Will Belal Muhammad beat Shavkat Rakhmonov?

Chris Weidman has had a variety of painful losses in his profession, and he skilled one other one by getting TKO’d in opposition to Eryk Anders in a combat he appeared to have the higher hand in, earlier than a essential mistake.

With discuss coming into the combat that Weidman (16-8 MMA, 12-8 UFC) was feeling the most effective he has since his notorious in-cage leg break, he got here out and dropped Anders within the opening spherical of the 195-pound catchweight combat, which was rescheduled from UFC 309 final month after Anderson withdrew on combat day resulting from sickness.

Then, within the second spherical, Weidman went for an ill-advised guillotine choke try that value him place and led to him being stopped with a flurry of strikes.

It’s unhappy to see Weidman like this. UFC has been type to him in giving him competitors that’s seemingly aligned together with his decline in efficiency. Nonetheless, although, he’s dropping greater than he’s been successful these days, and at 40, it’s laborious to not marvel if that is the place the plug will get pulled.

UFC CEO Dana White seemingly thinks the identical, as a result of Weidman was certainly one of a number of fighters he inspired to retire within the aftermath of the occasion.

To maintain on the theme of unknown combating futures, just a few fights after Weidman, we noticed Anthony Smith endure one of many tougher moments in current reminiscence by entering into the octagon with a heavy coronary heart after the current loss of life of his longtime buddy and coach Scott Morton, after which continuing to get beat up by Dominick Reyes for a second-round TKO.

As somebody who is aware of Smith (37-21 MMA, 13-11 UFC) considerably properly on a private aspect, I perceive his motivations for shifting ahead with the combat. He wished to get a variety of painful feelings out of him after a traumatic life occasion, however it was laborious to look at. All the theme of the printed, from his walkout to the post-fight interview, made it clear this wasn’t a good suggestion, and of no profit to his general combating profession.

If we are able to seek for a silver lining, maybe this was a second of readability for Smith. The printed famous that, previous to this combat, Morton had solely not been current for only one of Smith’s profession bouts. He advised Joe Rogan within the post-fight interview that he “doesn’t know what number of occasions” he can proceed to compete with that huge piece in his life lacking.

An argument might be made that the time has come for Smith to retire regardless. He was one other fighter who White talked about ought to retire. He loves the sport a lot that he struggles to let go, as you possibly can see together with his indecision concerning the future when speaking with Rogan.

It would’ve taken one thing larger than Smith’s personal option to stroll away and give attention to one thing totally different, and we are going to see if that’s what this results in.

You’ve acquired to be a little bit heartbroken for Alexander Volkov, who has seemingly accomplished issues proper all all through his profession and placed on a stellar efficiency in opposition to Ciryl Gane of their heavyweight rematch.

Sadly for the Russian, two of the three cageside judges didn’t really feel prefer it was adequate, and scored the combat for Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), giving him a cut up determination triumph over Volkov (38-11 MMA, 12-5 UFC).

The outcome didn’t sit proper with many individuals, and I’m certainly one of them. Volkov landed the higher pictures, had the higher floor management and was only a step forward in my eyes. It is a large setback for him within the division, particularly given the logjam on the high.

Gane was fortunate to flee, and though it preserves the larger potential combat in opposition to Tom Aspinall if Jon Jones retires, this was a very powerful beat for Volkov, and he deserved higher.

Shavkat Rakhmonov was the boogeyman of the welterweight division previous to his unanimous determination victory over Ian Machado Garry. He saved his good document alive, however after failing to complete an opponent for the primary time in his profession, did he lose some aura?

Rakhmonov (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) solely will get optimistic critiques on this finish. He confirmed he has the cardio for 5 rounds, displayed a capability to beat adversity by escaping Machado Garry’s late submission makes an attempt, and confirmed off a full arsenal of hanging and floor work.

That’s only for me, nonetheless. In case you’re the champion Belal Muhammad, who Rakhmonov invited into the octagon for a faceoff in a scene I’m absolutely taking credit score for after our pre-fight interview, this appeared like the absolute best end result.

There’s now a full 25 minutes of tape examine and plenty of beforehand unseen moments of Rakhmonov’s skillset that Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) can break down. A number of fighters had been already choosing him to win when he was initially scheduled to combat Rakhmonov on this night time, and now that each one indicators level to that combat occurring subsequent, Muhammad ought to most likely command much more respect from oddsmakers and pundits alike.

After making gentle work with a second-round submission of Kai Asakura for his third flyweight title protection, Alexandre Pantoja acquired on the microphone with Rogan and known as for Demetrious Johnson to finish his retirement and are available again to combat him.

Johnson promptly shut down that request within the aftermath of the occasion, however the scenario begs a query I mentioned with Jon Anik on my podcast “The Bohnfire” forward of the occasion: What wouldn’t it take for Pantoja to finally dethrone “Mighty Mouse” of flyweight GOAT standing?

The competitors Pantoja (29-5 MMA, 13-3 UFC) is working by way of is getting very near the purpose of surpassing Johnson, and the type of which he’s successful is a robust contributor, as properly. The very fact Johnson set not solely the all-time divisional title protection document throughout his reign, however the general firm one, too, is tough to surpass.

If Pantoja can break Johnson’s document, which in principle would take one other 5 – 6 years on high – and maybe even extra – then yeah. He’s the man. However in a world the place everybody lives so considerably within the second, maybe it should take much less.

What Pantoja is doing that resembles Johnson, although, is lapping the division to the purpose the place UFC has to dig deep to discover a challenger. And when it did that with Asakura, the combat wasn’t even shut.

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 310.