On Sunday morning Beijing time, the much-anticipated UFC269 came to a shocking end in Las Vegas. Although in 2021, there have been too many wonderful dramas in the octagonal cage that are lamentable and shocking, this year-end feast with luxurious lineups and stars has left an indelible historical memory for all audiences around the world with a process and result that exceeded everyone's expectations.
The gorgeous end of "Honey" O'Malley has made supporters and skeptics have to lament his extraordinary talent for blowing; the fiasco of "Loveless" Gabrant's weight reduction has allowed everyone to witness the end of another legendary story; "Counterattack Champion" Oliveira, with a tenacious and powerful performance, announced the arrival of a new dynasty; the unexpected defeat of "Lioness" Nunez marks the end of the greatest era of domination in the history of women's MMA...
Mains Race 1 Werderweight
Sean O'Malley KO ends Laurian Peyva
As a top fifteen masters with rankings, Laurien Paiva's strength level and game experience are beyond doubt, but in the face of "Honey" O'Malley's overly obvious physical advantages and good distance control, Paiva, who has a general wrestling style and a loss of strength, can do on the field, and there is basically no other way but to stand hard. And once there is no threat of strong hugging and cage suppression, O'Malley in this game is like a dragon into the sea, a tiger returning to the mountains, playing his arm span advantage and strike talent to the fullest, almost bloodless, and successfully won this key duel.
Although this victory still failed to verify whether "Honey" has the ability to cope with the wrestling or blood-grinding tactics of top masters, at least, this "future superstar" with many fans and popularity still uses this clean and neat KO to prove that he is absolutely capable of winning his own place in the top competition of the chickweight in the right technical style. However, on the road to the future ascent, there are not many opponents like Paiwa who are suitable for him to show his unscrupulous and good skills.
Mains Race 2 Flyweight
Kay Carla Frans KO ends Cody Gabrant
When the former champion of the youngweight, "Loveless" Gabrant, was terminated by his opponent in such a tragic way on his flyweight debut, everyone knew that this fiery, fist-like teenager was likely to completely withdraw from the top competition in the octagon cage, although Cody was still young, but his career had basically come to an end.
The rapid decline of "no love" seems unexpected, but in fact, it has long been a sign. Compared with several champion-level masters who debuted earlier than him, but are still active in the first line, Cody is neither like the "Dance King" Cruze, who has the world's top fighting IQ and game reading ability, nor is it like TJ Dilashaw, who has continuous evolutionary ability and extraordinary speed of technological transformation, and the former "loveless" Gabrant, like a violent hurricane, swept through the entire chickweight.
But when he reached the top and calmed down, he became the first of the champions to stop evolving. The stagnation of technology, the exposure of weaknesses, the blow of defeat, and the wavering of confidence have left today's Kodi with only his own physical qualities to rely on, and when he loses the absolute speed advantage brought by his body, any player with strong strength may become his nightmare.
Race 3 of the main tournament, middleweight
Jeff Neil Disagreement Victory Santiago Penznibbio
Entering the main lineup of the year-end ceremony is a rare opportunity for both players in this game to make a name for themselves, but the too strong desire to win and lose has made the two top fifteen masters who are in urgent need of victory fail to play their best state.
Jeff Neal, who had lost two consecutive games before, after surviving the first two legs of the scene, won the game with a thrilling victory with the key final force, and successfully avoided his own dilemma of "three consecutive defeats", but if he wanted to regain his foothold in the top ten of the second middle and then return to the upward road, with his performance today, it is far from enough. And Penznibio, who has returned from a long illness, although he has suffered defeats again, he can see that his competitive state and confidence in the game are further recovering, for him, the road ahead is difficult, but it is not without hope.
Joint Mains Women's Werders Championship
Juliana Pena Naked Stranded Surrender Amanda Nunez
The unexpected defeat of the "lioness" has plunged the world into a "full shock" that has not been seen for many years, and the culprit of this result is herself. Just as we said before the game, the "invincible state" of the long years has made the "lioness" gradually lose her strong fighting spirit and enterprising spirit, and the "boring fatigue" of defending the title for many years has made her unconsciously begin to repeatedly test on the "edge of crisis".
If Núñez's previous domineering performances and brutal spikes were just the "stimulation" process she used to find boring results in a more exciting and risky way after losing the difficulty of the task, then this time, she raised this "adventure" to an unprecedented level, because today's lioness is the first time since she took office, with the "incomplete state" of the beginning of the new crown and trivialities, she has embarked on the championship arena related to her royal rule. And when she thought that the opponent in front of her would collapse under the pressure of her "king's domineering spirit", she had actually given up the young weight belt to Pena, who was well prepared and prepared.
However, although he accidentally and awkwardly lost the young welweight belt that he had controlled for many years, as one of the greatest rulers in the history of the UFC, the "lioness" who was obviously in poor physical and mental state still showed the grand pattern of "super overlord". In the face of the aggressive and step-by-step Pena, the "lioness" who fell into passivity and was unable to return to the sky did not resist in the defeat like other "end kings", struggling to support and refuse to accept the arrival of the final result. Instead, when he felt that nothing could be done, when Pena's naked stranding was not yet fully formed, he took the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield, not only minimizing his own physical damage, but also retaining the greatest capital for future revenge.
Of course, despite various "non-strength factors" as an excuse, the blow of this defeat to the "lioness" is still huge, even if she can find her best state in the future, this game will make Pena and all other potential opponents remember the fragile side of this "invincible overlord", and the disappearance of this opponent's "awe" is sometimes more terrible than the decline in strength.
Headlines Main Tournament Lightweight Championship Battle
Charles Oliveira Naked Stranded Surrender Dustin Pouvier
In this game, "Diamond" showed all his advantages, in the first round of the confrontation, he achieved a comprehensive suppression of the current champion with his top punches, and in the face of Oliveira's inner attack and wrestling attempts, he could also rely on his absolute strength to force the crack. Unfortunately, when the "diamond" released all the big moves one by one, crushing Oliveira's crumbling, but never able to end the game, the balance of victory and defeat has quietly changed.
From the second round, Oliveira, who survived the opening onslaught of "Diamonds", began to show his hole cards. After the total defeat of the boxing attack, he not only used his abundant physical strength and high-frequency three-dimensional strikes to gradually pull back the situation on the field, but also used cage-edge entanglement and inner encirclement attack to quickly weaken the opponent's combat effectiveness, and finally dragged the battle into the ground battlefield he was best at. After the "diamond" was exhausted in the big move and the long battle was fruitless, it also fell into the opponent's "all-round attack system" step by step because of the decline in physical strength, and the final defeat was actually only a matter of time and method.
With this victory, the "Son of the Bronx" finally dispelled everyone's doubts, officially took over the rule of the eagle, and announced the beginning of his new era, although the ambitious "Honey Badger" is still eyeing the tiger, and the mouth cannon that has just recovered from serious injuries is also planning to return. But today's lightweight has gradually entered a new pattern of Oliveira's strong summit, Makhachev, Darius and other new generation masters, and the history of the octagonal cage will also enter a new chapter with the rise and strife of these new heroes.