles simultaneously after collecting a blistering 51-second, first-round, walkoff knockout of Cris Cyborg.
The dueling champions threw heat from the jump, rolling the dice that they would be able to take whatever came their way while landing the bigger blows. Nunes landed first and most frequently, staggering Cyborg with a right hand and then going on the attack. Knowing the dominant titleholder was hurt, “The Lioness” pressed forward and put her away, leaving Cyborg face down on the canvas and the capacity crowd at The Forum in hysterics.
This wasn’t just a victory — this was a shellacking, the kind of performance that cements Nunes’ standing as the best female fighter in the history of the sport and a superstar inside the Octagon. She has now laid waste to Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey and Cyborg, beating all three in the first round with minimal resistance. She also wins over flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko and Raquel Pennington for good measure.
UFC 232 LIVE BLOG: Nunes makes history, blasts Cyborg
Nunes has spent a lot of time in recent years sharpening her tools and tightening up her game, and Saturday night’s performance was the culmination of that work — a stunning, captivating victory over a previously unstoppable juggernaut.
Maybe now, two years after trouncing Rousey, ruling the bantamweight division and adding another title to her collection, people will stop worrying about pay-per-view buy rates and mainstream popularity and recognize that Nunes is a dominant force and a massive talent.
4. Chiesa impresses in welterweight debut
Michael Chiesa showed he is an intriguing addition to the division by dominating Carlos Condit on the canvas and securing the victory with a modified kimura just a minute into the second round.
From the outside, the former lightweight proved to be the superior wrestler, taking Condit to the canvas with relative ease. Though he was forced to defend a couple different submission attempts from “The Natural Born Killer” in the opening frame, Chiesa managed to avoid getting caught and went back on the offensive early in the middle stanza.
After putting Condit on the mat with ease, Chiesa attacked a kimura along the fence, shifting to a one-handed variation that straightened Condit’s arm out into more a wristlock and forced the veteran to tap.
It was a dominant performance by the former “TUF” winner, who has the size to compete at 170 pounds and will no longer be depleting his energy reserves in making the cut to lightweight. With the division in a state of flux, there is a huge opportunity for Chiesa to quickly climb into key fights in 2019, and if he can replicate the performance he turned in Saturday, “Maverick” could become a contender in his new division before the year is out.
5. Welcome to contention, Alexander Volkanovski
In a year in which New Zealanders Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker made waves in their respective divisions and Australia’s Tai Tuivasa established himself as one to watch in the heavyweight ranks, Alexander Volkanovski arguably had the best year of anyone representing the Oceanic nations.
After handing Jeremy Kennedy his first professional loss and putting a hurting on Darren Elkins in the summer, the diminutive Australian became just the fourth fighter to defeat Chad Mendes. The other three are Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor and Frankie Edgar.
The former rugby man — who played front row at a staggering 97 kg (214 pounds) — happily waded into the pocket to trade shots with the two-time title challenger and came away on the happy side of the exchanges. He was quick to get back to his feet whenever Mendes got him down and hurt the Team Alpha Male fighter with short, sharp strikes inside, eventually felling him with a tight series of punches along the fence.
Now a perfect 6-0 inside the Octagon and riding a 16-fight winning streak overall, Volkanovski described himself as “Max Holloway’s worst nightmare” in his postfight interview. Depending on how things shake out in the next couple of months, “Alexander the Great” might get the opportunity to test that theory against the dominant champion in 2019.
6. Concern for Cat Zingano
The highly anticipated clash between Zingano and Megan Anderson lasted just 61 seconds and ended with everyone worried about Zingano’s eyesight.
In one of the early exchanges, Zingano circled out of danger just as Anderson was throwing a high kick, and Anderson’s big toe clipped the former bantamweight title challenger directly in the right eye. Zingano immediately squinted and hustled to safety, trying to alert referee Marc Goddard to the situation.
The injury was the result of a legal strike, however, so the fight had to continue. After Anderson mercifully landed a shot to the body and held back on a head shot, Goddard was forced to bring the fight to an anticlimactic but concerning end.
Zingano hadn’t opened her eye by the time the decision was announced and Anderson was being interviewed in the cage. There was a genuine concern throughout the MMA community about whether she escaped serious injury. Thankfully, initial reports from The Forum suggested that Zingano just suffered a cut to her eyelid, which was repaired, and was not transported to the hospital.
Anderson said she’d be happy to run it back with Zingano if she were so inclined. With the UFC headed to Melbourne for UFC 234 on Feb. 9, adding the pairing to the card might be an option.
7. Petr Yan is a problem (for future opponents)
Yan is going to have a hard time finding opponents in 2019 because, through his first three UFC appearances, the former ACB standout has proven that he’s a dangerous addition to the bantamweight ranks.
Saturday night, “No Mercy” bludgeoned Douglas Silva de Andrade, prompting Silva de Andrade’s corner to throw in the towel after a hellacious second round in which their man mustered very little offense. After scoring a unanimous decision win in a “closer than expected, tougher than it looked” tilt against Jin Soo Son, Yan showed why he’s considered one of the best up-and-coming contenders on the roster by running through the previously ranked Brazilian.
After a performance like this — and with serious hype behind him — it will be interesting to see which top-10 bantamweights, if any, are going to be willing to share the cage with the 25-year-old in the year to come. Yan is a high-risk opponent for pretty much everyone who’s ranked ahead of him; that should make for interesting opportunities and exciting fights in 2019.
8. End of the line for Penn
B.J. Penn shouldn’t fight again.
Saturday night, the Hawaiian legend lost his sixth consecutive contest, succumbing to a nasty heel hook by Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Ryan Hall midway through the first round of their preliminary-card affair. It was an outstanding entry and finish by Hall and Penn tapped instantaneously, but “The Prodigy” never found himself in that type of situation during his heyday. As the losses mount, the reasons for him returning to the cage become fewer.
No one likes suggesting athletes should retire, but there comes a time when the evidence is just too much to overlook and we’ve reached that point with Penn.
In fact, if I’m being honest, we reached that point after Penn’s third loss to Frankie Edgar, when the former two-division champion offered a tearful farewell as he embarked on a retirement that lasted 2 1/2 years.
His three fights since returning have been heartbreaking. Penn doesn’t look all that different from his days atop the lightweight division, but his skills have eroded, his athleticism has faded and the ferocity that helped make him a legend is all but gone. This is how it was always going to end for Penn, but this should most definitely be the last time he steps into the Octagon to compete.
9. Bantamweight prospects to watch
The Fight Pass prelims were bookended by a pair of dynamic performances by bantamweight newcomers whom people need to keep an eye on in 2019.
In the first bout, Montel “Quick” Jackson lived up to his nickname by dispatching Brian Kelleher in 100 seconds, stinging him with strikes before forcing him to tap to a slick D’Arce choke. In the featured bout on the UFC’s streaming platform, 25-year-old English upstart Nathaniel Wood collected his second stoppage win in as many Octagon appearances, scoring a late submission of Andre Ewell.
While they come from different paths — Jackson was an Olympic hopeful who has only been a pro for 18 months; Wood is a former Cage Warriors champion and protege of Brad Pickett — both have shown flashes of elite potential in their initial forays into the UFC cage.
10. Start in the shallow end
Bevon Lewis looked outstanding in Season 2 of the Contender Series. He collected a first-round stoppage win and punched his ticket to the UFC. In the opening two rounds of his bout with Uriah Hall, it looked as though the Jackson-Wink MMA product was going to walk into the Octagon and take out a top-15 opponent in his first appearance.
Ninety seconds into the final frame, Hall uncorked a right hand that stopped Lewis dead in his tracks and brought the fight to an instant halt.
This is the downside of putting together fights in which promising newcomers are hustled into tricky matchups against seasoned, struggling veterans.
Confidence and momentum play significant roles in the fight game, and rather than giving the 27-year-old Lewis every opportunity to build a little of both by working his way up the divisional ladder, his UFC tenure has started with a knockout loss — the first loss of his career.
There are some young, inexperienced fighters who can make this kind of jump — to go from beating solid regional competition to besting polished, experienced, world-class talent — but the majority need time to grow. With the depth of talent in the UFC, there is no real reason to put newcomers in the deep end out of the gate.
Let these guys splash around in the shallow end for a little while, build some confidence, get a couple wins under their belts and work their way into bigger opportunities organically.
