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UFC 274 : The Champion has a name
Inside the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ, the crowd was split between total shock and amusement reacting to what had just happened. The lightweight title may have been vacated earlier in the week, but as Justin Gaethje laid on the canvas recovering from being submitted via rear-naked choke in the first round, only one man was left standing. Charles “Do Bronx’ Oliveira was at the center of the octagon with Joe Rogan. Even before Rogan began to ask his first post-fight question, Oliveira who now had 21 wins by submission looked unsatisfied. No belt had been given to him. The ceremonial declaration of “And Still!’ by Bruce Buffer was non-existent. Rogan fired the question right away and asked Oliveira about missing weight by a mere half-pound and being stripped of his belt.
“Hey there is something missing here. The champion has a name and it's Charles Oliveira from the Bronx” Oliviera replied emphatically.
Round one was a lighting round with both fighters combining for a total of 85 strikes. “The Highlight” knocked down Oliveira twice early with some brutal punches. The Brazilian sat back inviting Gaethje into some dangerous territory. Oliveira would then get back up to his feet and return the favor with some hard shots. The early punches thrown by Gaethje were enough to cause some visible damage on the eyebrow of Oliveira who started bleeding down his left eyebrow. However, in between each exchange Oliveira was able to maintain forward movement and keep a constant pressure of jabs, elbows and even knees to the head and the body in the clinch.
After one beautiful overhand, Olivera dropped his opponent on the canvas and was able to go to the ground and finish with a submission win. “Do Bronx” reached his 21st win in the UFC.
This puts him just under veterans like Demian Maia (22), Donald Cerrone (22), Jim Miller (23) and Andrei Arlovski (23). As weird as it sounds this win for Oliveira does not earn him the title just yet. Because of the weight fiasco he must now fight as the lightweight division's number one contender. This will now open up a world of possibilities for his next fight.
Unfortunately for fight fans around the globe, the co-main event at UFC274 was a snore-fest. Carla Esparza may have shocked most bettors on Saturday as the new strawweight champion of the world, however no one could have predicted how it went. According to Odd Checker, 63% of bettors put their money on Rose Namajunas to retain her belt. Even UFC President, Dana White, was disappointed with the efforts of both ladies in this one calling it a ‘weird fight.’ Both fighters seemed hesitant to strike and seemed more interested in the feeling out process for all five championship rounds. The fight would go the distance with Esparza repeating as champion since 2014 via split decision. As a brawler and wrestler, the “Cookie Monster” Ezparza, looked to take down Namajunas early and often. She took a total of 11 shots but only completed two for a ground control time of 0:22 seconds. For Eparza, her win is inspirational, winning the belt after nearly 10 years. Her options are open to fight possibly again by the end of the year with Jessica Andrade and Marina Rodriguez looking for title fights. As for Rose Namajunas, the four-time strawweight champion, drops to a record of 12-5. She will most likely be facing the winner of Joanna Jedrzejczyk versus Zhang Weili on July 11th.
Thankfully the third-last fight on the main card offered a much more exciting and violent experience to even the most casual mma fan. If the last fight gave you reason to not watch MMA at all, this one gave you every reason to stay hooked to one of the greatest sports in all of history. Tony Ferguson and Michale Chandler offered a tale of two fighters coming off back to back losses. Two veterans in the sport of MMA needed to grab a win in order to even day-dream of wrapping the gold light-weight title around their waists. Just 0:17 seconds into the second round “Iron” Chandler landed a brutal front kick that snapped Ferguson’s head back and dropped “El Cucuy” in an incredible fashion. Chandler was rocked by Ferguson early in the first round with a right jab that sent him rolling backwards defending himself against the fence. However, Chandler’s granite chin helped him survive enough to land an explosive double-leg takedown and hold his opponent down for 2:29 to end the first round. With both fighters circling at the beginning of the second round, Chandler threw a front kick that gave us remnants of the head kick thrown by Anderson Silva versus Vitor Belfort back at UFC126. However, the main difference, Chandler’s kick sent Ferguson down to the canvas completely out cold. Chandler completed a total of 43 strikes between both rounds and grabbed his 23rd win of his mma career. The lightweight division is now wide open with no current champion. It remains to be seen who will fight alongside Oliveira for the championship gold, however anything can happen. Will Michael Chandler v Charles Oliveira II be next? Could Connor Mcgregor, even at the #9 spot be able to make the cut at 155 and contend? What happens with Justin Gaethje, Rafael Dos Anjos, Dustin Porier, Islam Makhachev or Beneil Dariush? Dana white now holds all of the cards.
Written by- Isaac Gomez
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