UFC 261 - Fighter Previews

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Kamaru Usman - UFC Welterweight Champion

(MMA Fighting)

Kamaru Usman is starting to make his case for a spot on the UFC Welterweight Mount Rushmore. Usman has turned himself into the most dominant Welterweight on the planet since winning Season 21 of The Ultimate Fighter. “The Nigerian Nightmare” has plowed through everyone he’s seen in the UFC, amassing an ultra impressive 13-0 record with the promotion. Before capturing the belt, Usman put a beating on veteran contenders like Sean Strickland, Demian Maia, and Former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos. His first crack at the belt came against everyone favorite rapper and Jake Paul’s new nemesis Tyron Woodley. Woodley was making his own claim to be on the Welterweight Mount Rushmore. Woodley had defended the belt 3 times since KO’ing Robbie Lawler for the belt. His match against Usman looked like a man amongst boys. Usman swallowed Woodley and never let him breath for the entirety of the fight. Kamaru walked out of Vegas with the belt and a 5-0 Unanimous Decision over one of the best ever at 170.

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Since the title win, Usman has taken out 3 of the best in the world. Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, and most recently, Gilbert Burns, have all fallen to Kamaru. He was dominant over Masvidal and Burns and showed a true warrior spirit in a legendary battle with Covington. After a strong back and forth, Usman was able to finish Colby by TKO in the 5th round while also shattering his jaw. Thats what you get for all the trash talk. Now Usman, like other dominant Champs in the past, has to begin cycling through rematches. Kamaru is currently the #2 Pound for Pound fighter in the world, only trailing Jon Jones. This means regardless of weight class, Usman is the 2nd best fighter in the world at the moment. He seems to be set up for a long, long reign atop the Welterweight division. He is only getting better with each performance and as he likes to say, he’s “a problem” for anyone alive right now.

Jorge Masvidal - #4 Ranked Welterweight & BMF Champion

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Jorge Masvidal caught lighting in a bottle at the beginning of 2019. Masvidal is a veteran of the MMA game with a professional debut dating back to 2003. He has a professional record of 35-14, but has recently shown himself to be one of the most dangerous strikers in the world. Jorge initially broke into the UFC when the UFC bought rival promotion Strikeforce and absorbed their fighter contracts. This is the same way Yoel Romero, Luke Rockhold, and Daniel Cormier entered the octagon. Upon his arrival, he would go 5-1 in his first 6 fights with wins over Tim Means, Pat Healy, and Michael Chiesa. Masvidal showed himself to be a top tier fighter, but struggled to pull the finishing trigger. This caused him to fight tentative, which in turn, caused him to lose 3 of his next 4 by Split Decision. After continuing to fight and going 3-2 in his next 5, it seemed like Jorge could be done with the sport. He was growing frustrated with his gatekeeper status and lack of luck with the judges.

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Following a Unanimous Decision loss to “Wonderboy” Thompson, Masvidal took time away from the sport to participate in a foreign reality show. On the show, Masvidal was away from his family, home, and technology. He has since credited this time for his massive turn around. After coming off the show, Masvidal turned in the brash, larger than life killer we know him as today. He KO’d Darren Till stiff in his first fight back, then topped that with the Greatest KO in UFC History. Masvidal’s popularity went through the roof when he KO’d Ben Askren with a flying knee in just 3 seconds. The officially time says 5, but the ref had to run across the cage to stop the fight. This win skyrocketed Masvidal into the national media and gave him a platform many UFC fighters will never have. They even made up a fake belt for his next fight with Nathan Diaz, which he dominated before a doctor stoppage halted the bout. Jorge was drowning in new fame and popularity. He was even on the cover of EA Sports UFC 4 along with Israel Adesanya.

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Unfortunately, Masvidal’s hype came to a halt in his first title appearance. Jorge was called upon on 10 days notice to save UFC 251 against Kamaru Usman. Masvidal and Usman had started a large beef in the previous months and fans were dying to see them scrap. When it came down to fight, Masvidal got handled. He lost by Unanimous Decision. But now he is back in the same spot as before, staring across the octagon from Usman. Jorge will have a full training camp to prepare this time as well. If he can pull off the victory, Masvidal could reach heights only seen by Conor McGregor.

Weili Zhang - UFC Strawweight Champion & #3 Women’s P4P

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It took Weili Zhang no time to climb to the top of the Strawweight division. In just 1 year, Weili went from her UFC debut to UFC Champion. She entered the promotion in August 2018 as the best Chinese prospect ever in the UFC. She was 16-1 and hadn’t lost a fight since her professional debut in November 2013. Her first fight in the UFC was a destruction of Danielle Taylor. She followed that up by finishing veteran Jessica Aguilar by Submission in the first round just 3 months later. Despite 2 fights in 3 months, the Zhang train never even thought to slow down. She destroyed perennial contender Tecia Torres just 4 months after the Aguilar fight. Weili’s incredibly well rounded game, and potential appeal towards the Asian market, pushed her into a Title Shot with then champion Jessica Andrade. Andrade had just captured the gold by defeating Rose Namajunas by slam KO, a very, very rare finish in Women’s MMA. The UFC was banking on Weili to win, even going as far as booking the event in China. It is very rare to see the UFC give a challenger home field advantage over a Champion. Zhang proved she was all the way ready for her shot, finishing Andrade in just :42 seconds. The Chinese fans went crazy and the UFC knew they had a star right then and there. But Weili’s best was yet to come. After winning the belt, Weili was tasked with defending it against the GOAT Strawweight Joanna Jedrzejczyk. This UFC 248 Co-Main event looked good on paper, but no one expected what would go down. Zhang and Jędrzejczyk put on the Greatest Fight in Womens's MMA History.

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In an absolute slugfest, Zhang would see her hand raised by Split Decision. The bout would go on to win 2020 Fight of the Year. Now Weili is back to fight who many believe is still the best Strawweight in the world, Rose Namajunas. Weili has a chance to put her name into the discussion for Greatest Female Fighter Ever if she can take care of Rose Saturday night. And just remember, this will be her 6th UFC fight.

Rose Namajunas - #1 Strawweight Contender, Former UFC Strawweight Champion, & #4 Women’s P4P

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Many people, including myself, believe Rose Namajunas is the best Strawweight in the world today. Rose is a master striker with deceptively long and powerful strikes. Her work with renowned trainer Trevor Whittman has brought her skills to a new level since her time on Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter. Rose entered TUF as a very raw talent. She was only 2-1 professionally before being cast on the show. Despite her inexperience, she was able to to use her slick submission game to reach the Finals of the tournament. She would go on to lose in the Finale to Carla Esparza, but quickly turned around with 3 wins over ranked contenders. Rose dispatched of Angela Hill, Paige VanZant and Tecia Torres. She was beginning to rise through the ranking as many were noticing an increased striking ability to go along with her ground game.

Rose would then be matched up with Top 5 contender Karolina Koalkiewicz. She would put up a solid fight, but lose the bout by Split Decision. Split decisions usually cause controversy, but thankfully, they got this one right. Rose fought hard, but did not show enough tools to come away with the victory. This is why when Rose was slated for a Title shot following a win over Michelle Waterson, many believed her to be the next sacrificial lamb to be throw to Joanna Jędrzejczyk.

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Joanna had never lost in the UFC and was seen as one of the best kickboxers in the UFC. She was working on her 7th UFC title defense when she was paired with Rose. Namajunas entered the fight as a massive underdog at +500. This means if you were to bet $100 dollars on Rose, you’d win $500. And whoever had the balls to do it was ecstatic that night. Despite Joanna being one of the best strikers of all time, and Rose never having a TKO finish on her resume, Rose shocked the world and KO’d Joanna in the first round. It would the first defeat for Joanna in over 9 years and the first time she had ever been KO’d. Rose proved her first fight wasn’t a fluke when she rematched Jędrzejczyk and picked her apart for 5 rounds, securing a Unanimous Decision victory. Rose’s striking had suddenly become the best in the world after she was primarily known as a submission fighter. Unfortunately, she would lose the strap to Jessica Andrade in her next fight. But, she would come back to defeat Andrade by Unanimous Decision in the rematch. Now Rose has a chance to get her belt back. When she is flowing on the feet, there are few people more fun to watch than Rose. If she can become the first ever 2 time Strawweight Champion, she too could be in the running for Greatest Female Fighter of All Time.

Valentina Shevchenko - UFC Flyweight Champion & #2 Women’s P4P

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We talking about the Greatest Female Fighters of All Time? Well that’s a conversation you can’t have without mentioning Valentina Shevchekno. Valentina is the scariest women in the world. She has been nothing short of an absolute killer since entering the UFC. Valentina is an accomplished, World Champion kickboxer with some of the fastest strikes in the sport. Her movement and power are second to none in the entire sport. When Valentina debuted in the UFC, the Women’s Flyweight division did not exist. There was not enough high level talent to make a full division, so Valentina had to fight at Bantamweight. Despite being small for the division, Shevchenko did work. She opened her UFC career with a win over Sarah Kaufman, and was immediately booked to fight a Pre-Champion Amanda Nunes. This is one of those fights that the fans didn’t realize was so massive at the time. Fans did not know we were most likely watching the 2 Greatest Women’s MMA Fighters of All-Time go at it. In a close, back and forth fight, Nunes was able to secure a 2 rounds to 1 Unanimous Decision victory. Valentina did well, but the size of Nunes caused her trouble in the early stages. She rebounded by defeating Ronda Rousey’s best friend Holly Holm and Julianna Pena. Both fights were dominant and enough to earn her a rematch with the now Champion Nunes.

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Shevchenko and Nunes’ rematch is one of the best, and closest fights, in Women’s MMA history. Valentina and Amanda went back and forth for 5 rounds. The fight was incredible and proved these two are the only ones who can beat each other of the planet. Nobody besides Amanda has a chance against Valentina, and vice versa. After a very tight fight, Nunes was awarded a Split Decision victory. This is the only controversial fight in Nunes career, and I honestly think she lost. I have watched this fight back 3 or 4 times, and every single time I think Valentina won. But, following her showing that night, the UFC decided it needed to find a way to make a Flyweight division and get Valentina the gold. Since the UFC opened the 125 division, Shevchenko is 6-0 with 3 finishes. She has established herself as the best flyweight in the world with dominant wins over Joanna, Katlyn Chookagian, and a highlight reel KO of Jessica Eye. The Eye knockout is brutal if you haven’t seen it. The head kick Valentina landed sounded like Aaron Judge hitting a dinger.

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Now Valentina is back to continue her dominance. She hasn’t lost a round since the Amanda fight and I don’t see her losing any time soon. Before its all said and done, don’t be surprised to see Valentina in the ring with Nunes again. She is easily the 2nd best Fighter in Women’s MMA history.

Jessica Andrade - #1 Flyweight Contender, Former UFC Strawweight Champion, & #5 Women’s P4P

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Jessica Andrade is attempting to become the first Women to hold a belt in 2 different UFC weight classes. The former Strawweight Champion will be up to the task when she faces off with Valentina this Saturday. Andrade is one of the longest active veterans of the UFC’s Women’s divisions. She debuted at Bantamweight, 135 pounds, in July, 2013. Jessica was criminally undersized for the weight class, but it was the only women’s weight class in the UFC at the time. Despite her size disadvantage, she was able to collect a record of 4-3 in the division. Once the UFC opened up the Strawweight division, Andrade jumped at the opportunity. She moved down a full 20 pounds to the 115 weight limit for her Strawweight debut against Jessica Penne. Andrade looked like she had finally found the right division, going on to defeat Penne by 2nd Round TKO. She followed that up with wins over Joanna Calderwood and Angela Hill. Those 2 wins would earn her her first Title Shot against Joanna. Jessica would lose to Jędrzejczyk that night, but would continue to plug away at the division. A 3 fight winning streak over contenders Claudia Gadelha, Tecia Torres, and Karolina Kowalkiewicz vaulted Andrade to another shot, this time against Rose Namajunas. As I eluded to earlier, Andrade would shock the world, defeating Rose by slam KO.

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Unfortunately, her reign would not last long, as she was finished by Current Strawweight Champion Weili Zhang in her first title defense. But Andrade didn’t give up. She instead moved up to Flyweight to give her 3rd division a shot. Her first fight was against #2 ranked Contender Katlyn Chookagian. Katlyn was expected to use her size and grappling ability to control Jessica, but that wouldn’t be the case. Andrade TKO’d Chookagian with a nasty body shot to earn her 3rd UFC Title Shot. She is 1-1 in her first 2, so I guess we will see what happens Saturday. Her power and speed combination may be something Valentina has never seen in the division.

Chris Weidman - Former UFC Middleweight Champion & #11 UFC Middleweight

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Chris Weidman has seen the highest highs and the lowest lows throughout his UFC career. Weidman came into the UFC as a very hyped prospect. He was an All-American Division 1 wrestler with an undefeated record of 4-0. Although he was still a young and raw prospect, Weidman was able to pick up wins over UFC veterans Alessio Sakara and Tom Lawler to kick off his UFC career. He was starting to look like a future contender in a division that had grown stagnant over Anderson Silva’s dominant Title reign. Weidman would continue to rack up Ws, beating Demian Maia and Mark Munhoz. This 5 fight winning streak, Weidman’s collegiate wrestling credentials, and the lack of contenders at 185 brought Weidman to a Title Shot with Silva just 8 fights into his professional career. Even though Anderson had destroyed everyone, something seemed different about Chris. Maybe it was because Chael Sonnen exposed Anderson’s weakness against wrestlers, but Weidman did not seem intimidated at all standing across for Silva. When the time came for the two to square off, both men seemed confident. For Anderson, he had no reason not to be. He was the #1 P4P fighter in the world and hadn’t lost in over 7 years. Weidman showed why he was confident in the cage.

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After a wrestling heavy first round, Weidman shocked the world when he KO’d Anderson stiff in the 2nd. He had just defeated the Greatest Fighter Ever in just his 10th MMA fight. He would follow up that win with another in the rematch with Silva. This time, Weidman was dominating the fight, but it was eventually stopped when Anderson suffered one of the worst injuries in MMA history. He snapped his leg in two while attempting a leg kick on Weidman.

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Chris would go on to defend the belt 2 more times, before his career would take a dive. He would suffer his first pro loss when he dropped the belt to Luke Rockhold. Since that fight, Weidman is 2-4 over the past 4 years. He has slowed down considerably and is now looking to remain relevant in the Top 10. Chris is coming off a win over Omari Akhmedov and is looking to reclaim his spot amongst the elite.

Uriah Hall - #9 UFC Middleweight

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There was a time when Dana White was comparing Uriah Hall to Anderson Silva. Hall had the potential to be a game changer in MMA. During his time on Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter, many believed him to be the best contestant in the history of the show. In his 4 wins in the tournament, he was able to rack up some serious highlights. Hall’s Spinning Back Kick KO over Adam Cella remains the one of the best KO’s in the history of the sport.

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He followed that up with an :8 second KO of Bubba McDaniels in the SemiFinals. But in the Finale, Hall would disappoint as a massive favorite. Many expected him to defeat Kelvin Gastelum in the Finale, but Gastelum controlled Hall all the way to a Split Decision victory. And that is basically a microcosm of Hall’s career. Every time we think he is going to break through big time, he stumbles. He dropped his next fight to John Howard, but followed that with a 3 fight winning streak. But that came to a halt when he dropped yet another Split Decision to Rafeal Natal. And no, not the tennis player. But that would be hilarious. He bounced back from that slide with the biggest win of his career, a KO of Top 5 Contender Gegard Mousasi. But yet again, in typical Uriah Hall fashion, he would then lost 3 straight fights, including a rematch with Mousasi. Hall is now on his first 3 fight winning streak since January, 2015. Although he was strung together wins, they have not been extremely impressive. If Hall can take out a big name like Weidman, he might finally begin to get some momentum to his name. We may never see the guy who was on TUF again, but Hall still has the skills to be elite in this division.

Anthony Smith- #6 UFC Light Heavyweight

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Some people may say Anthony Smith has overachieved so far in his career. But hey, if that’s the worst thing someone can say about you, you’re probably doing alright. Smith broke into the UFC as a Middleweight following the UFC/Strikeforce merger. He was seen as a mid-card talent and was cut from the promotion following a loss in his UFC debut to Antonio Braga Neto. But an 8 fight winning streak on the regional scene got "Lionheart" back into the promotion. Since then, he has established himself as a Top 10 talent in 2 weight divisions. Smith would go 3-2 at 185, but reached the back half of the Top 15 with a win over Hector Lombard. Following a loss to Thiago Santos, he would decide to move up to the much more open Light Heavyweight division. The 205 division was struggling for contenders, and Smith made the most of his opportunity. After going 3-0 in his first 3 fights at Light Heavyweight, Smith was given a shot against the P4P GOAT Jon Jones. Obviously, Smith lost the fight, but he has remained a player at 205 since. He is 2-2 since the Jones fight with wins over Former 2x Title Challenger Alexander Gustafsson and Devin Clark. He is currently ranked #6 in the division and a win this weekend could catapult him back into the title picture. All Smith needs is consistency. Once he has that, he has the potential to become a world class talent.

Jimmy Crute - #13 UFC Light Heavyweight

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Jimmy Crute is one of the most exciting young prospects on the entire UFC roster. Crute was named by ESPN’s board of MMA analysts as the best prospect under 25 years old on the entire UFC roster, and for good reason. Crute has looked sensational since his time on Dana White’s Contender Series. Jimmy was able to impress the boss with a first round KO of Chris Birchler to earn his UFC contract. Following the win, he was thrown directly into the fire at 205. Crute would pick up a win over ranked contender Paul Craig in just his 1st official UFC appearance. He would follow that up with a first round KO of UFC veteran Sam Alvey. Crute is officially 12-1 professionally and 4-1 in the UFC. His only loss came to Misha Cirkunov by the very rare Peruvian Necktie submission following the win over Alvey. But Crute would bounce back with 2 first round finishes over Michal Oleksiejczuk and Modestas Bukaukas, one by submission and one by KO. Crute is now facing the biggest opportunity of his career in Anthony Smith. He already has some hype around his name. If he can dispatch of the #6 ranked contender, don’t be surprised to see this kid’s name in the Title discussion.