UFC Glasgow: Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio - Winners and Losers

You should probably kick yourself in the shin for missing this one.

Say what you will about the UFC’s European endeavors, they’ve scouted some amazing talent and built something special when it comes to events in the region. They’ve poached talent from area promotions to add some very legitimate fighters. This has also led to them to create matchmaking opportunities that make for exciting fights between both participants or moments for singular fighters to shine. It’s probably the best you can do on a card that doesn’t have more than a few ranked or immediately recognizable fighters (at least to most casual fans).

Earlier in the week, a lot of people on social media were - to put this diplomatically - less than thrilled about it. What we ended up with was a surprisingly violent card that had the bonus benefit for American fans of being early enough to allow for them to enjoy the rest of the day. Even with the dreadful pacing of most FS1 cards, it went well enough and delivered enough action to make it worthwhile for fans while sorting out a bit of the pecking order for two divisions. So, I guess we owe an “attaboy“ to Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard here, as well as anyone involved in making the best of what could have been a set of less than ideal circumstances.

• Winners

Santiago Ponzinibbio - From TUF Brazil to knocking out the #8 guy in his division, Ponzinibbio has been killing it lately with a five-fight win streak with three finishes. This should firmly establish him in the top ten, and his work at American Top Team is molding him into what is going to be a problem for everyone else in the top ten. The rest of the division does have some moving pieces right now, but it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing who he gets next.

Cynthia Calvillo - From coming in with a relatively short record to knocking off a top ten contender with a well-established top ten contender in less than six months? Calvillo is making waves. Much like Ponzinibbio, she was #14 taking on a #8 opponent and didn’t seem to struggle too much. She remains undefeated at 6-0, and matches up pretty well against a few of the women ahead of her. She should be breaking into the top five very soon with another performance like this.

Paul Felder - Now 6-3 in the UFC, Felder puts a major exclamation point against a rising fighter that matched up in terms of technique and style. Taking a step back in terms of matchmaking was probably the best thing they could do with Felder, as he’s made the most of the time he’s been given to improve and round out his game.

Khalil Rountree - Rountree moves up to 2-2 in the UFC, but gets this high up due to the sheer level of random violence he’s able to dish out. Whether or not he can do this sort of thing consistently remains to be seen (in the UFC, at least), but he’s an interesting talent that is great to watch when he gets everything to click.

Leslie Smith - Gooden was right - volume striking and movement won the day here. Smith was smart in her approach and her counters as well as anticipating how Lemos would react. Smith was able to avoid major bombs and not get caught up in the heavier ground game that Lemos has. Her elation at the end was fun to see as well. While somewhat tame, that callout was rather fun in a very Leslie Smith way. She may very well get what she wants given Bethe Correia’s recent loss.

Danny Roberts - Now 3-1 in the UFC, Roberts seemed more spry on his feet than before and shucked off Bobby Nash’s takedown attempts and put the stamp on him. Big win for him after the loss to Mike Perry to put his UFC record at 3-1.

Alexandre Pantoja - 11 in a row for Pantoja, two straight in the UFC. Pantoja countered Seery’s veteran moves with his youth, athleticism and accuracy in striking. From there it was his superior ground game that led to the finish, and shows that even in a division as maligned as flyweight is a fantastic fighter to watch.

Brett Johns - Second straight UFC win for Johns as he continues undefeated. He didn’t take any risks on the ground, preferring to work from inside guard and using slick movement and better timing with his striking. It’s been a treat to have UFC audiences exposed to a guy that had put on great performances on the Euro scene as well as in Titan FC.

Galore Bofando also showed off some great fight chops in an odd ending to his fight. It doesn’t tell us much about him as a fighter and whether or not he can do more of what he’s done on the regional scene in his UFC run is yet to be seen. He’s got some great base skills, though. This trend of splits and breakdancing guys coming over is always fun.

Four in a row for Danny Henry, who wins his UFC debut after taking some serious punishment in the first round. It worked out well for him, though. Justin Willis had a heavyweight fight. Not much was notable other than his superior ground control and his smarts on the ground. Jack Marshman had a very middleweight fight as well. Tough slog with some fun exchanges, and brings his UFC record to 2-1.

• Losers

Gunnar Nelson - Nelson has his two-fight win streak obliterated, and it brings him further back in the line at welterweight. Maybe the karate/boxing approach was working for him in the past, but he’s hit a wall here. This was clearly a problem he wasn’t ready to solve. Because he’s got a fair bit of popularity and is a tough fight for anyone in the division, he’s not falling too far back from this. Can he make the adjustments to deal with strikers of this caliber in his division? He’s going to have to figure that out, and soon.

Joanne Calderwood - Rough go at it for Calderwood, dropping back to back fights. Both takedowns in this fight nearly led to her getting immediately submitted, and continue to raise questions on why she hasn’t improved her ground game more since starting MMA in 2012. She might bounce back in a small division with a win or two, but that window of opportunity is closing.

Paul Craig - Consecutive losses for Craig, leading to 1-2 in his UFC run. It’s not enough to get him cut, there’s a lot of upside to him as a fighter. But this does take a lot of the shine off him that he earned in his debut.

James Mulheron - The guy who won this fight didn’t look great, and Mulheron absolutely didn’t look good. I tend not to be too harsh on guys making their UFC debut, but this really kills his stock at a division like heavyweight.

Albert Morales now drops to 1-2 with a draw, and might be getting cut. I personally hope he gets one more crack at it, but don’t bank on it. Bobby Nash is now 0-2 in the UFC. Might also get cut, and same goes for Charlie Ward. Ryan Janes hasn’t looked like the guy that did damage on the Canadian circuit, but while still 1-2 with a striking base and some more than decent skills, he might stick around.

• Neither

Stevie Ray - This is perhaps his worst UFC performance, which isn’t a knock since he’s looked really good, even in some exchanges in his losses. He’s still 5-2 in his UFC run. He should be fine. His performances are still crazy fun, so we should be seeing him back sometime soon.

Daniel Teymur - First professional loss, and he was going great in the first round before fading in the second and third rounds. He’ll be fine.

Amanda Lemos - Fighting Smith was something of a tall order for Lemos in hindsight, considering the experience Smith has had against better opposition. Still, for someone that was working odd jobs to pay for training not long ago to earn her way to the big show with phenomenal finishes, this was something of a win either way.

Neil Seery - Rough loss, but much respect to the man on his way out. Big ups to him and much health and happiness in retirement.