It’s a beautifully sunny Monday morning here in London. The kind of morning that makes you want to jump out of bed and do stuff. Sadly, the stuff I’m due to be doing at work today isn’t quite the kind of thing you’d want to be doing on a beautiful, sunny morning…I’m sure you know the feeling. Anyway, I’m in the office early, there’s no-one about, so I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts about UFC 225.
If someone told me every fight on a main card went to a decision, I’d probably respond with “Fuck, sounds like a boring night”. In the case of UFC 225, my assumption would be wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the event from top to bottom.
In my opinion, the standout performance came from Curtis Blaydes. If you read my pre UFC225 blog, you’ll know I completely underestimated young ‘Razor’ Blaydes. I felt Blaydes’ stand-up skillset was way behind Overeem’s. Because of this, I thought Blaydes would struggle to get in close and secure takedowns. I assumed Blaydes’ only route to victory would be to get Overeem on his back and work off top position. Boy was I wrong. Blaydes won most of the stand-up exchanges. He was quick and tenacious whilst displaying smooth boxing skills with seamless transitions into grappling positions. Blaydes was able to take Overeem down at will and eventually secure a finish with some vicious elbows from the top.
After the fight, Blaydes took the opportunity to “shoot his shot” as he demanded a crack at the title. It’s hard to argue against him. Looking at the rankings there isn’t really anyone in pole position for a title fight. I personally think Blaydes needs one more fight. Provided both Junior Dos Santos and Francis Ngannou win their scheduled fights in the coming weeks, I believe either of them will be great options for Blaydes. JDS is a former champion and a big name. Apart from also being a big name, a fight with Ngannou comes with the added incentive of avenging a 2016 defeat. A win in the main event slot on a Fox card against either of them will raise Blaydes profile exponentially.
The other big heavyweight fight between Arlovski and Tuivasa went as expected. It was a fun fight with Tuivasa getting his hand raised. Speaking of fun, how fun is Bam Bam Tuivasa? He’s a real character outside the Octagon. The number of people I saw celebrating his victory by partaking in ‘shoeeys’ (I’m not even sure if I’ve spelt that right) on Instagram was crazy. Bam Bam is unapologetically himself and I really think UFC know they have something special here.
I don’t want to see Bam Bam pushed into a fight with a top-five contender just yet. There is nothing wrong with a slow build and I’d be all for giving Tuivasa an opponent ranked outside the top 15. If, however, this isn’t a viable option, Marcin Tybura and Stefan Struve are scheduled to fight in July. The winner of this fight would be a good test for Tuivasa.
One thing I was right about in my pre-fight blog was Colby fucking Covington. Probably the only internet troll on the face of the planet who can actually fight, he really took it to RDA. Going into the fight, I felt whoever got the better of the grappling exchanges would have the advantage, which tuned out to be the case. What surprised me a little was the pressure Covington put on RDA. Covington was able to back RDA up with a mixture of strikes and takedown attempts. He’s a well-rounded fighter who will give Tyrone Woodley something to think about when they eventually get it on.
RDA seemed to struggle with Covington’s presence – his size and ability to apply pressure at close range. It’s a style of fighting I noted RDA hadn’t faced since moving up to 170lbs and unfortunately for him, he came up short on this occasion.
This loss by no means ends RDA’s title ambitions. The welterweight division has a host of names in the top 10 that make sense for RDA next and I fully expect him to return in a meaningful fight against one of them.
The main event, Robert Whittaker Vs Yoel Romero was a cracker. As I surmised during fight week, the weight cut was indeed an issue for Romero. He managed to get down to 185.2lbs before being told he was not allowed to continue his weight cut by the commission. The noise coming from his camp suggests he was fine and able to continue, the commission just stuck their nose in where it didn’t belong, not the first time that’s happened. I do feel for Romero. To miss weight by 0.2lbs and lose the opportunity to fight for the tile seems harsh, but them be the rules.
Come fight night, both these guys put on a show. What a display of heart, grit and determination. These two are by far the best middleweights in the division and they deserve all the plaudits they received after the fight. Not only was this the fight of the night but they also delivered a candidate for the round of the year. I was a fan of the first fight between them and I think this one was better.
Both Whittaker and Romero sustained a load of injuries. Whittaker broke a hand and Romero was bruised and bloodied. I think they will both be out for a while which is fine as I can’t really see a legit challenger for the middleweight title right now.
Right, that’s your lot for now. People have started to trickle into the office so it’s time for me to put my headphones in and stare intently at my screen in what will surely be a failed attempt at avoiding conversations with colleagues about their weekend. Joy.
The Battle Camp 
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