The Real Winners and Losers From UFC on ESPN 56
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Welcome to another episode of “Does Derrick Lewis Still Have It?”
The Texas-based heavyweight is two months past his 39th birthday and seemingly light years beyond his octagonal prime, but he was at it again Saturday in the main event of an ESPN-streamed Fight Night show at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
Lewis had been shut out by Jailton Almeida in his last fight six months ago, was 1-4 across his last five outings and hadn’t strung together two wins in more than four years. He was matched this time with Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Rodrigo Nascimento, who was 4-1 with a no contest in the UFC and unbeaten since a KO loss to Chris Daukaus in October 2020.
The co-main had welterweights Joaquin Buckley and Nursulton Ruziboev in a three-rounder that was Buckley’s 11th appearance since his career-defining moment, a spinning head kick KO of Impa Kasanganay that went viral soon after it occurred one bout before the Nascimento-Daukaus fight on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
Buckley had won three straight and seven of 10 since the Kasanganay finish while Ruziboev arrived on a 10-fight win streak, including two in a row in the UFC since last summer.
The B/R combat staff was in position to take in the 12-bout show and deliver a real-time list of its definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.
Winner: Powering Through
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It’s the greatest equalizer in combat sports.
Sheer, unadulterated punching power.
Derrick Lewis has it. And it seems he may never lose it.
The 39-year-old slugger had lost four of his last five fights and not looked particularly impressive in quite awhile, but he reasserted himself among the heavyweights in Saturday’s main event with a third-round TKO of 15th-ranked Rodrigo Nascimento.
“You don’t see too many almost 40-year-old mother f–kers do this shit,” Lewis said.
Those words came moments after a hard right hand landed just above the left ear of Nascimento, who’d won four of five UFC fights alongside a no contest. It dropped the Brazilian to the floor, where Lewis pounced and landed another dozen or so shots of varying effect before referee Jason Herzog pulled the plug at 49 seconds.
Lewis celebrated the win by removing his fight shorts, standing over his fallen foe and waving them over Nascimento as if he were trying to revive him.
It was the 15th finish in the UFC for the “Black Beast,” tying him with Dustin Poirier for fourth on the company’s all-time list.
“I couldn’t let no taxicab driver from Brazil beat me,” Lewis said. “I never even heard of the guy. I knew I couldn’t let him beat me.”
Winner: Seizing the Spotlight
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Joaquin Buckley is drawn to the spotlight.
He scored one of the UFC’s all-time best KO’s during its pandemic-prompted “Fight Island” phase and has never shied from an opportunity to chase a highlight-reel finish or make a click-worthy statement.
He shined in a chance to perform in his St. Louis backyard with a wide, three-round decision over streaking Nursulton Ruziboev, landing each of his four takedown attempts and 60 percent of his significant strike attempts to earn 30-27, 30-26 and 29-27 nods on the cards.
It was his fourth straight win and ninth in 13 UFC appearances, and it kept him undefeated since a move down the weight-class ladder from middleweight to welterweight.
But as impressive as the 15 minutes of dominance had been, the post-fight mic work—during which he called out UFC legend Conor McGregor—was even better.
“You say you’re fighting at 170 but you’re fighting a lightweight midget (in Michael Chandler) and you’re bullying Sean O’Malley and Ryan Garcia,” Buckley said. “Come and bully me, dog. Let’s see what you really about. It’s my time. If you wanna be the king, you’ve got to behead the king.”
Loser: Reckless Abandon
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There’s something about reckless abandon.
When it works, it’s awesome. When it doesn’t, it’s disastrous.
Saturday night was certainly the latter for Alonzo Menifield.
The burly 11th-ranked light heavyweight charged at opponent Carlos Ulberg to begin their main-card fight, but the New Zealander evaded the big swings, watched as his aggressive foe face-planted into the fence and quickly capitalized with precise violence.
He clipped a discombobulated Menifield with a right hand as he turned off the cage, then drove him to the floor with a left hook and landed one final right-hand shot that prompted the hand of referee Nick Berens after just 12 seconds—the third-fastest in 205-pound history.
It was Ulberg’s sixth straight victory, 11th in 12 pro fights, and ninth by finish. And it’ll certainly earn him a place in the rankings when the promotion’s list is updated on Monday.
“He’s got a lot of power. He’s explosive,” Ulberg said. “We knew he was gonna come forward. We did expect something like that and he did catch me and that woke me up.
“But when you wake a lion up, he comes out.”
Loser: Finishing the Race
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Mateusz Rębecki was like a marathon runner in the final miles.
He performed with sprinter’s speed early, but once his lightweight fight with Diego Ferreira reached the halfway point, those miles started to add up.
Every movement looked labored. His eyes swelled. And the right eye began leaking, then pouring blood from a ghastly cut on the eyelid.
Ferreira, just four months removed from his 39th birthday, seized the moment as his foe became more compromised, lashing him with precise punches and kicks and dominating from mount positions when the activity got to the ground.
Ultimately, it was an accumulation of damage to the battered Rębecki that prompted referee Gary Copeland to stop the fight just nine seconds before the finish line.
It was Ferreira’s 10th win in 15 UFC appearances and ended Rębecki’s 16-fight overall win streak and his three-win run with the promotion.
“I knew Mateusz was gonna be a tough job to get done,” Ferreira said. “Our division is full of those dogs and that type of guy. And this fight was the type of life I have. Ups and downs. I made some mistakes in the first round trying to adapt to his games but it turned out OK.”
Winner: Hometown Vibes
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It’s good to be from St. Louis. Again.
For the second time on the night, a fighter waving the flag for the show’s host city went to the scorecards after a particularly narrow three-round scrap. And for