UFC Fight Night 58: The Real Winners and Losers
The UFC made its final trip to Brazil for 2014 on Saturday night, pitting Lyoto Machida against CB Dollaway at UFC Fight Night 58. The event was a decent way to end the year—something to hold fans over until the massive UFC 182 happens in a couple of weeks.
Machida came out on top in the main event, landing a win that will shape the middleweight division heading into 2015. It was a single vicious kick that led to his success in a light night’s work to pick up a paycheck and set himself up to remain active at 185 pounds early in the new year.
Renan Barao also made his return in the co-main event, earning a submission win over Mitch Gagnon in front of his home fans.
Here are the winners and losers from the event.
Winner: Hacran Dias
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It wasn’t that long ago that people were talking about Darren Elkins as a sudden, surprise threat at featherweight. His hands were coming along to accentuate his wrestling, which was formidable to begin with, and in a thin division he might be a title contender before you knew it.
Hacran Dias didn’t get the message.
Though Elkins had alternated a loss and a win in his recent outings, no one would have anticipated that Dias would outgrind Elkins—particularly considering he’d just lost two in a row to tough wrestlers of a similar ilk.
He did, and all of a sudden he’ll find himself on the fringes of the top 10 on the next rankings list. That’s a win.
Loser: Igor Pokrajac
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Pokrajac is a longtime UFC veteran who’s been a serious test for up-and-comers for some time now, but that time may be over. He’s lost four straight, broken up by a loss that was overturned to a no-contest when his opponent popped for a banned substance.
That’s technically five losses in a row, which is almost unheard of for a UFC-level fighter, even in a relatively shallow division. When you’re losing to The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 competitors—not even winners, just guys who showed up there—it’s probably a wrap on your UFC run.
He may be saved by outcry over the stoppage, which many felt was premature, but he’s not talented enough or a big enough name to have much latitude in that regard. Whether he gets another chance will essentially boil down to the goodwill of the promotion.
Chalk it up as a loss on his record, and probably beyond.
Winner: Erick Silva
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Though the idea that a 30-year-old with nine fights in the UFC is a prospect is absurd, at this point Silva has settled into a nice role as a regional star who’ll always have work when the promotion heads to Brazil. He may never be the contender some thought he’d be in the early days of his UFC run, but that’s no crime.
In a rebound performance after his bout with Matt Brown—one that may well have taken years off his life back in May—Silva choked out Mike Rhodes in just over a minute to pick up a win and send his countrymen into a frenzy.
There are worse lots in life than that. Definitely a win.
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Loser: Renan Barao
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Though the announce team would have one think otherwise, and he did eventually get the win over an exhausted Mitch Gagnon, Barao did little to quell concerns that he’ll never be the same after his UFC 173 loss to TJ Dillashaw. Fans were chanting enthusiastically of his return when he procured the tap, but they may have spoken too soon. We’ll need at least another fight to know for sure.
Barao struggled with Gagnon’s combinations, which were relatively rudimentary and shouldn’t have posed a problem for a striker of Barao’s caliber, particularly considering Gagnon’s background as primarily a grappler. His takedown defense was good, but aside from that it was an ordinary performance for a guy with apparent championship aspirations.
It’s weird saying a guy who won was a loser on the evening, but in the broader sense of the term and beyond what his record will say, he was.
Winner: Lyoto Machida
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A few times per year, MMA fans get to see the perfection in martial arts that Machida represents. Long after he’s gone from the sport, people will look back on his career with the type of reverence now reserved for the legends who came before him, largely because of how unique his tools are to the game.
It took him about 30 seconds to likely break CB Dollaway’s ribs with a kick and remind everyone that, even if he had been on a nice little run leading up to this bout, the American had no business being in there with one of the best to ever set foot in the cage.
Machida is a winner here in the Octagon. Due to his success and how he went about, he's no more than a fight or two away from a second crack at Chris Weidman’s middleweight strap.
Loser: CABMMA
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Sometimes, there are growing pains in a new region when MMA takes off—be it because stagnant, old boxing commissions are in charge or because an entirely new entity needs to be constructed to monitor MMA in the area.
CABMMA has had its share of stumbles since being implemented—be it through drug test concerns, shoddy judging or the willingness to buoy the career of Vitor Belfort in his TRT-infused prime. Saturday night was another example of how far the commission has to go.
With a bad stoppage, missed fence grabbing and a series of weird injury fouls, there wasn’t much to be proud of for those who regulated Fight Night 58. This was representative of growing pains, but those pains that don’t seem to be improving as time passes.
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