UFC Fight Night 70 Results: The Real Winners and Losers
The highs were high and the lows were low at UFC Fight Night 70. There were brutal knockouts and there were dreadful bores scattered throughout the night, but the card delivered on the whole.
The biggest winner of the night was, clearly, main eventer Yoel Romero, who defeated Lyoto Machida via third-round knockout. The Olympic silver medalist is one of the most terrifying fighters in MMA today and, in spite of being 38 years old, seems to be a physical threat on par with anyone else in the sport. Romero's win vaults him into title contention and possibly sets him up to step over fellow contender Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza as the next in line for the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold.
Though Romero's star power and place in the rankings may be at an all-time high, with his victory being labeled a "signature win" by MMAFighting.com's Luke Thomas and Romero being labeled a "nightmare machine" by Bleacher Report's Jeremy Botter, he still refused to call for a title shot. "Whatever the UFC gives me, I will take," he said through a translator at the Fight Night 70 post-fight press conference.
The biggest loser is tougher to call in theory, but pretty easy to pick in practice.
Steve Bosse came out of retirement to face fringe top-10 light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado on the main card of UFC 186. Unfortunately, he would wind up being moved off pay-per-view and onto free television to face the relatively unknown Thiago Santos.
That's a major downgrade no matter how one slices it. And how did that go for him? His head got kicked into the fifth row!
Who else came out a winner at Fight Night 70? Who else came out worse for wear? Read on and find out.
Real Winner: 'The Ultimate Fighter' Season 18's Credibility
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Result
Sirwan Kakai def. Danny Martinez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Real Winner
One big shot can end a fight, even if it reaches the judges. After a few minutes of back-and-forth action, Sirwan Kakai landed a brutal knee to Danny Martinez along the perimeter of the cage. While Martinez wasn't knocked out at that point, he may as well have been.
Kakai controlled the pace and location of the fight with minimal effort from that point on, working Martinez over on the ground and in the clinch. That set up a unanimous 30-27 decision win for Kakai and added another name to the stable of talent that started on The Ultimate Fighter Season 18.
Analysis
Initially, it seemed as though The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 was going to be one to forget. The four semifinalists have fought a combined three times since the finale, and the only female cast member to have any real success since has been Invicta FC's Roxanne Modafferi.
In recent months, however, the season has looked better and better in retrospect. Kakai added to that legacy with this strong performance, even if he didn't quite make it into the house back in 2013.
Real Winner: Leandro Silva's Legitimacy
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Result
Leandro Silva def. Lewis Gonzalez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-27)
Real Winner
Leandro Silva is not a technically brilliant grappler, but he didn't need to be to defeat Lewis Gonzalez. For 15 minutes, Silva took Gonzalez down, worked for a submission, lost position and scrambled away from danger. While few fighters cowered in their seats about potentially facing him in the future, his ability to control Gonzalez was enough to earn him a unanimous decision win.
Analysis
Silva entered Fight Night 70 in desperate need of a win. His Fight Night 62 bout with Drew Dober, infamous for the referee mistakenly waving things to a close because he believed Dober to be unconscious from a not-even-sunk-in choke, lives on in infamy. Even though the turn of events wasn't his fault, an emphatic victory was required to restore his credibility as a fighter. He got it.
Real Winner: Easy Weight Cuts
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Result
Tony Sims def. Steve Montgomery by TKO via punches at 2:43 of Round 1
Alex Oliveira def. Joe Merritt by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Real Winner
Computer hiccups with the U.S. Department of State forced numerous fighters off the UFC Fight Night 70 card and tasked the UFC with some creative matchmaking. In a sign of things to come, lightweights Tony Sims and Alex Oliveira took short-notice fights at 170 pounds and picked up solid wins at the expense of their heavier opponents, Steve Montgomery and Joe Merritt.
Analysis
The UFC may be shaken up in a big way over the coming months with rumbles of a USADA ban on fighters intravenously rehydrating. Cutting weight is a huge part of MMA today, and many fighters use saline drips as a way to recover after weigh-ins. If this practice is ended, we could see many fighters, champions included, forced to move up in weight.
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Real Loser: Hockey Enforcers
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Result
Thiago Santos def. Steve Bosse by KO via headkick at 0:29 of Round 1
Real Loser
On Friday night, Bellator's Hisaki Kato posted a superman punch knockout that set social media on fire. UFC Fight Night 70's Thiago Santos, however, was not to be outdone. Opposite Steve Bosse, the Brazilian nailed a cringe-worthy headkick that landed square to the temple and left the former goon on the mat, stiffened in place.
Analysis
This was as scary as any knockout you have ever seen. Barboza vs. Etim? Evans vs. Salmon? Rampage vs. Silva 3? Henderson vs. Bisping? On par with any of them.
Bosse was able to leave under his own power, but man...these are the fights that remind you that, one day, somebody is going to die in the Octagon.
Real Loser: Eddie Gordon
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Result
Antonio Carlos Junior def. Eddie Gordon by submission via rear-naked choke at 4:37 of Round 3
Real Loser
Eddie "Truck" Gordon didn't look like he belonged in the same cage as Antonio Carlos Junior. The TUF19 winner was utterly dominated. Junior freely took him down and worked him over in the clinch during the moments where he wasn't being smothered on the mat. The end came via a crushing rear-naked choke in the third round.
Analysis
Precedent suggests Gordon's days as a UFC fighter are likely over. The only other TUF winner to drop his first three fights after the show is Colton Smith...who is currently fighting for Rocks Xtreme MMA in Texas.
While Junior is no slouch, Truck is now on a three-fight losing streak, with two of those losses coming via ugly stoppage and the other via forgettable split decision. The outlook is bleak.
Real Loser: Santiago Ponzinibbio's Left Leg and Face
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Result
Lorenz Larkin def. Santiago Ponzinibbio by TKO via punches at 3:07 of Round 2
Real Loser
Lorenz Larkin's strategy for his fight with Santiago Ponzinibbio was obvious from the get-go. He was going to kick him in the leg, and he was going to punch him in the face. He executed that game plan perfectly, too, giving him a limp in the first round and following it up with a big headache in the second.
Analysis
Larkin is a whole new man at 170 pounds. How he became a contender at 205, and why he even bothered to compete in such a high weight class, feels like a mystery at this point. The Monsoon is one of the hardest hitters in the welterweight division, and boy, it's hard not to be excited for his next fight.
Unfortunately, the 28 year-old didn't make any notable call-outs after the fight. In fact, he did the exact opposite, downplaying his 2012 win over now-UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler by saying "that was the past" during the post-fight presser, and provoking yawns from fans and media members by promising to "keep working his way to the top." Here's hoping he can discover some mic skills before his next fight.
Real Loser: MMA Fans
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Result
Yoel Romero def. Lyoto Machida by TKO via punches and elbows at 1:38 of Round 3
Real Loser
For 11 minutes, Yoel Romero vs. Lyoto Machida was the standard cat-and-mouse affair one expects from the former light heavyweight champ. Then Romero flipped Machida upside-down with a takedown attempt. It was an impressive feat of strength followed by an impressive feat of brutality, as Romero landed a flurry of short elbows from the guard that knocked Machida out cold.
Analysis
This may be a good day for Romero, but it's a terrible day for fans.
Machida is, quite simply, a special fighter. For the first 15 years of western MMA, karate was scoffed at as a "fake" martial art that had no place in the "real" fighting that took place in the UFC.
Then came the Dragon. He pawed. He feinted. He wiggled his hips. He baited in opponents and then blam. They were done. Machida revolutionized MMA and reasserted the relevance and value of traditional martial arts, one opponent at a time.
Now 37 years old, however, the spring seems to have left his step. The kicks don't seem as quick. The punches don't seem to have the same sting.
This could very well be the end of the Machida Era. If it is, then this is a sad end to a truly legendary career.
Full Results
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- Yoel Romero defeats Lyoto Machida by KO at 1:38 of the third round
- Lorenz Larkin defeats Santiago Ponzinibbio by TKO at 3:07 of the second round
- Antonio Carlos Junior defeats Eddie Gordon via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:37 of the third round
- Thiago Santos defeats Steve Bosse by KO at 0:29 of the first round
- Hacran Dias defeats Levan Makashvili by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Alex Oliveira defeats Joe Merritt by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Leandro Silva defeats Lewis Gonzalez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Tony Sims defeats Steve Montgomery by KO at 2:43 of the first round
- Sirwan Kakai defeats Danny Martinez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
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