UFC Vegas 70: About Saturday’s Action

Outlining the key takeaways and talking points from Saturday’s fight card at the UFC APEX

Big Win for Brendan Allen

Brendan Allen scored the biggest win of his career on Saturday night, choking out Andre Muniz in the final seconds of their unexpected main event meeting.

A quality prospect before arriving in the UFC, Allen entered with an 8-2 record inside the Octagon, but had stumble against a pair of quality opponents in Sean Strickland and Chris Curtis. Despite entering on a three-fight winning streak, he was a reasonable underdog against Muniz, who came in at 5-0 in the UFC and riding nine-fight run of success, but none of that mattered to Allen.

The 27-year-old keeps tightening up his defensive skills and is much more patient inside the cage than earlier in this career. He mentioned working with a sports psychologist following the victory as well, which could certainly further contribute to his current hot streak. Like a lot of fighters, it’s never been a question of talent with Allen, but rather focus and execution, and right now, it’s all coming together perfectly.

The Heavyweight Dividing Line

Augusto Sakai snapped his four-fight losing streak against Don’Tale Mayes in this week’s main card heavyweight clash, utilizing a smart, tactical approach to earn a clean sweep of the scorecards.

This was one of those bouts where experience and Fight IQ ruled the day, as Sakai made the right decisions at every turn to put it on Mayes, who looks like he should be an ascending heavyweight, but just doesn’t have the understanding of how to best deploy his skills inside the Octagon. While the Brazilian’s pace certainly slowed as the fight wore on, he continued to control the action and give Mayes very limited space to find success.

Sakai fell out of the Top 15 over the course of his losing streak, but for me, he represents the dividing line between the tiers of skilled talents in the heavyweight division. He’s better than the collection of fighters that historically have occupied this space on Fight Night main cards, but not as capable as the top level talent in the division, making him a perfect dance partner for promising ascending names and veteran stalwarts alike.

Welcome Back, Tatiana Suarez

After nearly four years away, Tatiana Suarez returned to the Octagon and returned to her winning ways, posting a second-round submission win over Montana De La Rosa on Saturday’s main card.

The former Ultimate Fighter winner didn’t miss a beat in her first fight since June 2019, taking things to De La Rosa early in the first and showcasing her tremendous grappling skills. While De La Rosa defended well and looked to initiate some grappling exchanges of her own, Suarez confidently jumped guillotine in the center of the Octagon midway through the second, and secured the tap after adjusting her grip and her positioning.

While this fight was contested at flyweight, Suarez made it clear that she intends to go back down to strawweight, where she was the No. 1 contender prior to her extended absence. She’ll have to do a little more work before getting a championship opportunity, but after Saturday’s effort, is there anyone that is willing to suggest she’s not capable of getting there?

I don’t think so.

Proper

Mike Malott picked up his second consecutive first-round stoppage win in as many UFC appearances in Saturday’s main card opener, locking onto an arm-triangle choke against fellow Canadian Yohan Lainesse.

This was a technical, patient effort from the 31-year-old Ontario native, who scored a knockout win over Mickey Gall in his promotional debut. He picked at Lainesse from range early, and when the fighter from Quebec charged forward behind a long punch, Malott grabbed a body lock, took the fight to the ground, and cruised from there, securing the finish three-quarter mount.

Because he’s had a limited amount of experience overall and just one UFC appearance before this, it’s been difficult to get a read on where Malott fits in the welterweight division, but this is a second straight quality effort that establishes a clear floor for the ascending fighter from the Greater Hamilton Area. A step up in competition on a fight card in Canada later in the year seems like an easy answer to what comes next for the emerging Malott.

Main Event Scrapped

The main event between Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann was scrapped just as the broadcast was setting the table for the main card, with Megan Olivi announcing that Krylov fell ill and was ruled unable to compete.

Clearly, this sucks — this was a terrific matchup between a couple talented, emerging light heavyweights, and its removal certainly lessened the overall quality of this card, but it will never make sense to me why so many people take pleasure in this stuff happening as a means of dunking on the UFC.

We all lost the chance to watch a great fight, and this obviously wasn’t the plan. Additionally, what fight card doesn’t get significantly downgraded when the main event is scuttled the day of the event? Plus, I still haven’t heard anyone suggest not stacking the deck for pay-per-views like UFC 285 next weekend as a means of building out these Fight Night shows a little more… funny how that works.

This blows, but acting like it was foreseeable or something the UFC should actively ward against is a little disingenuous to me.

Preliminary Card Thoughts

There isn’t a ton of technique in what Trevor Peek does, but the Alabama native carries big old hammers in his hands and has no problem slingin’ them thangs.

Peek came out like a caged animal finally released back into the wild on Saturday, taking the fight to Erick Gonzalez and securing a stoppage win in the last second of the first round. He made some mistakes and was taken down a couple different times, but Peek was able to quickly work back to his feet and get back to putting his hands on Gonzalez. At one point late in the round, Peek appeared to wake “Ghost Pepper” back up after putting him out, only to send him to the Land of Whispers and Ghosts seconds later.

Peek absolutely fights like someone who says his first martial art was street fighting and would likely feel more comfortable battling in the WalMart parking lot than anywhere else, but he’s got gnarly power and a wild style that is sure to make him a fan favourite going forward.

Good win for Jasmine Jasudavicius over powerful newcomer Gabriella Fernandes on Saturday, as the Canadian rode her wrestling and grappling advantages to a 30-26 sweep of the scorecards.

This was a clear clash of styles on paper, with Fernandes brandishing big power and a clear edge on the feet, and Jasudavicus being superior on the ground, and the Niagara native was able to dictate the terms of engagement throughout. She took some heavy shots out of the chute, but was able to close the distance and drag Fernandes to the canvas, and once there, it was one-way traffic.

Jasudavicius came in as an underdog, but dominated here, getting herself back into the win column following her loss to ascending Brazilian Natalia Silva last time out. She’ll be 34 on Wednesday, but she got a late start in the sport and is only 10-fights in, so further improvements and advancements are certainly not out of the question for Jasudavicius.

Jordan Leavitt has got knees?

Known almost exclusively for his grappling, Leavitt earned an impressive first-round stoppage win over newcomer Victor Martinez on Saturday, hurting and finishing the Fortis MMA man along the fence with a series of knees from the Thai clinch. The first one to the body had a clear impact, and the subsequent knees upstairs sat Martinez down and brought referee Jason Herzog in to stop the action.

Leavitt has looked seriously limited on the feet through his first handful of UFC appearances, but showed a little something new here, and it bears watching. The Las Vegas native is still only 27 years old and just 13 fights into his MMA career — with nearly half of those appearances coming in the UFC — so if these developments are real, sustainable, and something that continues, he could still develop into an intriguing member of the lightweight middle class.

The short-notice pairing between Ode Osbourne and Charles Johnson was competitive, but kind of underwhelming if I’m being honest. Osbourne won a split decision in a back-and-forth fight where neither man really landed anything too serious and the grappling was mostly a stalemate.

While they fought at a good clip early, the pace slowed considerably in the third, and what felt like a chance for each man or both men to make a bit of a statement turned into one of those instances where neither individual really impressed and I’m left wondering if my assessment of each — especially Johnson — is off?

Now, it was a short-notice fight, so that certainly factors into things, but this wasn’t at all what I was expecting and I’m honestly kind of surprised with how it played out.

Folks may want to limit their praise of Joe Solecki given that he defeated a late replacement opponent and promotional newcomer in Carl Deaton, but here’s the thing: Solecki dominated every second of the fight, showcasing his outstanding grappling skills before securing the finish in the final seconds of the second round, and you can’t ask for much more than that under the circumstances.

We tend to find ways to diminish efforts like this, as if running through a replacement opponent is reason to knock Solecki, who handled his business and looked terrific doing so on Saturday.

While I still don’t know if he has significantly greater upside in the treacherous lightweight division, this is the kind of effort that should earn the Dana White’s Contender Series grad a step up in competition and a chance to make a clearer read in that regard later this year.

Nurullo Aliev is still raw, but he clearly has upside. The 22-year-old from Tajikistan collected a unanimous decision win over dynamic Brazilian veteran Rafael Alves in Saturday’s opener, using relentless grappling from top position to claim the victory. He lost a point in the opening round after apparently biting Alves, but it didn’t really matter, as he successfully dealt with a pair of solid guillotine choke attempts to work back to top position and grind out Alves.

This is a very good first victory in the UFC for Alves, who scored a first-round stoppage win on Season 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series, and moved to 9-0 with the win. His wrestling and pressure are great foundational pieces to his game, and make Aliev someone to pay attention to going forward in the lightweight division.