Holloway steals the show
Featherweight champion retains title in relentless showing against Ortega at UFC 231 in Toronto, writes Dave Hilson.
Max Holloway stepped into the octagon at UFC 231 on Saturday night against previously unbeaten Brian Ortega and put on a show.
“He looked better than he’s ever looked, tonight was his greatest performance,” UFC president Dana White said at the post-fight news conference.
Holloway ended any speculation he might be in decline by completely dismantling Ortega to retain his featherweight belt and cement his place as perhaps the greatest fighter the division has ever seen.
“He’s definitely in the discussion. This guy hasn’t lost in five years,” White said.
The victory came after a tumultuous year in which Holloway was forced to pull out of three fights in 2018, one of those coming against Ortega in July.
By the time the octagon-side doctor had stepped in to end the fight before the start of the fifth and final round, Ortega had been beaten to a bloody pulp, his left eye almost swollen shut.
Holloway, who was given Performance of the Night honours, pretty much hit Ortega at will and landed a lopsided 236 significant strikes to Ortega’s 88 to push his winning streak to 13 fights.
Twice in the fourth round Holloway took an exhausted Ortega to the mat only to let him up again as if wanting to finish the fight by knockout only. And he quite likely would have had the doctor not stopped the fight.
ONE TOUGH COOKIE
Though things didn’t go the way Ortega had planned, or how many envisioned the outcome considering he had finished every UFC fight he’d ever been in, the Los Angeles native must have won over some fans with his impressive show of fortitude.
“This fight was huge, one of the sickest fights I’ve ever seen. The chin on Ortega is insane,” White said afterwards.
Despite being beaten and bloodied, Ortega continued to press on, even when it looked like he shouldn’t.
“I was blown away ( by Ortega’s ability to keep going),” White said .“I wanted them to stop that fight going into the fifth round. I was hoping that either the referee or the corner was going to stop that fight. The fight needed to be stopped. That’s called being too tough for your own good.
“I believe he could have done the fifth round, I believe he would have done the fifth round, but that fifth round should never have happened and I’ m glad it didn’t.”
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Valentina Shevchenko is the new women’s flyweight champion, but it seems she wants more.
In her post-fight news conference, Shevchenko said she has some unfinished business in the 135-pound bantamweight division where she lost a split decision to Amanda Nunes at UFC 215.
“I know that I never lost that fight and she knows that she wasn’t the winner of that fight,” Shevchenko said.
But Shevchenko said she won’t make the move back up in weight until her sister, Antonina, is the No. 1 contender at flyweight so the two don’t have to fight each other.
Shevchenko controlled much of her fight against Joanna Jedrzejczyk for a unanimous decision victory in the co-main event. “She put everything into the fight, but I was just stronger,” Shevchenko said.
The Russian won in almost every significant category, landing more strikes and taking Jedrzejczyk to the mat five times.
THEEYEHASIT
Shevchenko may have only just won the flyweight belt vacated by Nicco Montano when she couldn’t make weight, but she may already know who her first title defence will be against.
American Jessica Eye made her case for a shot at the Russian’s crown.
Eye outlasted fellow American Katlyn Chookagian to win a hard-fought split-decision victory.
Both fighters had come into the night undefeated in the division, each having won two fights at 125 pounds. But it was Eye who put in more work, landed more punches and kicks and quite possibly put herself in position to face Shevchenko.
BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME
The UFC proved once again that the fight game is alive and well in Toronto.
More than 19,000 fans flocked to Scotiabank Arena to watch UFC 231.
“This was a total sellout,” White said. “A lot of times we’ll announce sellouts and you’ll have 50 single seats (that don’t sell). We had 100 singles this morning and not one single seat open for this event ( by fight time). It’s the biggest event we’ve ever done in this building.”
That attendance number is the highest in the history of Scotiabank Arena/Air Canada Cen- tre. The gate was a whopping $3,289,250.
Other fights that stood out included the light-heavyweight clash between Jimi Manuwa and Thiago Santos and the welterweight clash between Gunnar Nelson and Alex Oliveira.
Santos finished the fight 41 seconds into in the middle round with a vicious left uppercut that sent the Englishman slumping to the canvas, while Nelson applied a rear-naked choke to Oliveira in the second round.