Madison Sq. Backyard is considered one of fight sports activities’ greatest levels. Showcase right here and the world will take discover. Islam Makhachev, the UFC’s latest two-division champion, and Valentina Shevchenko, the undisputed flyweight queen, did simply that.
They weren’t the one ones, both. Fan favourite Carlos Prates is again within the championship image, as is Michael Morales, who was not intimidated by veteran Sean Brady, getting a first-round knockout and the respect of New York.
Makhachev is best at welterweight
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Islam Makhachev wins welterweight title after dominating most important occasion
Islam Makhachev turns into the brand new UFC welterweight champion after placing on a wrestling clinic.
Makhachev stated he was going to be higher at 170 kilos, however in fact, I needed to see it earlier than believing it. What’s a fighter going to say? That he’ll be worse in a brand new weight class? Makhachev instructed me a couple of weeks in the past he felt he was about 60 to 70% of himself at light-weight due to the drastic weight minimize. That sounded possible, however actually? Would he actually be 40% higher towards greater competitors? I might say the reply, after one struggle, seems like a “sure.”
Makhachev destroyed Jack Della Maddalena’s entrance leg with kicks inside two rounds. He took JDM down with an effectivity simply as excessive as he did at light-weight. He appeared robust, well-conditioned, wholesome all week. It wasn’t probably the most inspiring efficiency by Della Maddalena — I anticipate even he’ll say that at one level — however that does not take away from how good Makhachev appeared. He’ll be laborious to beat at welterweight, which we sort of anticipated.
What we weren’t positive of is whether or not he’d truly be higher than he was at light-weight, and now I really feel good saying he’s. The No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on the earth simply received higher. We actually had solely been seeing Makhachev at a fraction of himself. For that motive, I am very glad he is right here at welterweight and won’t be heading again any time quickly (most likely ever). That is Makhachev’s greatest weight class. — Brett Okamoto
Shevchenko stored her distance on the high
Go forward and file this one away within the They Have Weight Courses for a Cause Dept. However that doesn’t inform the entire story of Shevchenko’s dominant ladies’s flyweight title protection towards Zhang Weili. Measurement made an enormous distinction, for positive, nevertheless it was not the one motive that Zhang, who vacated the strawweight title to tackle this problem, had no success.
Essentially the most important difference-maker really was the smarts of Shevchenko. She fought a struggle that gave Zhang no likelihood. Positive, she bullied her challenger on lots of her 5 takedowns, which put her on high of Zhang for lengthy stretches (13 minutes, 24 seconds of management time). However when Shevchenko was not on high of Zhang, she remained strategically at a distance the place the smaller fighter could not contact her. Zhang reached double figures in important strikes in just one spherical.
Whereas Zhang was doing no injury, Shevchenko was doing lots. She beat up her challenger’s physique with kicks and knees, weakening Zhang’s resolve to shut the gap. And in so doing, Shevchenko additionally wrecked any fan expectations that this assembly between the No. 1 and No. 2 pound-for-pound ladies can be a traditional conflict.
Going into the struggle, there was a very good case for anointing this because the highest-level matchup amongst UFC ladies since then-bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes challenged Cris Cyborg for the featherweight title. In that 2018 superfight, Cyborg made the error of going toe-to-toe with the sooner Nunes, and he or she paid the worth, getting knocked out in 51 seconds. Shevchenko made no errors in her method to this struggle, and he or she executed her recreation plan with perfection.
The clever subsequent step for Zhang can be to return down in weight and reclaim her 115-pound gold. Shevchenko is 37 years previous and will not be preventing for too lengthy, however Zhang is 36 and in no place to attend out her flyweight conqueror. After the struggle, Zhang didn’t decide to both remaining at flyweight or transferring again to strawweight. However she did present the mettle that has made her one of many greats, saying, “Zhang Weili is somebody who falls and will get again up.”
Here is hoping we get to see her do this at a weight the place she’s at her greatest. Zhang did not get it performed on Saturday however stays a pound-for-pound elite … and one of the best strawweight on the planet. — Jeff Wagenheim
Morales is the largest menace within the welterweight division
When Morales earned a UFC contract on “Dana White’s Contender Sequence” in 2021, he did so with out the hype that different graduates have obtained. And over the subsequent 4 years, Morales defeated everybody put in entrance of him. Nonetheless, the hype surrounding the Ecuadorian fighter who resides in Mexico felt subdued. However after what Morales did to Sean Brady at UFC 322, he can’t be ignored any longer.
For the third consecutive struggle, Morales refused to permit an opponent to succeed in the second spherical. Morales steamrolled each Neil Magny and Gilbert Burns in Spherical 1 with relative ease. However Brady was alleged to be the true litmus take a look at to determine whether or not Morales was a contender or a pretender.
He handed that take a look at with flying colours.
Morales did not enable Brady to do something of notice, needing simply over three minutes to punch him out for a TKO stoppage. Doing that on such a grand stage in Madison Sq. Backyard made it inconceivable to miss, particularly when the welterweight title was on the road two fights later. Standing at 6-feet tall with a 79-inch attain is horrifying for the division. Understanding what to do with these bodily attributes is one other story solely. Morales, 26, is a buzzsaw who’s equally devastating on the bottom and within the standup. In opposition to Brady, he refused to permit the grappler to get inside and picked him off comfortable together with his attain and energy. He is younger, good and an absolute nightmare for the remainder of the division. He desires a title shot, and it is tough to say that he does not deserve one. Should you have a look at the crowded welterweight image, it is laborious to see a fighter whom you possibly can really feel assured saying must be the favourite, outdoors of Makhachev. And even Makhachev would doubtless counsel a special sort of preparation to take care of somebody like Morales.
He might not get a title struggle subsequent, however after Saturday’s efficiency, there aren’t many fighters who will line as much as face the undefeated fighter from Ecuador. — Andreas Hale
One punch revives Prates’ hype
With one straight left hand, Prates restored himself to welterweight contender standing and reinvigorated the momentum of his workforce, The Preventing Nerds. That is what knocking out a former UFC champion can do.
Prates had seen an 11-fight successful streak come to an finish in an April loss to Ian Machado Garry. He received again within the win column 4 months later with a knockout of Geoff Neal, however to really get on observe, he wanted one thing greater. He achieved that with a one-punch, second-round knockout of Leon Edwards, who had by no means earlier than been knocked out in a 29-fight profession.
The end immediately elevated Prates within the 170-pound division — however only for a couple of minutes. Within the very subsequent struggle, Morales remained undefeated with a fast end of Brady, who’s ranked one spot forward of Edwards within the ESPN divisional rankings. Fact is, each Prates and Morales elevated themselves, and the entire evening made the welterweight division a star. — Wagenheim
