UFC 213 Recap

By Anthony “Zute” George

UFC 213 began as a stacked card that promised fireworks right smack in the middle of the Summer. The card lost some luster with the postponement of the Robbie Lawler and Donald Cerrone fight, however, with two title fights still intact, 213 still promised to be a Summer Blockbuster. However, on the day of the fight, UFC lost its main event, as well as one of its title fights, when Amanda Nunes pulled out of her fight with Valentina Shevchenko. Nunes pulling out last minute was a big blow to UFC 213. The show must go on, cliché I know, yet so fitting in this case.

The Interim Middleweight Title fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker became the main event and UFC 213 went on without a hitch. When it was all said and done, UFC 213 produced a solid main guard for the live gate and the PPV audience. Just how large that PPV audience will be remains to be seen, it is likely Nunes’ Keyser Soze act hurt late PPV buys, but the fans who did decided to buy the makeshift card were certainly not complaining with the finished product. Let us dissect the main card a bit further.

The Good:

Rob Font delivered as his replacement fight got the PPV card off to a fiery start. Font did not fold under the big lights and looks to be ready to be featured on more main cards in the near future.

Anthony Pettis and Jim Miller put on a show. This was a fight that I felt was much closer than the judges’ scorecards, 30-27 from all three judges, and the announcing crew. I felt the announcing crew was a bit bias, as they were really playing up Showtime Pettis’ return to the lightweight division. This is not to suggest that Anthony did not earn the victory, he did win the fight, but Jim Miller should have been awarded the third round and got off to a good start in both rounds one and two. Nonetheless, Anthony Pettis’ hand was raised in a bloody, high octane battle. This was the fight of the night up until the main event.

Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker left very little in the cage during their five-round epic battle. It was a brutal fight that was bloody and often very technical. This instant classic also showed the value of a great corner, as Whittaker appeared to unravel a bit due to a right leg injury early in the fight. Whittaker was talked off the cliff and rallied to win the last three rounds, after dropping the first two to Romero.

I predicted Whittaker to win, but I thought his left jab would have played more of a role in his victory. Push kicks to Romero’s midsection and chest took the place of the lethal left jab. Weary of the Romero takedown, Whittaker did not use his striking skills with his hands as much as he has in past fights. As advertised however, Robert Whittaker continually stuffed the takedown attempts of Romero, a world class wrestler.

In an ironic twist, it was a Whittaker takedown in round five that sealed the deal for the Australian striker. On his back, Romero appeared helpless and out of gas as Whittaker scored the biggest win of his career, in a fight that did not begin well for him. This fight was as good a main event as you could ask for on a PPV card and was no doubt the fight of the night.

The Bad:

The Alistair Overeem-Fabricio Werdum rubber match did not live up to expectations, in fact it fell way short. The best moments of the fight came in the third round, by Werdum, however it was not enough to capture the decision. Overeem won, but he was far from impressive or exciting. Perhaps these mixed martial artists knew each other to well. Whatever the reason, this fight was a momentum killer. Good thing the main event made us soon forget this snoozer.

While it was nice to see Rob Font get on track in 2017, and it is always intriguing to see a young upstart in action, as we saw Curtis Blaydes flesh out another chapter of his young career against the rugged Daniel Omielańczuk, these fights were not PPV material. What hurt the most was that there were no female fights on the main card, or at all for that matter; odd for a card that featured a female main event. The female fights are always high energy momentum setters, and this card lost the only fight of that nature and had no viable replacement. To clarify, while Font did bring it and Blaydes passed a tough test, both of these fights brought nothing to the table to replace the fights that were originally on this card. The PPV will reflect this point.

The Future:

Any UFC PPV worth its salt has fans asking several immediate questions. This card produced plenty of those questions.

First, Robert Whittaker vs. Michael Bisping, when and where? This fight should go down during the last quarter of 2017 and it promises to be a beauty. Michael is certainly expending a lot of energy reminding everyone he is the real middleweight champion. Will he be healthy enough to prove that in the cage by the end of the year? Let us hope. Whittaker becoming the interim middleweight champion does not sit well with The Count. Perhaps the biggest reason why is because Whittaker’s hardware squelches Bisping’s super fight with George St. Pierre for the moment; perhaps for all time. With Bisping vs. Whittaker on the horizon, I do not think many fans are complaining about this, however.

Second, while Overeem won, did he do enough to warrant a title shot? It appears that Dana White and the UFC post fight crew saw a more entertaining fight than I did, as they sang the praises of this co-feature. I am not sure what I missed, but I am pretty confident the boos I heard from the fans throughout this fight should not mistaken for chants of ‘Looouuuuu.’

Overeem won a stinker of a fight, so, does it get a crack at Stipe Miocic? A hard question to answer because the heavyweight division in the UFC is a peculiar one, as the same few fighters appear to get recycled over and over. Also, top contenders Mark Hunt, Derrick Lewis and Travis Browne are no longer viable options for a title shot. With his stunning knockout over Mark Hunt, and his rubber match win over Werdum, it is hard to argue that Alistair has not earned a title shot. With that said, I would much rather see Stipe defend against Francis Ngannou. A fight I think is much tougher to predict and will be more exciting. We shall see.

Third, where does Anthony Pettis now rank in an already crowded lightweight division. It was not that long ago that Pettis was the lightweight king, or was it? While Conor McGregor lives out his boxing fantasy, as well as helps Floyd Mayweather pay his taxes, there is a lot of great fighters waiting for their turn at UFC royalty. Does Dana White and the UFC brass match up a top five lightweight against Pettis next time around? How great would a Pettis Vs Kevin Lee or Edson Barbosa be? Perhaps we will see the safer route and see Pettis square off against a lower ranked fighter. Either way, Anthony Pettis is player to be reckoned with in the lightweight division. In an already crowded pool, Showtime will no doubt make more waves.

I am sure there were a lot more questions asked by fans after a very good UFC 213. What were yours?

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