Blaydes wins, but UFC heavyweight title picture unchanged ... Rohskopf wanted his coaches to stop his fight against Hubbard, and they refused ... Veteran Miller still crafty and dangerous
CALGARY — Nothing really changed in the UFC’s heavyweight division over the weekend.
Normally, a main event between two legitimate top contenders would shake things up at least a little bit. Not Saturday, though.
Curtis Blaydes did exactly what he promised to do against Alexander Volkov.
He took the Russian down and grinded him on the mat. It was enough to earn him a unanimous decision win.
It just wasn’t enough for Blaydes to leapfrog Francis Ngannou, who is next in line to fight for the heavyweight title after Daniel Cormier
and champion Stipe Miocic
sort out their issues in a trilogy fight later this summer.
So Blaydes remains right at the top of the division, sitting comfortably behind three big stars who are going to need some time to bring clarity to the weight class. There’s nothing wrong with that, and generally, there’s nothing wrong with the way Blaydes fought Saturday night.
Blaydes is a wrestler, first and foremost, so it’s only natural that he would decide to avoid engaging in a striking matchup with someone as dangerous as Volkov. Blaydes literally promised as much earlier on Saturday.
Somehow, though, the performance managed to put Blaydes squarely in the crosshairs of UFC president Dana White.
“Yeah, he won. He talked a lot of s--- coming in this week and I don’t think you talk the s--- he talked this week and come in and perform like that,” White said in a postfight press conference. “Talking about rag-dolling people and he’s not getting paid and yada yada, he should be getting the title shot. He gassed out at the end of the third round, made it to the fifth and won the fight.
“Yeah, he won.”
If you were making a list of the times White has gotten angry about a fighter’s performance, this wouldn’t come close to making the cut.
The UFC president likes his fights to have more action than the Blaydes-Volkov matchup, and that’s not an unreasonable stance for him to take, given that a big part of his job is actually selling the fights and not many casual fans would have walked away from Saturday’s main event feeling especially thrilled by what they saw.
But Blaydes’ performance definitely shouldn’t see him fall down the rankings. He played it smart and did what he had to do to get a win over a Top 10 opponent.
“I know who I am now,” Blaydes told reporters after the fight.
“I’m the heel. You don’t like what I do? I like to make you mad. I like to win. That’s probably the best part about this win, is I predicted this and I did it.”
There’s no arguing with that. Blaydes didn’t make a compelling case for earning the next title shot, but he put another win on his resume and kept himself near the top of the list in the weight class.
His performance might have annoyed the boss, but otherwise, it was still a productive night of work for Blaydes.
LOOKING INTO IT
The Nevada State Athletic Commission will be investigating an incident on Saturday night in which UFC rookie Max Rohskopf repeatedly asked his coaches to call off his fight against Austin Hubbard, only to have them refuse, according to MMAJunkie.com.
The incident happened between the second and third rounds and could clearly be heard on a clip that was circulated widely on social media through ESPN’s MMA account.
The referee eventually saw that Rohskopf didn’t want to return to action at the start of the third round and ended the fight.
After the event, NSAC executive director Bob Bennett told ESPN that the incident would be investigated.
“We might want to take disciplinary action on them,” Bennett said. “That doesn’t sound like they are looking out for a fighter.”
QUICK HITS
There are some veterans who stick around the UFC and you begin to wish they’d go do something else instead of putting their bodies through more damage. Not Jim Miller. On Saturday night, Miller showed yet again that he’s just as crafty and dangerous as he’s ever been. The 36-yearold went to work right from the opening bell against Roosevelt
Roberts and finished the fight before the first round was over with a nice armbar. Miller’s not going anywhere … If you’re looking to watch only one fight from Saturday, make sure it’s Josh Emmett’s decision win over Shane Burgos. It was an instant classic and a reminder of just how tough professional fighters can be …
Raquel Pennington was thoroughly impressive against
Marion Reneau and put her name back in the mix in the women’s 135-pound division … Next week, the main event is Dustin Poirier taking on
Dan Hooker, and that’s an absolutely terrific headliner for any card, but especially one that’s right in the middle of a pandemic.