The Actual Winners and Losers From UFC on ESPN 57

On Saturday evening, the UFC visited Louisville, Kentucky for a second time — and the primary time since means again in 2011. The Louisville followers within the constructing, who had little question been ready eagerly for the promotion’s return, have been rewarded for his or her persistence.

The cardboard featured some highlight-reel stoppages and performances that can change issues fairly a bit in among the UFC’s hottest divisions. That features the principle occasion.

The headliner was contested at middleweight, with No. 4 contender Jared Cannonier taking over the seventh-ranked Nassourdine Imavov in a match with title implications. Cannonier was favored to win, however ultimately, Imavov sprung the upset with a TKO victory within the fourth spherical.

The co-main occasion, in the meantime, was contested at gentle heavyweight, and was arguably much more impactful, as former title challenger Dominick Reyes bounced again from 4 straight losses with a first-round knockout of former kickboxer Dustin Jacoby.

Earlier on the cardboard, we witnessed a giant win from bantamweight super-prospect Raul Rosas Jr., who picked up steam with a second-round submission of the damaging Ricky Turcios. A number of different fighters additionally made massive statements on the cardboard, which is able to maintain struggle followers chattering for days.

Scroll on for the largest winners and losers of the UFC’s long-awaited return to Louisville.

Russian-born Frenchman Nassourdine Imavov scored one of many greatest wins of his profession in the principle occasion of the UFC’s cease in Louisville, stopping former title challenger Jared Cannonier with a salvo of punches and knees within the fourth spherical of their middleweight struggle.

Sadly, the win comes with an asterisk. Whereas Imavov was positively in command of the motion on the stoppage, the stoppage itself was doubtful, as Cannonier was neither down nor out when the ref jumped in. The American had solely simply fired again with a giant punch, and nonetheless had his palms up — in different phrases, he was intelligently defending himself.

Cannonier was fast to protest the stoppage, and Imavov acknowledged it wasn’t an ideal end in his post-fight interview with commentator Paul Felder.

“I used to be able to proceed,” the victor mentioned. “The referee, that is his job, so I feel he made the suitable determination, however I used to be able to maintain going.”

Regardless of the circumstances, it’ll go down as a win for the Frenchman, and one that can shake up the middleweight rankings, as Cannonier was ranked three spots forward of him within the Prime 15, at No. 4.

It stays to be seen how the UFC matches Imavov up from right here, however he’s now one of many high contenders within the middleweight division — neck and neck with the likes of Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland, Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev within the race of a crack at champion Dricus Du Plessis.

If he will get his means, it’s going to be a struggle with the previous champ Strickland subsequent.

“I would prefer to struggle Sean Strickland in Paris [in September],” he mentioned.

He would possibly simply get his want, nevertheless it’s too unhealthy his win over Cannonier got here beneath such questionable circumstances. If it was a cleaner victory, he’d be a lot tougher to disclaim.

If the pre-fight discourse was to be taken severely, Dominick Reyes’ profession was already over heading into his principal card conflict with Dustin Jacoby. Regardless of giving Jon Jones the hardest check of his iconic gentle heavyweight title reign, “The Devastator” had misplaced 4 straight, together with knockout defeats towards Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Ryan Spann.

He was washed, they mentioned. Spent.

Not so.

After getting pushed again by Jacoby within the early moments of their principal card gentle heavyweight struggle, Reyes surged again and flattened his foe with a volley of punches and a knee proper on the two-minute mark. Jacoby protested the referee’s intervention, however the replay revealed the stoppage was justified.

It was a career-saving win for Reyes. Had he misplaced, he virtually actually would have been minimize by the UFC, and after 5 straight losses, seemingly would have struggled to search out severe fights wherever else — even beneath bare-knuckle guidelines.

Along with his win over Jacoby, nonetheless, he has affirmed that he’s nonetheless certainly a top-15 gentle heavyweight. It is uncertain he ever works his means again to the title, and extra uncertain nonetheless that he wins the belt he narrowly missed when he fought Jones, however for the second, none of that’s set in stone.

He is clearly nonetheless acquired some struggle left in him. Do not doubt The Devastator.

There aren’t many fighters with as a lot hype behind them Raul Rosas Jr.

At simply 19 years outdated, he’s broadly thought-about a future champion at bantamweight, and is getting the identical push that names like Sean O’Malley and Khamzat Chimaev did within the early days of their UFC careers.

Hype, in fact, is a harmful factor. Some fighters stay as much as it, however others fail to take action — typically within the worst means.

For a second, there was purpose to imagine Rosas would fail to stay as much as his hype. After a submission win over Jay Perrin in his UFC debut, he suffered a deflating determination loss to Christian Rodriguez in his subsequent struggle — a loss some followers noticed as proof that he wasn’t good as marketed.

Rosas has now bounced again from that loss with two straight wins. First, he acquired again on monitor with a first-round TKO win over Terrence Mitchell, and on the principle card of the UFC’s return to Louisville, he constructed on his momentum with a second-round submission of the damaging Ricky Turcios.

“What occurred with Christian Rodriguez simply made me develop so much,” he mentioned in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder.

It stays to see how far Rosas can get within the jam-packed bantamweight division. His loss to Rodriguez continues to be wholly seen within the rear-view mirror, and he needed to struggle his means out of a decent rear-naked choke try within the first spherical of his struggle with Turcios. He clearly nonetheless has loads of room to develop. That being mentioned, at 19, he has loads of time to evolve, and there isn’t any query he’s a pure expertise.

For the second — and regardless of his current loss — his hype is alive and properly.

A number of the greatest KOs in MMA historical past have been the product of spinning strikes. Keep in mind Edson Barboza’s KO of Terry Etim? Or that point Vitor Belfort flattened Luke Rockhold with a spinning kick? Barboza is within the remaining chapter of his MMA profession, and Belfort is lengthy retired, however these knockouts nonetheless often function in spotlight reels and promo packages.

The issue with spinning KOs, in fact, is that they are uncommon. We do not see them fairly often, however as luck would have it, we acquired one in Louisville.

It occurred on the principle card, in a middleweight struggle between Brunno Ferreira and Dustin Stoltzfus. Early within the first spherical, Ferreira threw a spinning again elbow. His first try wasn’t a fight-ender, however quickly after, he tried it once more, and that point, he popped out his foe’s batteries. The ref intervened at 4:51 of spherical one.

If the UFC commentators are to be believed, it was simply the eighth spinning-back elbow KO within the promotion’s lengthy historical past. Even when Ferreira by no means turns right into a severe middleweight contender or champion, he has earned his place within the promotion’s historical past books with a stoppage we’ll be awaiting years after his profession.

In fact, flashy finishes are very on model for the Brazilian. This was his ninth KO in 12 victories, and his seventh within the first spherical.

There have been no knockouts on final weekend’s 12-fight UFC 302 card in Newark. Six fights into Saturday’s card in Louisville, the one knockout or TKO to happen got here by means of a physique shot, when Carlos Prates put Charles Radtke away with a knee to the intestine in spherical one.

After 18 fights with out a actual knockout, followers have been getting ravenous. There was even hypothesis that the UFC’s new glove design, which was launched at UFC 302, was the offender.

Who is aware of why we went so lengthy with out a good old school clobbering, however the brand new gloves are evidently not the issue. Zachary Reese proved that within the second bout of Saturday’s principal card, blasting Julian Marquez with an uppercut and follow-up punches simply 20 seconds into an alluring middleweight scrap.

“I type of struggle like white trash typically, however I’m fairly expert,” Reese mentioned in his post-fight interview with commentator Paul Felder.

Expert, certainly.

Reese, who earned his roster spot on Dana White’s Contender Collection, misplaced his UFC debut, struggling a stoppage defeat to Cody Brundage inside two minutes. His win over Marquez is not going to erase the reminiscence of that debut loss, or flip him right into a severe middleweight contender, nevertheless it places him again on monitor, and it was a sorely wanted reminder that we’re watching MMA, not wrestling or jiu jitsu.

India’s Puja Tomar used to struggle in ONE Championship, which is likely one of the high fight sports activities promotions exterior the UFC. Her profession there didn’t go properly. She did handle to get a single win beneath the ONE banner, however after a loss to future atomweight champion Stamp Fairtex, was despatched packing by the Asian group.

For lots of fighters, that will be the top of it, however Tomar pushed on. After her launch from ONE, she rattled off 4 straight wins in India’s Matrix Battle promotion — together with a victory over her former foil Bi Nguyen — which turned out to be spectacular sufficient to earn a name from the UFC.

Tomar made her UFC debut within the opening bout of Saturday’s card in Louisville, taking over Brazil’s Rayanne dos Santos at strawweight. The Indian expertise needed to work exhausting within the struggle, and arguably did not deserve the break up determination she left the cage with, however she’s going to fly out of Louisville with a UFC win all the identical, which frankly would have appeared unthinkable when Stamp chased her out of ONE just a few years again.

Debate the choice all you need, however this simply goes to point out that younger fighters ought to by no means be counted out. With the suitable mix of diligence, confidence, and youth, it is all the time doable for them to show issues round.