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Brett Okamoto
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Brett Okamoto
espn staff writer
- Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing for ESPN since 2010. He has covered all the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names like Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also the producer of the 30 for 30 film “Chuck & Tito”, which looked at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.
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Sam Bruce
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Sam Bruce
Deputy editor, espn.com.au
- Sam was raised on long journeys and on the dusty plains of north-west New South Wales, where he developed his love of rugby from an early age. He joins ESPN after a five-year stint leading Fox Sports Australia’s digital rugby coverage.
multiple authors
The second UFC ranked event of the year took place across the world in Sydney on Saturday, featuring a number of early submissions and impressive performances. The main event was a rematch of the previous April’s featherweight title match Alexander Volkanovsky And diego lopez. and one after another Strong performance by Australian championIt’s safe to say that we probably didn’t need a Volk-Lopes Part 2.
The lightweights competed in two bouts before the main event and suffered defeats. The next contender for Ilya Topuria’s crown may not have been revealed yet, but UFC fans can expect several high-quality fights from the new class of lightweights in the near future.
Sometimes the critics are right. We didn’t need to see this rematch.
The UFC has a lot of matchmaking authority. It was a miss. There was no reason to carry on with this fight 10 months after the first meeting.
What makes it even worse is the fact that Volkanovski is 37 years old. He doesn’t have many championship matches left. He didn’t want a rematch, but he would never turn down a fight. But what’s Volkanovski doing after fighting the same guy twice in a 10-month span, when the first fight – frankly – wasn’t that competitive? If Volkanovski were 32, fine. It wouldn’t be fair, but at least it wouldn’t feel like we wasted precious time in his illustrious career when time is limited.
None of this is meant as a criticism of Lopez. He put in a stellar effort in both competitions and finished the job by defeating some extremely dangerous competition in September jean silva. No one can criticize Lopez, but they can criticize the UFC on this. movsar evloev Or leron murphy There would have been a much better option. Volkanovski should have fought someone else on Saturday. –Brett Okamoto
Clinical St. Denis takes a step toward lightweight title shot – but it won’t be next
The lightweight division is crowded, but benoit saint denis Dangerous but proved to be extremely impressive with a win dan hooker That title is included in the conversation. It was the Frenchman’s fourth consecutive UFC win, and the quality of his performances deserve him to jump at least a few spots in the rankings.
St. Denis (17-3) used his grappling strength to wear down Hooker in tight exchanges and also scored two takedowns. While the submission finish proved elusive, a flurry of elbows and punches earned him a TKO with 15 seconds remaining in round 2.
Standing inside the Octagon after his victory, St. Denis called for a shot at the interim title he won Justin Gaethje This past weekend at UFC 324, or a crack at the BMF title, which will be contested Charles Oliveira and bmf champion max holloway At UFC 326 in March. St. Denis may need another win, next time over a true lightweight contender, to convince the UFC he’s ready to fight with the belt on the line. However, with his fourth consecutive win, he is definitely knocking on the lightweight door. –Sam Bruce
lightweight division would be perfect
The 155 pound division will always be in good shape. Historically, it is one of the deepest in the game. However, in the last few years it has Little Cause for concern. This new era was, to a large extent, not getting the job done. Saint Denis, rafael fiziev, jalin turner –And, after last week, paddy pimblett –Just like everyone faced a learning process against the golden age of lightweight dustin poirier And Gaethje. This new class is still proving itself, but battles like Feziv vs. mauricio rafi This shows the extreme talent we are seeing at lightweight.
There is still development to be done. But with Poirier retiring and names like Gaethje and Oliveira not far behind, there is a void looming at lightweight, but it’s nothing to worry about. We’re going to see some absolute classics between young fighters like him Arman Tsarukyan (29), ahead of Rafi (29), St. Denis (30) and Pimblett (31), Quillen Salkild (26) and manuel torres (30). We’ll still miss those big names at lightweight, but this new class could be almost as much fun. –Okamoto
