1. What is your blurb review of UFC 319?
Heck: Memorable card in a number of ways — along with a couple of absolutely shocking outcomes. Will be one we talk about at year’s end, certainly.
Lee: Could have used one more spinning back elbow knockout, preferably in the main event.
Martin: Unforgettable back-to-back spinning back elbow knockouts and a new superstar is born. That’s a solid show.
Meshew: Khamzat Chimaev finally did it.
2. Who can stop Khamzat Chimaev?
Heck: Short answer? Probably nobody at middleweight. However, I think there’s one fighter in this division who has a [super slight] chance of beat him, and that’s Anthony Hernandez.
“Fluffy” delivered one of the three best performances in MMA this year when he absolutely ran over, and embarrassed Roman Dolidze in a main event fight. His relentless style, the pace he puts on, and just the overall gameness he brings to the table could possibly give Chimaev some problems.
With all due respect, outside of Hernandez, I’m not giving anybody in the division much of a chance, outside of a slip on a banana peel.
Lee: Up here in Ontario, we had a furniture-selling brand called Bad Boy and to borrow their famous slogan:
Wow, that was a long way to go to get to my point. Totally worth it.
What I’m saying is I’ve never picked Chimaev to lose, I didn’t pick him to lose Saturday, and I’m certainly not picking him to lose in the near future. There are a number of compelling challengers in the pipeline and I love all those matchups, but for me, Chimaev is a -400 favorite at worst against any of them.
Chimaev’s rise to the top was slowed by external factors and he’s only dropping this belt if he gets injured or makes an oh-so-trendy change in divisions to chase another title.
Martin: Based on the current crop of contenders, Chimaev is going to be heavily favored against everybody but Reinier de Ridder is still my pick to give him the toughest challenge. Not saying he’ll win but he’s got the best chance.
The two fighters who have given Chimaev the most grief in the UFC have been Gilbert Burns — world class jiu-jitsu — and Kamaru Usman — one of the best wrestlers to ever compete in the octagon. On paper, de Ridder is arguably the closest combination of the two. He’s by far the slickest grappler at middleweight, his wrestling is solid if not underrated and he’s actually shown pretty good striking thus far in the UFC.
Plus, de Ridder has trained with Chimaev in the past so there is some familiarity there and as an added bonus he currently works with both Usman and Burns. All that extra insight can’t hurt.
Meshew: While my heart sings that people like Damon think RDR presents a challenge to Chimaev — I am the original RDR fan — my brain knows it’s not true. I think de Ridder is going to get the call to step in against Chimaev when the promotion goes to Abu Dhabi in a couple of months, and it’s gonna go poorly for my big, beautiful bozo, because it will go poorly for anyone in this weight class.
Heading into UFC 319, I thought du Plessis was the toughest matchup for Chimaev at middleweight, and while that sure appears to be wrong now, I don’t think it’s that wrong. My big takeaway from Saturday is simply how good this new, more mature Chimaev appears to be, and given that, the rest of the division is in trouble for the foreseeable future.
If I had to pick one guy who could maybe pull it off though, give me Alex Pereira if “Poatan” decides dropping back down to 185 for one last dance would be fun. Pereira is huge man, great athlete, better wrestler than he gets credit for, and would obviously wax Chimaev on the feet, if he can keep it there. He’s the only middleweight who has a shot.
3. Is Lerone Murphy next for Alexander Volkanovski and what are his chances?
Heck: Yes, and I didn’t think that would be possible.
First off, I picked Murphy to win this fight. I just feel experience matters, and while Aaron Pico has a lot of foundational tools and talent, his best win is probably Justin Gonzalez. And to go from that, to fighting a really good fighter like Lerone Murphy is a super tough ask. I was actually surprised how quickly people were anointing Pico as the clear winner of this fight.
Second, did I expect Murphy to win in the way he did? Of course not, and neither did you. But he sure did, and when Alexander Volkanovski immediately tweets about it, and has a month in mind, you’re probably going to get your shot. What a night for “The Miracle.”
When it comes to contenders like Murphy, who put together lengthy win streaks but aren’t necessarily known for their viral trash talk or highlight-reel finishes, all you can ask them to do is to find a way to manufacture that signature moment and Murphy finally did it (with a tiny bit of help from the always reckless Pico).
Evloev is out of the picture, Jean Silva has to get past Diego Lopes first before we push him to the front of the discussion, and we can’t seriously be considering Yair Rodriguez for another title shot.
Martin: 100% Murphy gets the next shot and he’s earned it.
No one has been a fiercer critic of Murphy’s fighting style than me. He wins but his fights are almost always completely forgettable. He beat Josh Emmett and 24 hours later, I couldn’t tell you a single thing that stood out about the performance. That all changed on Saturday when Murphy deaded Aaron Pico with a spinning back elbow. Sure, part of that was Pico being his ultra-aggressive self and that allowed Murphy to score a highlight reel finish but that’s exactly what he needed to secure a title fight.
Can he beat Volkanovski? Something tells me that fight probably looks a lot more like Murphy’s other recent performances but he’s incredibly skilled and Volk isn’t getting any younger. It may be a 48-47 decision but Murphy can get the job done.
Meshew: Perhaps the most impressive thing from Saturday was Murphy completely changing his stars with one fight. Heading into the event, Murphy looked to be in the Leon Edwards zone of “needs to win 12 fights to get into the title picture” and then one incredibly KO later and he’s the frontrunner to fight for the belt next.
And should that happen, I think he’s got a great chance. Murphy has always been a great fighter, it’s just that sometimes he is not the most exciting. But he’s in the prime of his career and, simply put, Volk is not. Credit to Volkanovski for winning the vacant title over a young and dangerous guy, but even in that fight he looked clearly past his prime. Murphy might be the guy to firmly knock Volk out of title contention.
4. Who was the biggest loser at UFC 319?
Heck: To build upon my previous answer — and to go off the board as I typically do on these questions — it’s Movsar Evloev. The undefeated fighter who Dana White unfairly painted with the boring brush because he confused him with a different fighter on the UFC 297 card (I’ll never stop believing that and White is too far along to turn back now) probably looked at this UFC 319 co-main event like the rest of us: Pico could get a title shot, and if not, seems like a clear path for Evloev.
That super didn’t happen. And what makes it worse — and I said this publicly on a few of our shows — I thought Evloev would’ve absolutely ran over Pico when that fight was announced. So to watch Murphy cold him must’ve been such a tough blow for Evloev.
If he is injured in an even decently bad way, Evloev is most certainly going to need to win another fight, and if Jean Silva beats Diego Lopes at Noche UFC, he may need to win two. Tough scenes.
Lee: Kai Asakura, welcome to No Man’s Land.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of fun fights for the explosive Japanese striker and with the right matchmaking, Asakura could be a mainstay in the division for years to come. But to go from an instant UFC title shot to 0-2 with two submission wins that exposed a glaring weakness. That ain’t good.
The UFC flyweight division lacks depth, so there aren’t many easy fights to get Asakura back on track. A return to bantamweight could alleviate some of his pre-fight stress, but there are plenty of strong wrestlers and grapplers at 135, too.
And if Asakura ends up going 0-3, his UFC journey could come to an end far sooner than expected.
Martin: Apparently it’s anybody who complains about their contract in PFL and signs with the UFC in free agency.
Aaron Pico is the third high profile fighter who wanted out from under the PFL umbrella to then sign with the UFC and lose in their debut. Patricio Pitbull was the first and he dropped an uninspired decision to Yair Rodriguez and that was followed by Patchy Mix’s puzzling performance against Mario Bautista back in June. Now it’s Pico’s turn and he got the worst of it after getting demolished by a notable non-finisher like Lerone Murphy.
These guys can bounce back — Pitbull already did, although not exactly in a barnburner — but the UFC gave all three highly ranked opponents in their first appearances with the promotion and they all lost in lopsided fashion.
Meshew: I love the man like a son, but it has to be Dricus du Plessis.
Personally, I loved a lot about DDP this fight week, from the build-up, to the way he handled the loss, to even the way he still was trying to win in the final minutes of a fight he was hopelessly outclassed in. But the man was just handed one of the most one-sided losses in UFC championship history, especially when it comes to challengers doing the whomping.
It was so one-sided that there’s now zero possibility of him getting a rematch in this lifetime, and for a guy who was making a fuss about chasing all-time greatness, that’s a tough loss. But even more than that, I think when DDP woke up today, he will be disappointed with his performance. Sure, Chimaev was so vastly ahead technically and athletically that it may not have made a difference, but DDP look woefully unprepared for the matchup, and given the brief moments of success he did have, he has to be thinking about what he could have done instead to make it more competitive.
5. Other than the main event, who stole the show at UFC 319?
Heck: I’m going to use this opportunity to do what most will probably not do with how the event unfolded storyline wise and give the shine to Alexander Hernandez.
Hernandez has had one of the most head-scratching careers I can remember in the UFC. From dusting up Beneil Dariush in his short-notice debut, to beating Olivier Aubin-Mercier, to becoming an MMA meme in the Donald Cerrone fight, and all of the ups and downs that have come with it, the man never really got the chance to develop in the world’s premier MMA promotion, and just had sort of been flying by the seat of his pants. Hernandez entered this fight with Chase Hooper as the second biggest underdog on the card, but anyone who has watched him fight, and knew what he’s always been capable of, took a pause with that. And then he absolutely smoked Hooper at the buzzer of Round 1.
He’s now won three straight, and just picked up his biggest win since his debut. At almost 33 years of age, perhaps Hernandez is peaking at the right time. Huge win.
For those of you who don’t know-and who wouldn’t-that’s the nickname of the latest winner of The Ultimate Fighter, flyweight Joseph Morales. If his actual name sounds familiar, it’s because you might have seen Morales inside the octagon before when he had a brief three-fight stint with the promotion.
Fast forward seven years and an older, wiser, Morales is now TUF champion after an upset submission win over undefeated Kazakh prospect Alibi Idiris. It’s not the sexiest storyline seeing a UFC veteran win a reality show to come back to the UFC, but maybe this is the path Morales was meant to walk all along.
Martin: It’s the lowest hanging fruit possible but might as well snatch it because Carlos Prates bounced back in spectacular fashion after falling to Ian Machado Garry in his previous outing.
A vicious finisher who smokes his opposition and then fires up a Marlboro red afterwards, Prates was already a fan-friendly favorite but he struggled mightily in his fight against Garry. Prates suffered no such fate against Geoff Neal after hurting the veteran welterweight several times in the opening round and then euthanizing him with a spinning back elbow that also split his head open.
Prates then made the most of his post-fight interview to get a $50,000 bonus and a guaranteed spot on the upcoming UFC Rio card in October. That’s how you make an impression after a loss!
Meshew: Damon is right, it’s definitely Carlos Prates who may have score the KO of the year, and then cut one (Mike) Heck of a promo, but I’m going with Baysangur Susurkaev.
Susurkaev earned his UFC contract this past Tuesday on the first episode of Contender Series where he hopped in on four days’ notice and had a “Be Joe Pyfer” sort of moment with a sensational finish that Dana White said “saved his Tuesday night.” White was so enamored with Chimaev’s training partner that the UFC turned him around quickly to put him on this card on just four days’ notice, and not only that, but gave him prime position on the card and included him in the pre-fight press conference. Think about that. On Monday nobody knew who he was and by Saturday he’s the prelim main event of the biggest Pay-Per-View of the year.
And when given that spot, Susurkaev — who we’ve affectionately dubbed “Jimmy Sus” based on Dana White being unable to say his name and calling him “Jimmy” as a joke — delivered a great performance, finishing Eric Nolan in the second round. Not since Chimaev back in 2020 has a fighter broke through and become such a darling of the promotion in such a short time, and at just 24 years old, Jimmy Sus has a bright, bright future ahead of him.