UFC Fight Night 91 Results: 5 Burning Questions Heading into UFC on Fox 20
UFC Fight Night 91 is in the books. The results are as follows (h/t Bleacher Report's very own Craig Amos):
Fight Night 91 Main Card on Fox Sports 1
- John Lineker def. Michael McDonald, knockout (Round 1, 2:43)
- Tony Ferguson def. Landon Vannata, submission (Round 2, 2:22)
- Tim Boetsch def. Josh Samman, TKO (Round 2, 3:49)
- Daniel Omielanczuk def. Aleksei Oleinik, majority decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Keita Nakamura def. Kyle Noke, submission (Round 2, 4:59)
- Louis Smolka def. Ben Nguyen, TKO (Round 2. 4:41)
Prelims on Fight Network and UFC Fight Pass
- Katlyn Chookagian def. Lauren Murphy, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Sam Alvey def. Eric Spicely, submission (Round 1, 2:43)
- Cortney Casey def. Cristina Stanciu, TKO (Round 1, 2:36)
- Scott Holtzman def. Cody Pfister, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Prelims on UFC Fight Pass
- Rani Yahya def. Matthew Lopez, submission (Round 3, 4:19)
- Alex Nicholson def. Devin Clark, knockout (Round 1, 4:57)
Next up? UFC on Fox 20.
While Fight Night 91 lacked any legitimately established names, UFC on Fox 20 has three very interesting ones at the top of the card: Holly Holm, Gilbert Melendez and Edson Barboza. The rest of the card? Eh...here's hoping it's fun.
So what should fans be talking about with those three fighters? And what else is there to look out for on this card?
Read on and find out!
What Does Eddie Wineland Have Left?
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The Fight: Frankie Saenz vs. Eddie Wineland
The Real Fight: Eddie Wineland vs. Layoffs, Age, Losses, Etc.
The Stakes
Eddie Wineland was a staple of the bantamweight top 10 for years despite the fact that he consistently struggled in the UFC. Riding back-to-back losses and back-to-back extended layoffs, however, the former WEC champ needs to show that he can still hack it in 2016 and beyond.
The Question
What Does Eddie Wineland Have Left?
Analysis
Wineland is one of the most underappreciated fighters in recent MMA history. A wrestler-turned-striker, he has an incredibly unique style that has led to many exciting knockouts.
Unfortunately, he has been terribly inactive over the last two years, fighting just once against Bryan Caraway.
Now 32 years old, owning 33 pro fights and coming off yet another full year out of action, it's feeling like his days as a player at 135 pounds are officially over. The only way to turn that around, of course, is to beat Frankie Saenz.
Is Francis Ngannou Being Fast-Tracked to the Title?
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The Fight: Francis Ngannou vs. Bojan Mihajlovic
The Real Fight: Francis Ngannou vs. Making the Heavyweight Division Great Again
The Stakes
French heavyweight Francis Ngannou has turned a lot of heads in his two UFC fights thus far and already has people wondering if he might just be a champion in the making. Now in a premium spot on the UFC on Fox 20 card and set up to face a relatively easy opponent in Bojan Mihajlovic, it's hard not to wonder if the UFC might be thinking the same way.
The Question
Is Francis Ngannou Being Fast-Tracked to the Title?
Analysis
Ngannou is big, strong, athletic, physically powerful, a darn good finisher and hails from a potentially lucrative new market for the UFC. That's the long way of saying that the UFC wants Ngannou to win.
It's doing a great job of greasing those wheels as well, giving him an older, undersized UFC newcomer. If he can win, and continue to win impressively, there's little reason to believe he can't end up jumping into the top 10 by year's end and potentially challenge for the title in 2017.
How Will Gilbert Melendez Look in His Return?
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The Fight: Edson Barboza vs. Gilbert Melendez
The Real Fight: Gilbert Melendez vs. USADA
The Stakes
Former Strikeforce lightweight champion and UFC title contender Gilbert Melendez is back after serving his suspension for a failed drug test...and the UFC isn't doing him any favors in his return.
Lined up to face spin-kick assassin Edson Barboza, Melendez will need to work his grappling from bell to bell or risk being knocked out in spectacular fashion.
The Question
How Will Gilbert Melendez Look in His Return?
Analysis
Melendez is quite good at fighting. Or at least, he was for a very long time.
From 2006 to 2012, Melendez was widely regarded as one of, if not the best lightweights in MMA. He backed it up in the cage more often than not, too, beating a number of top lightweights in Strikeforce before joining the UFC in 2013.
Unfortunately, his time in the world's largest promotion has been defined by three things: a contract dispute, his failed drug test and numerous losses.
The stakes are high for Melendez here. At 34 years old and with 27 fights to his name, it's easy to speculate that he is physically in decline, and in the deep lightweight division, it's very easy to be forgotten.
If he can't bounce back against Barboza here, it will likely send him down the slow, sad road toward retirement.
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What Is Edson Barboza's Ceiling?
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The Fight: Edson Barboza vs. Gilbert Melendez
The Real Fight: Edson Barboza vs. Consistency
The Stakes
Edson Barboza is coming off the biggest win of his career, defeating Anthony Pettis at UFC 197. Naturally, for a fighter with all the talent in the world but none of the wins, the question is...
The Question
What Is Edson Barboza's Ceiling?
Analysis
Barboza is good at fighting. Damn good. And not only is he damn good, but he has athletic gifts that few other lightweights do.
He has been able to put those two together and score big wins and many, many UFC bonuses. Unfortunately, he has consistently struggled against high-level competition, losing decisively to Michael Johnson, Tony Ferguson and Donald Cerrone over the last two years.
That makes this fight with Melendez an important one. There's little doubt that Barboza can hang with top lightweights, but he hasn't shown much of an ability to actually beat them. If he can get a good win over an accomplished competitor like Melendez, it will start him on the path to title contention for the first time in four years.
Will the UFC Get Its Wish with Holly Holm?
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The Fight: Holly Holm vs. Valentina Shevchenko
The Real Fight: Holly Holm vs. The UFC
The Stakes
Holly Holm scored one of the biggest, most impressive wins in UFC history at UFC 193 when she dominated Ronda Rousey. The UFC didn't like that one bit.
With the top of the women's bantamweight division completely in flux at this point, the promotion is trying to sweep Holm under the proverbial rug at UFC on Fox 20. She is matched against the dangerous but completely unknown Valentina Shevchenko in a fight where she has little to gain but everything to lose.
The Question
Will the UFC Get Its Wish with Holly Holm?
Analysis
UFC President Dana White hates nothing more than fighters' managers asking for fair wages (which is to say, he hates good managers), and that simple fact earned Holm a trip to White's doghouse months before she even joined the UFC.
And of course, when Holm took the UFC's golden goose to the slaughterhouse at UFC 193, it didn't endear her any more with company brass.
That made Dana White's "Oh, poor Holly" ramblings feel insincere at best, as Jordan Breen of Sherdog.com spelled out, and it made something quite clear: The UFC doesn't want Holly Holm to succeed. Not only does it not want her to succeed, it wants to actively remove her from the 135-pound equation.
At UFC on Fox 20, Holm faces Shevchenko, a fighter with a humble 1-1 UFC record whom few fans can identify. Despite her relative obscurity, however, she has 13 years of competitive kickboxing experience and a number of accolades therein. She has the tools to, at the very least, give Holm an incredibly difficult fight.
The UFC brass most certainly have their fingers crossed that Holm eats the loss here. It will be interesting to see if she can come through for them or just continue to redden faces at UFC headquarters.
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