5 Rounds with Jonathan Snowden: The Best and Worst of UFC on Fox 15
UFC on Fox 15, a card that lived up to every bit of its promise, was all about renewal. From time to time the combat sports world must refresh itself with young challengers emerging from the battered remains of their predecessors.
This was one of those nights.
The Machida era, well and truly, has finally come to an end. Let's all welcome our new southern Californian surfer lords. And while Luke Rockhold certainly led the way, he had a cast of new characters behind him, with Max Holloway, Paige VanZant and Beneil Dariush staking their claims as potential contenders.
It was a big night for the UFC's future—but it wasn't quite perfect. In a new post-fight series, we'll look at the card as a whole and choose the five best and worst moments—the handful of things worth talking about on Twitter in the event's aftermath.
Want to extend the bout from five rounds into infinity? That's what the comments are for. Make your voice heard.
Round 1: Time for OSP to Grow Up
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Cageside for a Strikeforce Challengers card in Jackson, Mississippi, I watched Ovince Saint Preux, an unknown fighter from an unknown camp, brutalize Antwain Britt with a body kick and look desperately for a finish. That wasn't particularly noteworthy, a young fighter looking to make a splash in his major television debut being the norm and not the exception.
No, it was how he went about it that caught my eye, a calf slicer attempt being practically unheard of in modern MMA. He didn't manage to finish the fight that night but it was obvious, at the very least, that Saint Preux was going to be interesting.
Five years later, a slightly better-known fighter at a slightly better-known camp, Saint Preux remains an enigma. The potential remains—he showed it clearly when he clocked barista-turned-fighter Patrick Cummins with a left uppercut that ended his night.
"Number one thing coming in here was stopping the takedowns and landing the uppercut," Saint Preux said after the fight. "I knew I was landing one of them eventually."
But also on full display were all the flaws—the poor cardio, the garbage technique and the porous takedown defense—that have slowed his rise to the top. At 32, Saint Preux is no longer a young fighter. The time, absolutely, is now.
He's still operating with a prospect's mentality, biding his time as the big dog on the Knoxville MMA scene instead of taking his chances at one of the many MMA farms designed to turn potential into results. That has to change if he wants to live up to his enormous promise.
Round 2: You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello
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It was supposed to be a war, grizzled veteran Cub Swanson and Max Holloway, the delightful Dumbo-eared young fighter from Hawaii, brutalizing each other for our collective pleasure. Pundits, almost universally, proclaimed it the best fight of the night.
That didn't come to pass.
Swanson appeared in the cage pre-victimized, his last fight against Frankie Edgar seemingly having taken a permanent toll on his body. It's a price action fighters pay all too often in this sport. Before the bout, he listed his many wars as reasons he'd outlast the young Holloway. Instead they proved his undoing.
Holloway, more aggressive than we've ever seen him, worked Swanson over throughout, attacking the body and head with enthusiasm and vigor. Moving well, he avoided Swanson's haymakers and made him pay for each failed attempt.
By the time it was over, we were saying hello to a news star—and likely goodbye to an old friend.
Round 3: Let Paige Be
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Two fights into her UFC career and it's still entirely unclear what the promotion has in Paige VanZant. A 21-year old fighter with a cheerleader's pep, bouncy good looks and a stereotypical Mexican boxer's ring style, VanZant mauled poor Felice Herrig, a fighter better on Instagram than in the cage.
Herrig, a completely ordinary fighter who saw her record fall to 11-7, was outmatched athletically, unable to match VanZant's athleticism and unyielding aggression. But there were hints of trouble to come in the midst of the drubbing.
What was often effective aggression against Herrig would become sloppy overreaching against a better fighter. VanZant charges in recklessly. She engages on the ground recklessly. She found herself in bad positions over and over again.
That Herrig wasn't good enough to take advantage of her peccadilloes doesn't mean they weren't there. UFC, aided and abetted by an impatient MMA media, will be tempted to push VanZant too fast, furiously looking to make the most of what appears to be imminent stardom.
They shouldn't.
A young fighter like VanZant needs time to develop and make her mistakes against opponents, like Herrig, who are incapable of making her pay for imperfection. Give VanZant time to build her game, and her confidence, against the Herrigs of the world. Then, when it's time to unleash her on the world, she'll be a fighter worthy of the push—and one able to take advantage of it.
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Round 4: It's About Ethics in MMA Journalism
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Fox Sports continues to work current UFC fighters into its mix of talented broadcasters, offering what passes for analysis in a sport that doesn't tend towards introspection. It's an approach that can have its rewards. Active fighters forced to interact and discuss potential opponents and rivals can make for interesting television.
But the pitfalls are also clear, epitomized by Daniel Cormier's poor performance Saturday night alongside Curt Menefee and Brian Stann. Cormier proved unable of providing even a stab at impartial commentary when discussing teammate and protege Luke Rockhold.
He rushed immediately from the analyst's desk to cageside, where he worked Rockhold's corner, before returning to the broadcast only to berate middleweight champion Chris Weidman on his teammate's behalf. It was like bad wrestling theater, Cormier trying for WWE and delivering community access instead.
It was unseemly, but hardly the fighter's fault. Fox should have been aware of the conflict and put one of their other chatty Cathy fighters in Cormier's place.
Round 5: The End of an Era
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For a moment it looked like it was going to be Lyoto Machida by the numbers. Early in the first round, the former light heavyweight champion evaded opponent Luke Rockhold and blasted him with broadsides with both his left and right hands.
I settled in for what promised to be a five-round display of cat and (very dangerous) mouse.
And then Machida slipped, Rockhold pouncing like a man who had just seen a very shiny quarter on the sidewalk. The fight was never the same. Machida was all but a helpless babe on the mat, unable to free himself from a fighter who suddenly seemed to to have gotten away with slathering his body in Stickum.
As the first round came to a close, leaving fans with the tantalizing possibility of the two starting once again in Machida's world, Rockhold delivered an elbow near the ear, the Dragon's head pressed firmly against the canvas, forced to absorb every iota of kinetic energy.
The fight was effectively over.
Machida stumbled to his corner, but the fighter who emerged for Round 2 was a walking concussion in a Lyoto Machida suit. The end, a rear-naked choke victory for a fighter on the precipice of greatness, was already written.
Complete Results
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Main Card
Luke Rockhold def. Lyoto Machida by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:31, Rd. 2
Ronaldo Souza def. Chris Camozzi by submission (armbar), 2:33, Rd. 1
Max Holloway def. Cub Swanson by submission (guillotine choke), 3:58, Rd. 3
Paige VanZant def. Felice Herrig by unanimous decision
Preliminary Card
Beneil Dariush def. Jim Miller by unanimous decision
Ovince Saint Preux def. Patrick Cummins by KO, 4:54, Rd. 1
Gian Villante def. Corey Anderson by TKO, 4:18, Rd. 3
Aljamain Sterling def. Takeya Mizugaki by submission (arm triangle choke), 2:11, Rd. 3
Tim Means def. George Sullivan by submission (arm triangle choke), 3:41, Rd. 3
Diego Brandao def. Jimy Hettes by TKO, 5:00, Rd. 1
Chris Dempsey def. Eddie Gordon by split decision
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