UFC Fight Night 71 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Mir vs. Duffee Card

Scott HarrisJul 15, 2015

We had a long wait between UFC events. Three days, to be exact.

After what was, by any measure, a truly monumental event in UFC 189 on Saturday, as well as a pretty decent layer of icing in Sunday's The Ultimate Fighter 21 finale, we had UFC Fight Night 71, going down on Wednesday night from San Diego, California.

With so much MMA action in recent days (and another UFC card, plus a Bellator card on Friday), why spend a midsummer evening on a middling midweek fight card?

I understand the concern, but I must beg to differ. In the main event, heavyweight power striker Todd Duffee tried to finally convert his potential to kinetic energy against aging two-time UFC champion Frank Mir.

Also on the main card, well-hyped women's boxing champ Holly Holm fought for the second time in the UFC, taking on relatively unheralded but dangerous challenger in Marion Reneau.

Not enough to wet your whistle? Got other plans in mid-July? So be it. That's why we're here, and as always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 71.

In the spirit of thoroughness, full results appear on the final slide.

Winner: Frank Mir

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Jason da Silva-USA TODAY Sports

Just when you think Frank Mir is out, he pulls you back in.

Not only did Mir defeat an opponent seven years his junior in Todd Duffee, he also defeated Duffee at his own game. He slugged it out with a dangerous slugger, a slugger who has knocked out each of his last two opponents inside 90 seconds.

No matter. The old man took advantage of Duffee's early sloppiness and sent a punch down the pipe that sent Duffee to the floor and put Mir back in the winner's circle.

"I can fight hard with the young bull," Mir told broadcaster Jon Anik in the cage after the fight (h/t MMAWeekly.com). "But I can still be the matador."

What's next for Mir? It's hard to know whether he's on the novelty circuit or the regular circuit. He's not in title contention, even in the thin and wacky heavyweight division, but he's certainly closer than he was a few days ago. And he deserves respect from all the other old men out there who like showing the young bucks how it's done.

Loser: Todd Duffee

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Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Todd Duffee

This is it for Todd Duffee.

Everyone wanted the 29-year-old with the Terminator physique and the hard-luck backstory to make his coming-out appearance on Wednesday. Mir was just a mannequin of sorts in the minds of many, including this author's.

It was more than just the knockout, which saw Duffee hit the floor like a bag of mulch. It was the surprisingly easy way in which Mir knocked Duffee off his game. All Mir had to do was bully the proverbial bully. Within seconds, Duffee was flustered. His arms started to fly open on his punches, and that's when Mir caught him inside.

For all his first-round finishing power, Duffee doesn't have what it takes to hang at this level. It might not be the story we wanted, but it is the truth.

Winner: Holly Holm

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Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Holly Holm looked a lot better in this fight than she did in her last fight. But that might not be saying too much.

Her opponent, Marion Reneau, was on a nice winning streak and had established herself as a fighter to watch in the women's bantamweight division.

She disestablished herself in the division on Wednesday.

Reneau was tentative throughout, as Holm showed an aggression and confidence that was lacking in her UFC debut, a shaky split-decision win.

It was a bit sloppy on both ends, but credit to Holm for doing enough to earn a clear victory. Onward and upward.

Loser: Scott Jorgensen

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Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports

Scott Jorgensen is a well-loved fighter, going back to his days in the now-defunct WEC. He's had battles with the likes of Urijah Faber, Dominick Cruz and Brad Pickett, among many others.

He didn't look good on Wednesday night. In his return to his natural home at bantamweight, Jorgensen didn't have the power, the takedown explosion, the defense or the anything else to handle a fairly mediocre fighter in Manny Gamburyan.

Jorgensen has now dropped two straight bouts, five of his last six and seven of his last nine. Could Jorgensen get one more shot in the UFC? He might. But it's hard to see him doing much with it outside of a tomato-can gift.

Winner: Kevin Lee

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Tim Larsen/Associated Press

Kevin Lee is only 22 years old. Therefore, the fact that he has won four straight fights in the UFC is, well, pretty good.

The top achievement of his career came at Fight Night 71, when he outclassed and outmatched James Moontasri with takedowns, bested him in the scramble and ultimately submitted him well before the first-round horn.

How about a top-15 opponent for Lee? How about Beneil Dariush? Lee certainly deserves that sort of challenge.

Loser: Rani Yahya

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Jason da Silva-USA TODAY Sports

To the untrained eye, it appeared as though Rani Yahya faded down the stretch. Any steam that started the fight in a position to help his punches, well, it had evaporated halfway through the second round. According to stat-keeper Jason Floyd, Yahya only landed four of his 14 takedown attempts. That's not very good.

Oh, but that's not to mention the striking. According to Floyd, Yahya only connected on 20 of 70 total strikes for a 37 percent success rate. His opponent, Masanori Kanehara, landed 136 of 157 total strikes—a higher raw number as well as a higher accuracy percentage (87).

But the numbers don't necessarily tell any good stories, at least not if you're an average MMA judge. Yahya took the split-decision win. It was a close and low-energy fight with neither man mounting much offense. Still, that was robbery right there.