UFC Fight Night 88 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Las Vegas
UFC Fight Night 88 flew under the radar a bit. With the Sunday card wedged between higher-wattage pay-per-view cards and stashed in the guts of a holiday weekend, it's understandable that fans might overlook this event.
They shouldn't have.
It was chock-full of young talent and potentially explosive matchups. In the main event, undefeated up-and-comers Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt squared off to see who was ready to contend in the bantamweight division.
In the co-main event, former bantamweight champ Renan Barao made his UFC featherweight debut against headhunter Jeremy Stephens. Coming into Sunday, these two had 24 knockout wins between them.
There was intrigue all up and down the 12-fight slate, and as always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. The following are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 88.
For the literal-minded among us, full results appear on the final slide.
Winner: Cody Garbrandt
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On Sunday night, a star was born.
Cody Garbrandt controlled the main event with Thomas Almeida from the opening second until a demonic right hook turned off the lights just less than three minutes later.
Both of these men are 24 years old. Their combined record coming in was 29-0, with 26 finishes between them. These two are the future of the bantamweight division. They could both be future champions. It seems likely they'll see each other again.
But this was Garbrandt's night. Compared with Almeida's mad-surgeon muay thai, Garbrandt's striking tools seem pedestrian. A basic one-two punch combination and a big right hook are his primary weapons. That was the case Sunday night. What sets it apart is not the technique per se, but the astonishing power and speed with which Garbrandt deploys them. He had Almeida, who's known for slow-starting, on his heels the entire time.
"Right off the bat I felt like he wasn't attacking like he has anyone else," Garbrandt told broadcaster Megan Olivi on the Fox Sports 1 post-fight show. "I knew he respected my striking and power and I knew I had to jump on him early...I feel I [now] deserve some respect."
Respect is what he'll get. As for his next opponent, it's hard to say. Bryan Caraway got a good win Sunday night (more on him later). Garbrandt may not be ready for a title shot right this second, but there's no hurry. This performance might have cemented that as inevitable.
Loser: Renan Barao
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The quick erosion of a fighter's skills can be painful to witness. If Renan Barao's once-unrivaled skills aren't gone for good, he needs to go about getting them back post-haste.
His fight with Jeremy Stephens, which he lost by unanimous decision, was a close one. It could have gone either way. Barao landed takedowns and held his own in the standup.
At the same time, though, he appeared scrambled, his feathers ruffled early. Stephens' formidable punching power certainly had a hand in that, but it was stark to watch Barao lose a good portion of his composure.
Is the featherweight division the real home for him? He's small in his new division and doesn't appear to have the speed and quickness to negate that discrepancy.
It's not like the former bantamweight champ can't still compete and win. He can. But all of a sudden, the 29-year-old has lost three of four and is looking pretty shopworn. It's time for a turnaround, if such a thing is possible.
Winner: Rick Story
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As Bleacher Report's own technical analyst Patrick Wyman said on Twitter, there's "no mystery about what he's going to try to do, but good luck stopping the pressure."
That's a reference to the bull-of-a-welterweight, Rick Story, who returned to the Octagon after a year-and-a-half away and picked up right where he left off: with a win.
Story is unbelievably tough and simply relentless. He charged his way into the clinch and pounded on Tarec Saffiedine for three full rounds. Saffiedine, a very good fighter, simply had no answer.
That's now three in a row for Story. Before Sunday's fight and his extended injury absence, he handled Gunnar Nelson in a split decision. He has earned a shot at a top fighter. I say put him on November's New York card against the winner between Kelvin Gastelum and Johny Hendricks, who face off in July at UFC 200.
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Loser: Jorge Masvidal
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Another hard-luck night for Jorge Masvidal.
Some fighters are prone to close fights. Masvidal is one of them. And the bouts never seem to go his way.
In an excellent and compelling welterweight contest, Lorenz Larkin picked Masvidal apart with kicks from long range to grab a split decision.
Masvidal wasn't able to close the distance consistently enough to outscore Larkin, and he didn't use his wrestling, which looked to be an advantage for him on paper. An accidental—and unpunished—eye poke from Larkin left Masvidal in pain early and may have hampered his vision over the course of the fight.
As talented as Masvidal is, his output doesn't stay high enough. He is 1-3 in his last four UFC contests. All three defeats, including the one Sunday, came by split decision.
Masvidal addressed all these issues in a post-fight statement mailed by the UFC to media members.
“I don’t know how to win decisions," Masvidal said in the statement. "I just go out here and fight. I wanted to tire him out and work the body. I knew I hurt him with the knees in the clinch, but that eye poke was good for him. It allowed him to catch his breath and get back in it.”
Winner: Erik Koch
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The New Breed isn't so new anymore.
When Erik "New Breed" Koch stepped in against Shane Campbell, it was his first fight in more than two years, thanks to injuries. When he was last seen in the cage, he was losing to Daron Cruickshank—his third defeat in four contests.
It's been a fairly long road for Koch, who—despite being just 27 years old—has been a pro fighter for nine years. He got back on solid pavement Sunday with an impressive second-round chokeout of Campbell.
"People forgot my name," Koch observed to Anik in the cage after the fight. "I've been out for two years because of injuries...but this is just the beginning."
Maybe it is; maybe it isn't. But it's a return to form and a great win for a talented fighter and former contender. New Breed could breathe new life into the lightweight division.
Loser: "Mr. Tate"
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Some fans and fighters like to have a little fun at Bryan Caraway's expense. As the longtime boyfriend of current UFC women's bantamweight champ Miesha Tate, Caraway is referred to as "Mr. Tate" and things of that nature. Some people like to suggest Caraway is in Tate's shadow.
Hopefully we can retire that bit of silliness after Caraway's impressive split-decision win over super prospect Aljamain Sterling on Sunday's Fight Pass undercard.
Sterling, who indulged in some "Mr. Tate" stuff leading up to this fight, showed in the first round why he was one of the larger favorites on the card, according to Odds Shark. He pretzeled Caraway on the ground, staying one step ahead of the veteran throughout.
But then Sterling gassed, and Caraway—aided by some well-timed fence-grabbing—came on strong, blanketing the favorite on the ground and getting the better of the scrambles down the stretch.
It was arguably the biggest win of Caraway's career. It did (or should) exorcise that whole canard about him and Tate and pants-wearing or whatever.
UFC Fight Night 88 Full Card Results
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Main Card
Cody Garbrandt def. Thomas Almeida by KO, 2:53, Round 1
Jeremy Stephens def. Renan Barao by unanimous decision
Rick Story def. Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision
Chris Camozzi def. Vitor Miranda by unanimous decision
Lorenz Larkin def. Jorge Masvidal by split decision
Paul Felder def. Josh Burkman by unanimous decision
Preliminary Card
Sara McMann def. Jessica Eye by unanimous decision
Abel Trujillo def. Jordan Rinaldi by unanimous decision
Jake Collier def. Alberto Uda by TKO, 1:06, Round 2
Erik Koch def. Shane Campbell by submission (rear-naked choke), 3:02, Round 2
Bryan Caraway def. Aljamain Sterling by split decision
Adam Milstead def. Chris de la Rocha by TKO, 4:01, Round 2
Scott Harris is a lead writer for Bleacher Report MMA. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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