Fans had themselves a double treat on MMA Saturday. It began in the morning with PFL Dubai, which was topped by a heavyweight title defense and also boasted a smattering of established names and up-and-comers. Next, came the big one at night – UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden, featuring two title fights. In the aftermath of both shows, here are three lessons learned.
MMA Saturday: Sergio Pettis’ Prime Is Officially Over
During Sergio Pettis’ time in the UFC, he was considered a “nepo signing”. After all, while his elder brother Anthony clinched the lightweight title and made one defense, Sergio languished in the flyweight rankings, often failing to make a proper entry into contention.
After departing the promotion, however, Pettis found his footing and stature. Upon arriving in Bellator in 2020, “The Phenom” went on a monstrous five-win streak – which included capturing the bantamweight title. He had two defenses of it before being dethroned by Patchy Mix.
Since then, Pettis has gone 2-3, and the last fight in that stretch is the most concerning. On Saturday, Pettis suffered his second loss of the year against Rizin veteran Joji Goto. Not just that, Pettis looked completely outclassed, especially when he surrendered his back in the third round.
Perhaps, Pettis was still feeing the aftereffects of changing camps after the sudden death of his longtime head coach Duke Roufus’. Whatever his reasoning, however, one thing is clear: at 33 years of age, he is now where Anthony was in the last days of his UFC run – washed.
MMA Saturday: Bia Mesquita Will Be One Half Of UFC’s Next W135 Title Fight
Bia Mesquita needed just 203 seconds to submit Macy Chiasson in the early prelims of UFC 334. It moved her past Ronda Rousey for the most submissions at women’s bantamweight and cemented her as the division’s next future megastar. Now, the result itself may not be enough to give “The Lady GOAT” the title shot, but the miscellaneous circumstances will.
Besides Kayla Harrison, women’s bantamweight is bereft of draws. Joselyne Edwards is not exactly someone whom many will recognize despite her win streak. Ailin Perez has tried to use sex appeal to market herself, but she has yet to finish a fight when not missing weight. Luana Santos is young at just 26, but her fighting style can also be a turn off for the more hardcore fans.
Mesquita, on the other hand, ticks most of the boxes needed to make a female star in MMA. She has a very extensive and decorated pre-MMA combat sports background, likes to finish her opponents, is fairly photogenic, and speaks English well despite being Brazilian. For these reasons, she will probably get hot-shotted into her division’s next title fight, whether it be against Herrison or someone else.
MMA Saturday: Ciryl Gane Has Some More Work To Do To Regain Fan Support, But He Is Close
Ciryl Gane is one of MMA’s most polarizing figures today. Almost no one will disagree that he possesses the cleanest striking game of any heavyweight today. At the same time, however, each of his last two fights before Saturday had been tainted by controversy. First, it was a fight-ending eye poke when challenging Tom Aspinall. Gane rebounded by finishing Alex Pereira to win the interim title, but it was then marred by allegations of throwing punches to the back of his opponent’s head.
Gane’s later promotion to undisputed champion, therefore, was met with much divisiveness. It did not help that “Bon Gamin”‘s first challenger, Josh Hokit, had verbally cooked him in the build-up and generated fan support despite his own divisiveness.
Ultimately, Gane would retain his belt by a hard-fought unanimous decision. While he would have preferred an emphatic knockout, a win is still a win, and he can now look forward to new (old?) challenges. A rematch with Alex Pereira, Alexander Volkov, or even Tom Aspinall? A first-time clash with Sergei Pavlovich? As they say, the world is Gane’s oyster, and he needs only beat at least one of them to put himself back in the fans’ good graces.
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End Of My MMA Saturday Rant
Next up for the UFC is an absurdly loaded Qatar card. It is topped by former champions Jiri Prochazka and Aljamain Sterling, and each of the other main-card bouts has a former title challenger on one side.
The PFL, meanwhile, faces a less certain future. Officially, it has one event left this year: a December 19 card in Lyon, France. That one is topped by an inaugural bantamweight title fight between local-born former UFC fighter Taylor Lapilus and surging upstart Mitchell McKee.
There is, however, also the issue of what will happen to the promotion’s African and Middle Eastern tournaments. The “New Gulf War” greatly impacted their scheduling, and there is no telling whether MMA’s second-largest promotion can even finish them before Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions takes over.
