Five key takeaways from UFC 319, including Khamzat Chimaev's dominance but also Dricus du Plessis' incredible heart.
UFC 319 brought us the changing of the guard in the middleweight division, as Khamzat Chimaev dominated Dricus du Plessis to claim the UFC 185-pound title. But that’s not the only noteworthy action to come out of Saturday’s pay-per-view event in Chicago.
Here are the top five takeaways from UFC 319 at the United Center:
1. Khamzat Chimaev just became UFC middleweight champ while fighting like your school’s cruelest wrestling coach. He took Dricus du Plessis down at will and smothered him with an ease that was almost apologetic. In the entire history of UFC title fights, I’m not sure we’ve seen a fight that was that long yet that one-sided. Most people absorb more strikes changing an unruly baby’s diaper than Chimaev absorbed in five championship rounds.
The only problem is that when you do all that and never really even come close to finishing the fight, well, you don’t make many new fans. The same people who cheered Chimaev earlier in the week were booing him by the time he gave his victory speech.
Then again, here’s where we have to start asking ourselves if that even matters anymore. Chimaev has the belt. We’ve yet to see anyone at middleweight who’s seemed like they might be capable of taking it from him. Selling pay-per-views will no longer be a concern beginning with the new Paramount deal. So what does Chimaev care if people like his brand of dominance or not? Any man who can get in and out of a big time title fight like that while putting himself at so little risk is probably not going to be convinced to do otherwise by a bunch of boos.
2. Chimaev looked for it everywhere but still could not find the quit in DDP. There was a moment midway through this fight when, having clearly established his dominance on that mat, Chimaev slapped on a rear-naked choke. A lot of fighters — even many celebrated champions — might have been demoralized enough by then to let him have it. But du Plessis not only fought through it, he was still there giving it all he had in the final minute of the final round. He even took Chimaev’s back and threatened with a choke of his own in the final 60 seconds.
I know that’s bound to be little comfort to him now. And you don’t get much credit in this sport for losing (and losing so, so thoroughly) with grit and dignity. But it does seem like we’ve all been watching DDP win so many fights while wondering how he keeps doing it despite never looking like he’s really all that good. In a way, even though he lost decisively here, I think we got some glimpses of the answer to that question.
3. We knew the Bellator/PFL imports have had it rough in their UFC debuts, but rough doesn’t even begin to describe what happened to Aaron Pico. He started out all aggression and forward pressure, as he’s known to do. But that also made him entirely too predictable, so that as soon as Lerone Murphy got a little space to work he could count on Pico charging straight into that spinning back elbow.
That’s a very big win for Murphy, who’s somehow struggled to get fans to remember him despite being incredibly good. Flatlining a guy like Pico in a spot like this is a good way to change that. But it also makes you wonder where Pico goes from here. The promise of potential can only carry you so far, and for so long. Lots of fighters have rebounded from bad UFC debuts to have great UFC careers. But I can’t think of any who did it after getting slept like that the first time out.
4. Imagine being Carlos Prates after the spinning elbow knockout of Geoff Neal. Imagine basking in the cheers as you walk from the cage after a glorious return to the win column. Imagine walking all the way down that aisle, through the curtain, past all the other fighters and various backstage attendants, all the way out to the loading dock of the United Center where you can finally stand in the halo of a buzzing outdoor light next to a stinking green dumpster and light up that first post-fight cigarette. I don’t even smoke and that somehow sounds good.
Prates needed that rebound win even worse than he needed that post-fight smoke. A highlight reel finish is a great way to make people forget about what was honestly a pretty forgivable loss.
5. Apparently nobody told Tim Elliott that his job was to lose and help Kai Asakura look good. The gentleman of a certain age went out there and fought like he simply didn’t know he was one of the night’s biggest underdogs. And when he locked up that guillotine choke you could almost see it on Asakura’s face (there beneath the wincing and the struggling) as he seemed to wonder, hey wasn’t this supposed to be when I got my first UFC win after being thrown to the champ in my first fight?
Elliott is 38 and deep into his second stint with the UFC, so you can’t tell me the matchmakers put him into this fight hoping it would be a shot in the arm for his career. He was there to be comeback fodder for Asakura, and he simply wasn’t having it. If you don’t love to see a savvy old dog pull off a win in those situations, you’re just a young whippersnapper who doesn’t understand … yet.
Category: General Sports
