UFC, Bellator, and Boxing Fallout

It's been a buys week for the combat sports world. The top two MMA promotions held shows while Premier Boxing Championships held two shows in six days. Future title shots were on the line for some, others knew they just needed a win to keep there star power going. Than you had the underdogs fighters looking for wins to change there lives. Who rose up, who stumbled at a key time, were the shows good?

Boxing- Premier Boxing Championships is not like the usual Boxing Promotion. In that officially it's not a promotion. PBC is a TV show that officially doesn't promote the shows instead working other promoters buying TV time on various Networks. Why this had to let lawsuits there is no denying it holds some of the best fighters in the world. The man that mind wind up being it's crown jewel is Errol Spence. A former Olympic boxer Spence racked up a perfect 20-0 record and was coming off a one sided knockout off Chris Algieri in April. PBC set up last Sunday's fight as a clear showcase for Spence. With a huge led in due to the Gold Medal Basketball game Spence would have a number of eyes on him. And a fight taking place on NBC Spence was placed in a title eliminator fight with the winner getting a shot at the IBF welterweight title.

It was clear that Lenard Bundu of Italy was brought to lose to the young American. Bundu is a veteran fighter he's got a good record. But his only fight against any type of elite competition was a one sided loss to future world champion Keith Thurman. Spence took care off business why he got off to a slow start he still won the early rounds. By the six Bundu was done after being knocked down violently. Spence has made it clear he doesn't want to wait long for his shot. Kell Brooke has the IBF title at this time but with speculation is he will vacate it to move up. Who ever Spence faces for the title will have a hard task. Spence is skilled with his boxing and has good knockout power.

On the opposite of Spence is Robert Guerrero. At one time The Ghost was an elite fighter holding two legtiment world championships. Guerrero thought entered his fight on Saturday clearly on the down side of his career. Going 2-3 in his last five fight and many viewing one win a gift/bad judging/screw job. For his main event on Spike TV Guerrero was matched up with unknown Argentina boxer David Peralta. It was clear what this fight was. It was a fight all about getting Guerrero a win on TV, a chance to start rebuilding his confidence. Early on Guerrero looked good. But as the fight wore on Peralta made adjustments. He hurt Guerrero several times in the later rounds. Peralta who admitted post fight he was retired until the call came in won the biggest win of his life. For Guerrero it seems his days as any type of elite fighter or main event fighter is over. He might still pop up on under cards or smaller shows. Its one thing to lose to Mayweather, Thurman, and Garcia but this was career ender for him to many people.

Bellator 160- When Bellator began it's hook was “Fighters much earn a title shot. They have to win the toughest tournament in sports.” Those days are clearly long over. The main event at Bellator 160 was clearly an example of that. Sure the winner of the main event was promised a shot at Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler. The problem is who was in that fight. On one side was Benson Henderson, yes a former UFC and WEC 155 lb champion. Who hasn't fought at 155 in over a year and has won fight at that weight since 2014. Henderson was also coming off a terrible performance in a loss during his Bellator debut. In the other corner was Patricio “Pitbulll” Freire. A former Bellaltor champion at Featherweight and one of the best in the companies history. Still Freire had never fought at lightweight in his career. It was clear Bellator was going for big name vs. guy that had a confrontation with Chandler we can play over and over again. And that is Bellator's MO these days. Slap any card together for any reason and call it a dream or super fight hoping it draws big ratings.

Why it has drawn strong ratings for most “Tent Pole” events the ratings for other shows haven't increased. Another issue has been the fact the “Super” fights haven't been so super. The main event to Friday's show was another example of that. The much bigger Henderson spent the entire first round walking forward but not throwing much. Meanwhile the much smaller Freire spent the whole round backing up throwing counter strikes that never landed clean or powerful enough to do damage. His best weapon were leg kicks. In an anti climatic finish Pitbull suffered a broken ankle and called off the fight in the second round.

Sadly there was a very strong undercard that the main event will over shadow. Derek Anderson out pointed Saad Awad in a thrilling semi-main event. For the second time in his career Georgi Karakhanyan stopped Bubba Jenkins. This time knocking Jenkins out in less than a minute. In the opening main card bout A.J. McKee stayed perfect submitting Cody Walker in the second round.

UFC Vancouver- One week after the epic UFC 202 it would have been easy to forget or ignore the return to Fox. If you did though you missed out on a great card with some amazing action. The main event saw two of the UFC's most respected veterans step into the cage. Demian Maia entered on a five fight winning streak. Carlos Condit entered having a lost a extremely close fight to than champion Robbie Lawler back in January in epic fight for the ages. With Maia its clear what the game plan is. He will use a greatly improved wrestling game to drag the fight to the ground and than use his top notch BJJ to control the fight and work for a submission. With Condit he wants to keep the fighting standing and use his volume of strikes to wear a fighter out. The question was clear could Condit weather the early rounds on the ground and drag Maia out to the later rounds. The answer was no. Condit has never been a strong defense wrestler he is taken rather easily preferring to work off his back and scramble to get back up. With Maia it was to risky. The former BJJ world champion dragged Condit down took his back and submitted in under two minutes. Maia may not get the next shot at the belt but it's hard to argue him getting the shot after that or even being called in for some type of fill in roll should Thompson or Woodley get hurt.

Anthony Pettis entered Canada and the featherweight division in a tough spot. Three losses in a row eliminated him from title contention removed him from the P4P debate. Like many fighters looking to regain momentum he changed weight classes and changed up his training. Charles Oliveira entered the fight on a roll. His lone loss since 2013 was off an injury. The fight was a true mixed martial arts fight. Both men used striking, wrestling, and submissions during the fight. Early on Oliveria took Pettis down and got his back. Pettis though managed to escape and get the fight standing again. A recurring theme in Pettis' losses had been him being gun shy unwilling to pull the trigger. This fight he fired using his trademark striking. Landing good body shots he hurt the Brazilian. Olivera though managed to whether the storm and stay standing even on jello legs. After two close rounds both men entered the third. Again Oliveria took the fight down. Pettis is a great striker but don't sleep on his ground game. Able to reverse position Pettis got a choke and submitted Olivera ending a thrilling back and forth fight.

After taking time off to compete on Dancing With the Stars Paige VanZant returned to the cage. Her her last fight VanZant suffered her first UFC career loss. Some fans wondered if she was getting ready to leave the UFC for Hollywood. PVZ made it clear that wasn't the case even admitting the thing she missed violence. Bec Rawlings leading up the fight made it clear she didn’t' believe Paige was worth the hype or deserved her top ten ranking. At first it appeared VanZant wasn't willing to engage. She was jumping around on the outside often missing kicks. Rawling meanwhile used boxing and landed good compensations.

In round two though the narrative changed. VanZant went for a switch jump kick. Rawilngs who had started laughing at such attack suddenly found her self tasting PVZ's foot. VanZant than hit a number of punches to face ending the fight. According to VanZant she and her coaches wanted to change the game plan. Instead of her normal charging forward trying to out scrap she used distance and her atheism to land a knockout strike. People can dislike the amount of press she gets but end of the day VanZant backs it up. Another thing to keep in mind VanZant is only 22 she a fighter with only a handful of fights. Give her a few more years when she is in her prime and has gelled all her tools together she very well could be a top level fighter.

Back in 2012 Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon engaged in a bloody and amazing fight at UFC 155. Miller won a decision victory. Since than both fighters have had there ups and downs. Both men scored KO wins back at UFC 200 setting the stage for the rematch. Again it was very close fight. Miller won another decision. In the prelims Sam Alvey smiled his way to another KO win, Felpie Silva got his UFC debut win.

Biggest Winners:

Errol Spence- In a showcase for himself Spence came up big. He dominated a fight he was clearly supposed to win. Spence even when he was “slow to start” looked very strong. Spence also scored his second straight knockout in a main event fight. End of the day causal fans in boxing want to see knockouts. Spence already had the credibility with die hard and hopefully fans looking for something to watching post Olympics went “I want to see that guy fight again.”

Demain Maia- Often moving down or up in weight is a move that really doesn't work. For Maia it was a total career rebirth. At welterweight he is one of the bigger men in the division. He's also been able to go back to basic just great BJJ. And his BJJ is miles ahead of almost anyone else in the UFC. At 38 he's on the best run of career. Maia has the skills he can beat who ever the champion is when he get his title shot.

Anthony Pettis- Going into UFC 185 Pettis was on top of the world he was the world champion at 155. He had just beat Gilbert Melendez to retain the title at UFC 181, he was the first MMA fighter to get a Wheaties Box. He was openly talking about superfight with other champions. Than he lost a one sided fight with RDA taking the title. Than he lost to Eddie Alvarez never to get the space to strike he wants to. Than in a striking heavy fight with Edison Barboza he lost yet again. Again I don't think the UFC would have cut Pettis with another loss but it would have put him far away from the fights he wants. Now with one strong when Pettis is already back in title contention after all he beat a top ten fighter at his new weight. Plus it also shows Pettis isn't a fighter going down he's just getting started.

Paige VanZant- In December it all went wrong for VanZant. Rose Namajunaes is a tough match up for anyone. But her style was especially overwhelming for VanZant. The loss lent credibility to fans that feel the UFC pushes her more for her looks than talent. After the loss though VanZant saw her popularity explode thanks to her run on Dancing With The Stars. The truth VanZant was in a spot where she couldn't afford another loss. Fame and fans can be fickle and losing again would have driven causal and fari weather off. He dectros would no doubt again declare “She's been exposed.” Now it wasn't perfect. How much of the first round was Game Plan and how much was Rawling getting the better of her only PVZ know for sure. Still she over came a rough start. Showed she could do more than press ahead and brawl. She knocked out a gritty vet who had only been stopped one other time. All and all a big victory for VanZant.

Biggest Losers:

Robert Guerrero- Going into his fight Guerrero was honest. He admitted this was a fight he was supposed to win. It was a fight he needed to win. Early on it looked like Guerrero was on his way to that win. The truth is even going the distance with such an unknown like David Peralta is damaging. Losing is destroying. It odds to imaging any top level fighter being willing to face Guerrero at this point. Beating him does nothing to put them in demand and losing to him means they lost to a guy well on the down side of his career.

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Carlos Condit- Many people including Condit himself believe he should have won the fight back in January for the title. The fight with Maia was a fight Condit could win. To be dragged down and submitted quick was devastating for him. Post fight Condit who had already talked retirement admitted he isn't sure he belongs anymore. Its a some what ridicules statement given Condit has never lost to anyone but high level fighters. But it's clear emotion fueled that statement. Still Condit now see Maia and Thompson be departed as the number 1 contender why he is out in the cold.

What Comes Next- Spence earned a shot at the IBF Welterweight title. That is currently held by Kell Brooke. In a few weeks Brooke move up to middleweight to fight GGG. Brooke has said he's open to returning to 147 after that but nothing is set in stone. Spence and his team clearly want him to fight for a title so unless something changes expect him to wait to face Brooke or face the highest ranked contender for the vacant belt. The UFC welterweight championship picture is also a bit clogged. By all account The UFC wants Tyron Woodley to defend against Stephen Thompson. Woodley though has demand “money fights” even saying “Thompson should fight Robbie Lawler.” Maia has said he's willing to wait. In terms of ranked fighter there aren't much options. Potentially Maia would be a great name to face GSP or Nick Diaz but seem to about to rematch. Maia might just want to hope Thompson gets his shot quickly and than the winner of that fight is looking for a shot turn around.

Anthony Pettis just beat the number six guy in the world at 145. I've seen it suggested he fight Jeremy Stephens. Showtime and Lil Heathen had a great fight a few years ago. It was a close fight that Pettis took the win in. Stephens remains what's he's always been a tough fighter that punish anyone. Now all these years later he and Pettis would be a perfect fight. Paige VanZant is in a strange place from a match making point. She's easily the biggest and most well known star in the Straweight Division. Yet she's not quite ready for the elite in the division. The right name for her seems to be Maryna Moroz. Moroz scored a huge upset win in her UFC debut submitting Joanne Calderwood. Since than she's won two more fights. The Ironlady has proven to be tough and soild in all areas during his UFC tenure. She wouldn’t blow Paige out of the water but by no means would be a walk over. She would be a good solid test.