Ufc 276, Adesanya and Volkanovski still champions, Cannonier and Holloway beaten

The night of the stars. The always-on ones on the Las Vegas Strip. Those of the T-Mobile arena, with Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Pratt and Mel Gibson shooting smiles at the front row cameras. And those of the Ufc, which shines for the spectacle offered and for the confirmation of two champions who successfully defend the title: Volkanovski in an epic way, Adesanya more sparagnina.

Adesanya often wins because it gets inside you. As a champion and prime time character as he has become he can do it, he can afford things that no one else would be allowed. Like entering the octagon with Undertaker’s music and hat, and a funeral urn with his opponent’s name on it, like he did in tonight’s main event. He stuff to break anyone’s concentration, but in the meantime on the octagon Jared Cannonier was shadow boxing, with his eyes closed. And then he began to face the champion without haste, taking as little as possible to feint him. Adesanya was also concentrated though: perfect distances, few shots but good penetrating the high guard, very few risks. The champion had promised a memorable show but little show has been seen. Cannonier looked for the good shot without finding it, Adesanya found many small good shots. Of his six title defenses, perhaps the least compelling.

End of the trilogy, and doubts too: Volkanovski is still the featherweight world champion, as well as one of the three strongest pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. To legitimize the position he needed to dominate Holloway, which didn’t happen beyond the first two fights wins, and he did. With perfect performance. Hard to say if Volkanovski, who has made incredible progress in recent years, is really a timing phenomenon or if Holloway’s highly effective boxing has become slower and more predictable, who knows: the Australian dodges the opponent’s best initiatives, hits hard with his right to the face at least four times and opens Max’s right eyebrow. The first three rounds are clearly Volkanovski’s, Holloway is a blood mask and at this point he has only the road to finalization to take home the match. But he just can’t raise the volume of the blows, Alexander controls the match as he controls his breath, dodges and starts again, moves, is closed, offers no weak points, plays with the stopwatch and with an increasingly resigned opponent. But he deserves to end up on his feet, at least for the lion heart he put into it. He ends up with the champion cheering, and announces that he also wants to attack the lightweights. Yummy scenery.

He had entered the arena mimicking the gesture of the archer shooting an arrow, and he did it shortly after: Alex Pereira swoops like a hurricane on the upper floors of Ufc middleweights, he needs just over two minutes to knock Strickland down with a left-right to the face, silencing Las Vegas who sang “Usa, Usa”. Attention: the Brazilian beat Adesanya twice in the kickboxing ring, the champion was reminded several times before. It could be an encounter with some sense.

“Ignorant” encounter, little tactics and many punches in the face. Lawler hit more in the first round, and perhaps it was just too much confidence to disadvantage him in the second: he seemed to have the opponent in his hand that at a certain point more than hitting he waved, but Barberena showed an iron chin and ability to take advantage of the right moment. After having collected a lot he found the right shots, Lawler began to lose certainty and a right combo to his face did the rest. He had entered dancing like Tony Manero, he came out bloody and happy.

Other than Sugar Show: a deadly bore. Between O’Malley and Munhoz it ends with a no contest, after a finger in the eye of the first put the second in a position where he could no longer fight because he couldn’t see. But in the previous four minutes O’Malley had shown very little: never a real initiative against an opponent on whom he could rely on a considerable difference in length, on the contrary he even caught a couple of beautiful strong leg kicks. And it is a shame because beyond the hair of a thousand colors, the Ferraris and the colorful looks, O’Malley is a mister fighter, who even on the eve of this meeting had complained because they do not take him seriously. Beating Munhoz convincingly would have earned him a lot of credit in one of the UFC’s most tense divisions. But no …

The bite of the Tarantula. Jalid Turner was arachnophobic as a child, so he started breeding spiders to overcome fear and when he joined UFC he chose the right name for him. In Vegas he got rid of Brad Riddell in 45 seconds, time to hit him, stagger him and then close the guillotine. Turner is the highest light weight on the circuit (1.90), has a dynamic and unpredictable style and this is his fifth win in a row, all by finishing. Now it is easy for him to enter the top 15 of the ranking, as well as for his next opponent to be a real name.

Clash of boiled meats? Not at all: an MMA clinic. Seventy-seven years in two, Miller and Cerrone put on a show. And if in the first round the cowboy is very good at placing heavy blows and showing off an excellent defense on the ground, in the second Miller is very quick to follow a kick to sign the right hold in the neck: Cerrone gives in, the two get up and they hug. Then the cowboy puts his wide-brimmed hat on the ground and puts his gloves inside: he retires. And the T-Mobile Arena dedicates a thrilling standing ovation to him.

Ian Garry, the other Irishman aside from McGregor under contract with Ufc, they call him The future not only because at 24 he is one of the youngest on the roster. He beats Gabriel Green by doing exactly the match he had to do, claiming the draw, surgically beating the face in counterstriking and, as a bonus, also coming out of a couple of difficult situations because on the other side he found a very resistant and very high opponent. volume of strokes. With a 9-0 record and growing hype, the next step for Garry is a top 10.

Dricus Du Plessis, South African from Pretoria, is a name to be followed very carefully. Muscular, good at using physical strength to defend against takedowns, great combinations of kickboxing (he is the background of him) and a right that hits like a running train. In three rounds against the veteran Tavares he takes the risks of him but dominates, opens an important wound on the opponent’s face, scores very heavy and spectacular blows. Third victory in a row in the Ufc, to be followed.

What happened to Uriah Hall? The question arises spontaneously, because the Jamaican who until a few years ago was a main event man no longer looks like him, caught between the coils of Andre Muniz’s Jiu-Jitsu for three rounds without ever taking the initiative. The Brazilian, five out of five wins in the Ufc, controls the match by taking it where he likes, on the ground, and on a couple of occasions he almost closes his grip on the right neck. One of the most rampant fighters of the division, an open streak of 9 victories in a row, most likely his entry into the top 10 of the ranking.

With eleven years younger than the opponent on the documents and a Ufc legend like Urijah Faber in his corner, Macie Barber hits the third victory in a row. The veteran Jessica Eye dominated for three rounds, in a hard-fought match mainly on the wall but with a couple of striking phases in which Barber made himself felt with his right hand and elbows. In the customary interview at the end of the match she “called” Dana White: “This was the last match in my Ufc contract”. The renewal will take place: Macie is strong, fun to watch. Jessica Eye, on the other hand, has announced her retirement after 12 years of honorable career.

The evening starts immediately: after only 42 ” Julia Stoliarenko, after having collected a couple of heavy blows, closes the opponent Jessica Rose Clark in a textbook grip on the arm. For the Lithuanian, back from three defeats in a row, it is the first Ufc victory. For the Australian, however, probably a displaced elbow.