The Un(dercard)sung Heroes of UFN 17

Shortly after the UFC's recent edition of "UFC Fight Night," the undercard bout between Rich Clementi and Gleison Tibau was posted for free viewing on UFC.com.

This has become a common practice for the world’s MMA juggernaut, as I can recall bouts such as Cole Miller vs. Jorge Gurgel (UFC 86) and Dustin Hazelett vs. Josh Burkman (TUF7 Finale) getting similar treatment on their respective cards.

Of course, those bouts each had an instant draw to them; Miller’s triangle choke was deemed “Submission of the Night,” with Burkman and Hazelett being awarded “Fight of the Night” honors for their performances.

Despite last Saturday’s “Fight Night” offering making for an entertaining night of fights, nothing about Tibau vs. Clementi screamed must-see for me. It wasn’t anything that will round out a list of “Fight of the Year” candidates and the finish—while neat—was something we’ve all seen a million times.

No, this bout had something I felt had been long overdue: a convincing showing by Gleison Tibau.

Tibau has been a recent casualty of Joe Silva’s matchmaking, drawing the unfortunate pairing of 155-pound contenders Joe Stevenson and Tyson Griffin for his last two octagon outings.

No doubt a step up from Tibau’s previous UFC contests against Terry Etim and Jeff Cox, the Brazilian showed flashes of brilliance against both Griffin and Stevenson, but not enough to seal the upset.

The Stevenson bout sticks out in particular, as Tibau put one of the lightweight division’s more accomplished wrestlers on his back several times and managed to steal the first round in their UFC 86 encounter.

Unfortunately, a second-round Tibau shoot proved to be one too many and he left himself ripe for Stevenson’s trademark guillotine choke.

That’s why it was so refreshing to see Tibau piece together a complete performance last Saturday, especially against a fighter like Clementi, who is no slouch in his own right.

Tibau’s black belt-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was as potent as ever against Clementi, who seemed lost trying to operate off his back, as Tibau weaved through the Team Voodoo instructor’s guard with ease.

It was as convincing as a defeat as Clementi has ever been dealt and as such, he is now out of a job. Meanwhile, Tibau hangs around and continues to find some kind of momentum in the always-crowded UFC lightweight scene.

His situation is comparable to Clay Guida circa-2007, where Tibau shows potential in each fight, appears to have many of the tools to make some noise in the division, but can’t seem to put all together when needed most.

Here’s to hoping his performance against Clementi wasn’t a one-off stint.

Also of Note: Matthew Riddle and Nick Catone

Regardless of who you are or who you’re fighting, if you absorb virtually no damage for two rounds in a three-round fight, you’ve done something of note and you’re going to turn a few heads in the process.

Such is the case for “Ultimate Fighter 7” alum Matthew Riddle, who moved to 2-0 professionally with a convincing unanimous decision win over Steve Bruno in the preliminary card’s opening contest.

Riddle, despite being ousted in the second round of the reality show looked admirable in defeat against eventual show semifinalist Tim Credeur and is the one of only six “TUF 7” fighters still competing in the UFC.

Riddle’s encore to his decision win over Dante Rivera played out as expected. Dropping down to 170 pounds for the bout, Riddle’s size advantage over Bruno proved the difference maker in the bout.

Despite a slow start, once Riddle put his wrestling game to the test, the outcome of the fight never once seemed in doubt for the 23 year old. He corralled Bruno with relative ease, wearing him down with a mix of punches and elbows and by the time round three commenced, Bruno looked lifeless in his attempts to defend Riddle’s onslaught.

I also credit Riddle for sticking with what was working. Countless times have I seen fighters who spend far more time on their feet than they need to and end up paying dearly for it. Bruno caught Riddle with a slew of early right hands and once the first round closed, Riddle wasted no time in getting the fight to the ground once the horn sounded for the second and third rounds.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the card’s other unaired bright spots in Nick Catone, who had no problem adjusting to Derek Downey, a late replacement for the injured Amir Sadollah.

To give the CliffNotes version of Catone’s victory can be whittled down into one word: control.

Displaying a wrestling base just as dominant as Riddle’s, Catone gave Downey little room to work for anything in defense. Even managing to cause a hematoma the size of a tomato to form on Downey’s forehead, Catone worked a convincing display of ground-and-pound before opting to finish with a quickly-applied keylock submission.

It only left me wondering what kind of a threat Catone would pose to Sadollah, had he not gotten injured.