🥊 UFC 302 Recap

The UFC put on a show in Newark, NJ at UFC 302 (IF you stayed up for the Main Event) but just in case you missed some of it, the P4P Newsletter’s got you covered. Looking back before we look forward so that you can be the smartest guy at the water cooler before UFC Louisville this upcoming weekend.

If you do anything this week, make sure you watch Henry & Kamaru recapping this card as two of the best minds in the game take you through their reactions to UFC 302:

All of this, PLUS…this didn’t happen…LET’S GO?

HEADLINES

🥊 POSTPONED (or Cancelled?) was the news surrounding the UFC 303 Press Conference in Ireland early Monday morning as the UFC announced they had first delayed, then canceled the June 3rd promotion for McGregor vs. Chandler on June 29th. As of now, we have no idea why

🥊 “Thas wassup” ~Nick Diaz (probably) as the UFC announced his return to the octagon later this summer against Kamaru’s KillCliff MMA stablemate Vicente Luque - They’ll clash August 3rd in Abu Dhabi on a STACKED non-PPV card!

🥊 Not to bury the lead, Islam Makhachev put on a career-defining performance against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302, retaining his UFC LW strap with his first true 155lbs title defense, and saving what was an admittedly lackluster PPV for the UFC

🥊 There’s been a lot of talk about Austin Rivers’ comments regarding NBA players being able to play in the NFL but not vice versa. In our sport, everyone who watches it thinks they can fight, but the question is, how many MMA fighters have been incredible athletes in other sports?

TRIVIA

UFC 302 Recap

Lightweight: Islam Makhachev def. Dustin Poirier (Submission via D’arce Choke at 2:42 in RD5)

• While the outcome of an Islam victory was what we all expected (Islam ITD was -250 on most sportsbooks), this fight absolutely delivered from beginning to end. Poirier clearly improved leaps and bounds compared to his Khabib performance in 2019, but unfortunately still was not enough for the Dagestani grind.

• That ankle pick that Islam hit on Dustin in the final sequence is some of the nastiest sh*t I’ve seen in a UFC title fight. You don’t have that technique in your arsenal without hours and hours of exhausted, grimy mat work. Ankle pick, suctioned to the back before DP knew it, and that was all she wrote.

• If this is it for Dustin Poirier, he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer both for his work inside the cage and out. His charity, “The Good Fight Foundation”, works every day to help those less fortunate and has raised hundreds of thousands to date and deserves recognition.

  • Most of all, however, we will remember Dustin’s career as being an absolute DOG that represented the best of our sport, a man who held a championship belt (undisputed or not), and a human being who performed for our entertainment to the best of his ability every damn time. Salute to you Diamond!

Middleweight: Sean Strickland def. Paulo Costa (Split Decision: 49-46, 50-45, 46-49)

• Strickland did what Strickland does, confusing his opponent, pressuring when he had to, and outpointing a dangerous Costa on two of three scorecards. Was it entertaining? At times sure, but I couldn’t help but think to myself, “how much more fun this fight would be as 3 rounds?” (especially at 12am Eastern time with my eyes closing slowly).

• Paulo Costa went OFF on his social media after this one, basically saying he’s going back to being “The Eraser” and throwing away the hesitancy (or tactical).

Middleweight: Kevin Holland def. Michał Oleksiejczuk (via arm break at 1:34 of Round 1)

• Who doesn’t love a Kevin Holland fight? You really never know what you’re going to get but you know you’ll be entertained. This one was no different. Holland survived an early knockdown and once the fight hit the floor, it was all Kev.

• My favorite part about this submission was watching in real-time as Kevin Holland was asking Oleksiejczuk if he wanted him to break the arm, similar to F1 & NASCAR legend Jean Girard on Ricky Bobby. Both men made a similar decision…

Quick Hitters

• I actually played in a celebrity basketball game where Phil Rowe & Kevin Holland was going at It like Bird & Magic. Rowe was the MVP in that game, but unfortunately took an L against Jake Matthews earlier on UFC 302 by UD.

  • (Yes, that was the game Jamahal Hill blew out his achilles)

• Morono vs Price was moved from the ESPN portion of the card to PPV and swapped with Almeida vs Romanov. 

  • Almeida vs Romanov was awesome for the 2:27 minutes it took Jailton to lock in the RNC.

• Just to touch on Morono vs Price, which featured Niko Price winning a clear decision. I have yet to hear a comment from Morono, but I just wonder what was going on in his gameplan or in the camp leading up to it that led to such a bad performance.

  • He fought RD1 at a pace I thought he could sustain for 15 minutes, not the 6.5 he was capable of. Just really head scratching.

• You think I was going to do a UFC 302 recap and not take about Ailin Perez twerking dominating in a unanimous decision win against Joselyn Edwards? NO SHOT… but I respect you may have a wife or a girlfriend so, you can see it here but not embedded.

Who Is the #1 P4P Fighter In the UFC?

UFC President Dana White was asked if he thought Islam Makhachev was #1 Pound for Pound after UFC 302 (Hint: he does not).

• In the post-fight presser at UFC 302, Dana was quick to shoot down the notion that ANYONE could be the Pound-For-Pound #1 fighter in the world over Jon Jones.

Here’s the thing, and I’m saying this knowing Henry and Kamaru may disagree but… I agree with him.

Dana listed a number of reasons why, including coming off a 3-year layoff to dominate the #1 HW at a new weight class.

I would argue the reason Jones is the #1 P4P ever is because of the longevity. The man has never lost by anything other than his own accord. We’re talking over a decade of dominance at this point.

We operate in a sport where a single mistake can cost you EVERYTHING. Jones has never made one. Bad night? You wouldn’t know it. Partying all week to self-sabotage only to win an epic war? Just a day in the life of Jonny Bones.

I did think Jones’ own criticism of Islam’s performance was out of pocket. (In a since-deleted tweet he said: “You go through an absolute dogfight and pull off a last-minute submission. And that's what makes you the best?"

Jones is my GOAT, and barring an unforeseen loss in the future, he will go down as the best UFC fighter of all-time. (Not combat sports athlete though, that’s our guy TRIPLE C!)

POUND 4 POUND PODCAST

Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo won’t be stopped even with a Cancun vacation on the books! The fellas connect to recap UFC 302, which featured an epic performance from Dominance MMA teammate Islam Makhachev.

Don’t miss out on our upcoming Pound 4 Pound Podcast episode on Thursday featuring David Benavidez.

LISTENER’S HOT TAKES

“That UFC 302 card was boring as shit. Did you enjoy it?”

As combat sports fans, sometimes you have to acknowledge that high-level fights can be “boring” at times, but that doesn’t make them bad fights.

Look at Grant Dawson’s dominant win against Joe Solecki at UFC 302, was it boring because of the smothering style and 13:46 of control time?

Yeah.

Was it a “bad fight” for Dawson because fans were bored?

Nope.

On the same card, Strickland grabbed the mic and said “sorry for the boring fight guys” after a 25-minute battle against Paulo Costa where one mistake could end your night.

There were a number of HIGH LEVEL striking and grappling matches on UFC 302 that to the casual fan would be “lame” or “boring”. (Strickland vs Costa, Rowe vs Matthews, Dawson vs Solecki, Morono vs Price, Brown vs dos Santos).

When you watch enough MMA, you realize just how high the stakes are and how slim the margin for error as the levels go up. Low-level local MMA is the best for wild & crazy sh*t, but this is the big leagues, and wins get you further than entertainment (almost) every time.

“High-Level” striking and grappling tends to be boring to the untrained eye and fascinating to the veteran.

The same holds true for any sport, but as fighters being 1v1 in front of the world, it’s more obvious. NHL’s Game 6 Dallas Stars vs. Edmonton Oilers game for example, two teams with top six offenses in the NHL, finished the game with 3 total goals between them.

So overall, yeah, I enjoyed UFC 302, but there were certainly times where I felt myself asking for more. Then Makhachev vs. Poirier saved the night and overall, I think about UFC 302 positively because of it.

Reply to this email and let us know! Also send in your hot takes and we will feature our favorites in the newsletter!

Let’s all cross our fingers that UFC 303: McGregor vs Chandler stays intact!

Or maybe “The Notorious” is on to his next career…