UFC 291 Recap
UFC 291 Dustin Poirier VS Justin Gaethje was as exciting as everyone thought it would be. Not only was the main event for the BMF belt full of energy, but the entire card was absolutely entertaining. Of the 11 total fights, only 2 ended in decisions. All other fights were knockouts or submissions. The highlight of the night was Derrick Lewis. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend you watch his post-fight celebration and interview.
Early Prelims
Flyweight 125lb Miranda Maverick VS Priscila Cachoeira
Winner: Miranda Maverick, 3rd round Armbar
Miranda started wrestling in high school and it was evident throughout the fight. Her game plan was simple: take down Cachoeira, keep her against the cage, and punish her with the ground and pound. It worked. Maverick clearly won the first two rounds.
After the 2nd round Cachoeira’s corner told her to throw those hands because they thought Maverick would be lazy in the 3rd round in order to preserve the win. They were wrong. At the beginning of the third round, Maverick got a couple of good punches to Cachoeira’s head that setup the takedown. She landed on top and worked her way into submitting Cachoeira with an armbar.
To make the victory even sweeter, Maverick took the fight on short notice.
Welterweight 170lb Matthew Semelsberger VS Uros Medic
Winner: Uros Medic, 3rd round Knockout
Uros Medic, the underdog, won in an action-packed fight. All striking, no grappling. Just like Miranda Maverick, Medic took the fight on short notice and won. I should have known Medic would win this fight based solely on Daniel Cormeir hyping up Semelsberger because he played football in college…. At the FCS level in the Pioneer League.
Anyway, round one started off hot and fast with Semelsberger almost finishing the fight by knocking Medic down and laying on some heavy ground and pound. The ref was standing by, and ready to stop the fight. However, Medic was able to recover and get on his feet, and I’m not sure how. Semelsberger won the first round easily with two knockdowns.
The second round was entertaining as well with both fighters exchanging hits, but it was not as fast paced as round one. Both fighters in the second round were more controlled and cautious with their striking. It’s almost as if they were feeling each other out.
In the third round, both guys start out throwing hands with Medic starting to pick up momentum. Then, Medic hits Semelsberger with a solid left and right hook followed by a spinning back elbow that knocks him down. Medic follows him to the mat and finishes the fight with the good ole ground and pound.
Prelims
Welterweight 170 Jake Matthews VS Darrius Flowers
Winner: Jake Matthews, 2nd round Rear Naked Choke
Round one between the two fighters was a back-and-forth fight. Matthews starts the fight off as the more active fighter, but then Flowers starts to pick it up and has Matthews back peddling. Matthews stumbles Flowers with a punch, but he quickly regains his composure. However, Flowers ends the round by taking Matthews down off his front kick.
Round two starts off with Matthews kicking Flowers in the groin, and the ref calls a stoppage. The nut shot is controversial because the slow-motion replay showed Mathew’s foot clearly connecting with Flower’s stomach and the crowd starts booing loudly. Still, Flowers is really acting like he was kicked in the groin, which prompts the cage side doctor to check on Flowers. He gets cleared to fight and the fight continues.
Immediately after the fight continues from the stoppage, Matthews throws another front kick to the body. The beginning of the end for Flowers is when he goes in on a poorly attempted takedown, which ends up having Matthews on top of him. Matthews attempts a kimura and almost has it, but ends up laying some ground and pound and taking Flower’s back to submit him with a rear naked choke.
Nut shot into a rear naked choke. I’ll have to practice that.
Middleweight 185lb Roman Kopylov VS Claudio Ribeiro
Winner: Roman Kopylov, 2nd round Head Kick
When the fighters are walking to the cage and the commentating crew are talking about them, they mentioned Ribeiro was on the Brazilian National Muay Thai Team and Kopylov was on the Russian National Hand to Hand Combat Team. Neither me nor the commentators knew what that meant. Turns out, it means Kopylov has a nasty head kick.
In round one, the fight starts slow with both guys feeling each other out. Then Kopylov starts picking up the pace by throwing a lot of left round house kicks to Ribeiro’s body. Near the end of the round Ribeiro hits Kopylov with shots to the face and ends the round pressuring Kopylov against the cage.
I have the first round going to Kopylov. Also, Ribeiro looks gassed at the end of the round. Perhaps being exhausted played a big role in his loss. At the beginning of round two Kopylov quickly ends the fight with a nasty left head kick that immediately knocks out Ribeiro.
I guess that hand to hand combat is legit.
Flyweight 125lb CJ Vergara VS Vinicius Salvador
Winner: CJ Vergara, Unanimous Decision
This is one of only two fights that went to decision all night. The other being the co-main event, Jan Blachowicz VS Alex Pereira.
The fight started slow, but with each round the pace and the action kept growing. It was all striking with very little grappling. I have Salvador winning the first round, Vergara winning the third round, and the second round being a toss-up. Vergara was clearly the better fighter, but if you watched the fight it is very clear that he was a lot shorter than Salvador. That’s why he started the fight slowly. He was feeling out Salvador trying to get the distance and timing right.
Nevertheless, the judges scored all three rounds in favor of Vergara for the unanimous decision. I guess I don’t know nothing.
Welterweight 170lb Gabriel Bonfim VS Trevin Giles
Winner: Gabriel Bonfim, 1st round Guillotine Choke
Not much to say here. Bonfim is the former LFA champ coming into the fight with a 14-0 record. He quickly chokes out Giles in the first round. I’m looking forward to his next fight.
Congrats on 15-0!
Main Card
Welterweight 170lb Michael Chiesa VS Kevin Holland
Winner: Kevin Holland, 1st round Darce Choke
It’s funny how Chiesa’s game plan was to grapple Holland and choke him out, but ends up being darce choked.
Holland started the fight aggressively with his striking and didn’t let up. He hits Chiesa with a knee to the torso that knocks him down. From there Holland gets on top and finishes him with a darce choke.
Holland is known for his striking while having subpar wrestling/grappling. However, in this fight he stuffed two of Chiesa’s takedowns and in his post-fight octagon interview he gives praise to his new wrestling coach. If he keeps improving his wrestling/grappling he will be lethal.
Lightweight 150lb Tony Ferguson VS Bobby Green
Winner: Bobby Green, 3rd round Arm Triangle
The fight was active from the get-go. However, Green was the more active fighter landing more hits, and in my book won the first two rounds and was winning round three before he got the submission win.
Tony’s downfall was in the third round. When they were standing, Green had his back. He tried to take him down by rolling into a knee bar, but it failed horribly. Green ends up on top and finishes him with an arm triangle with 6 seconds left on the clock.
Tony Ferguson is one of my favorite fighters, but he is 39 years old. Losing this fight makes him 0-6 in his last six fights. It’s painful watching his decline.
Heavyweight Derrick Lewis Vs Marcos Rogerio De Lima
Winner: Derrick Lewis, 1st round Knock Out
Derrick Lewis weighed-in over 260 pounds. He starts the fight by running to his opponent and hitting him with a FLYING KNEE that connects to the chin. Of course, De Lima gets knocked down and Lewis finishes him with the ground and pound.
This knock out win gives him the UFC record for most knockouts with 14! His post-fight interview was great. I recommend everyone watch it. Also, this was his last fight on his current contract. I hope he gets resigned and gets that bag.
Light Heavyweight 205lb Jan Blachowicz VS Alex Pereira
Winner: Alex Pereira, Three Round Split Decision
First and foremost, Pereira is a massive person. All his previous UFC fights have been at 185lb. This was his first fight at 205lb, and he was bigger than the former champ Jan. It would not surprise me if one day Pereira becomes the heavyweight champion.
In round one Jan goes for the take down and works his way to Pereira’s back. He wraps his legs around Pereira’s torso with a body triangle and for the remainder of the round he tries and fails multiple times to get a rear naked choke. It’s clear Jan won the first round, but he was gassed and breathing heavy for the rest of the fight.
In rounds two and three Pereira picks up momentum and lands some good shots on Jan, and is clearly doing more damage. At the end of the third round Jan gets a takedown, but it’s too little too late. Pereira wins by split decision.
If you check out Jan’s Instagram, he thinks he got robbed by the judges…. Maybe, maybe not.
Lightweight 150lb Dustin Poirier VS Justin Gaethje for the BMF Belt
Winner: Justin Gaethje, 2nd round head kick
There is something in the water in Salt Lake City, Utah. The last UFC event there was UFC 286. In that main event between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman, Edwards knocks out Usman with a straight punch followed by a round house kick to the head. Gaethje won the exact same way. In fact, the UFC showed a side-by-side comparison of both knockouts to show how similar they are. I think the UFC did Usman and Poirier dirty by doing that…. I still loved it.
Round one is what everyone thought it would be. It was full of energy and the crowd was chanting for both fighters loudly. It was action packed; both guys throwing their hands early and often. Gaethje got a cut near his eye from one of Poirier’s punches that clearly affected him. He was a little hesitant with his punches, and Poirier became more active in the round. I’d give the first round to Poirier. It doesn’t really matter because Poirier gets knockout in the second round anyway.
In round two, Gaethje hits Poirier with a straight punch followed by a head kick that knocks him out immediately. The crazy thing is, Poirier had his left hand up to defend the kick. It was enough though.
In the post-fight octagon interview, Gaethje makes it clear he wants to fight the winner of UFC 294 Islam Machacheve VS Charles Olivera for the lightweight title. He prefers Olivera so he can get his shot at redemption when he lost to him previously at UFC 274.
Conclusion
Top to bottom this was an entertaining fight card. Only 2 of the 11 fights ended in decisions. I saw one of my favorites win and I saw another one lose. I saw some promising rising stars. I can’t wait for next UFC event.