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Urijah Faber, a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, returned to the Octagon on Saturday in his hometown of Sacramento, California, as a big underdog against future hopeful Ricky Simon. He left the winner after an impressive finish in the first round of TKO. Faber, 40, was invited to follow the win for his next step, and he was not shy in his ambitions.
"I think Henry Cejudo (bantamweight champion in the UFC) called me a little while ago," Faber told Michael Bisping. "I heard Dana White say that I was old.I know that Dana White was old when he was 40, but I am a young man."
What's left to Faber? Our MMA panel – Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim – answers this question and other questions from UFC Fight Night.
Until where can Urijah Faber accomplish this second act?
Okamoto: I'm starting to really wonder if this man is really 40 years old. And I can not be the only one. The abs The locks. The beautiful boy seems. Who looks like that at 40? I think Faber can still have very significant fights, even at 40, and if the cards are good, the most important is the return of TJ Dillashaw in 2021. The road is long, but I know that Faber J & # 39; Love to have it, and it's one of the most important – if not the most important – fights it can still have, because of its history.
I do not think it will come back to a championship bout. I do not do it. There are too many names in front of him and, quite frankly, I do not want to see Faber getting into the "mix" of the 135-pound title. Take a fun fight here and there and, depending on what's going on, win this big payday in 2021 against Dillashaw.
Raimondi: This victory of return opens big doors to Faber. Simon was 15-1, a highly regarded prospect of 26 years entering. He was the favorite; Faber was oppressed in his home town. At 40, Faber was able to finish Simon in 46 seconds, the fastest KO of his career. Wild stuff. This should lead to a big fight for Faber, but we do not know what this fight is. Maybe a revenge with Renan Barao or Eddie Wineland?
A title as a bantamweight is still far away, even though he and Henry Cejudo have shown interest. Faber, however, is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, a proven ticket seller and, obviously, there are still many games left. I do not know if he should be ranked among the top 10 opponents for the moment, but if he wins one more, he could be part of that group. If he wins two more, maybe the talk about the title is not completely crazy.
Wagenheim: Faber left at sunset three years ago and less than a year later, he was in the UFC Hall of Fame, a gold star worthy of his legacy . Looking at him out of his corner on Saturday to meet the growing featherweight 15-1 Ricky Simon, I could not help but think: why is Urijah, 40, at risk of remembering this glorious swan song coming from
And then he dropped Simon with this big setback, swarmed him for the quick finish and the California Kid outdid himself. He did not stop there though. Faber immediately called the two divisional champion Henry Cejudo. Why wait?
Faber deserves a blow to the belt of bantamweight Cejudo? Of course not. But UFC Twinning likes to follow money. So, I would not be shocked if Faber wins the green. I would have be surprised, however, if he wins gold. Simon's quick KO was impressive, but as Urijah himself later said, there are levels to this game. Simon is a long elevator under the Cejudo level – at this stage of his career in any case, since he is young – and Faber, 40, is not at the penthouse level of the champion either. There are more deserving challengers than Urijah. I can not blame the legend, though.
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Okamoto: I mean, she could knock him out. This is the potential problem. She is that talent. She hits as hard as that. She has experience. She has already fought Nunes. Of course, she would probably be considered an outsider important, but she has the size to face the athletics of Nunes and she has many guns on her feet. She can hit in hand-to-hand combat and at a distance. She has a good cardio. His grounding defense has been relevant in recent years. She is legitimate candidate number 1. And although I probably do not bet that the title reign of Nunes is coming to an end, I do not count for Randamie at all if they cross each other for the title.
Raimondi: De Randamie has taken a lot of heat over the years, some of which are deserved. Whatever you think of his refusal to fight Cris Cyborg, "The Iron Lady" is a hell of a fighter. If this fight with Nunes for the bantamweight title is the following, Randamie is as likely as anyone. GDR will bring an edge in terms of range, her exceptional abilities after years of kickboxing and an evolving MMA game with her until this fight. She has improved a lot since Nunes beat her in 2013, her last defeat. Now, Nunes has improved too. Of course. But for the moment, when you look at the weight ranking for women, it does not seem that anyone is better equipped to face Nunes than Randamie.
Wagenheim: Randamie was 37 years old as a professional kickboxer, winning four world championships. She can throw hands. But two years after definitively leaving kickboxing in 2011, she entered the UFC cage with Amanda Nunes, and the Dutchman did not behave very well. And the Nunes that inflicted Randamie a first round defeat against TKO were not the same fighters as the Nunes of today. "The Lioness" has raised his game dramatically, and I do not see Randamie presenting problems that she did not experience the first time. Which were not any.
It does not bother me that Randamie wins the fight for the title that she deserved, however, if the UFC is willing to give a shot to a former champion of the promotion stripped for refusing to take a challenge. But I would be more excited to see Nunes defend her 145-pound belt in a rematch against Cris Cyborg – Randamie's wife refused to fight.
Has Herb Dean made the right call for a stop?
Okamoto: Listen, trying to criticize a fight stop is difficult – because it's hard to know when to stop a fight. I want arbitrators to err on the side of caution, in general. Prevention is better than cure, right? In this case, though, I think Dean stopped him too soon. I think Dean reacted to how Ladd initially failed, which is not wrong in itself, but it was not completely soft. She did not face the plant. In fact, she caught herself and was sitting down and slowly searched for one leg. Does the result of this fight change if Dean lets a few more seconds pass? Probably not, honestly. But it is a major event, with a title potentially on the line. The stop was early.
Raimondi: At first I thought absolutely not. It seemed that Aspen Ladd was still beaten in it. She turned to face Randamie and tried to defend herself, perhaps even to attack with a takedown from the sitting position. After watching it a few more times, I can understand what the referee Herb Dean has seen. Just after the punch of Randamie, Ladd was on all fours, face to face, did not defend himself for future shots. Dean intervened as Randamie headed for another shot, which he missed. By the time Dean could fully position himself between the two, Ladd was defending himself.
Dean spent a split second to call. It's very difficult to do. I can understand the fans and Ladd who just want a little more time. She seemed to recover quite quickly from the initial punch. But it was clear that Dean was trying to protect her from unnecessary damage. I can not blame him – I just want these situations to be a little more consistent in the MMA when it comes to stopping fighting and the possibility for the damaged fighter to continue.
Wagenheim: Herb Dean is the best referee of the sport and I will live with his judgment. Could he have given Aspen Ladd a chance to defend himself in the field? Maybe from the place where I was sitting. But Dean was much closer than me and he could see things that the rest of us could not. The job of an umpire is to protect the fighters, and unless it is a blatant mistake – that was far from the case – I will not kill Herb as a result of 39, a stop call of this type. What could be an early stop is a lot less embarrassing for me than a late stop. For me, referees must always favor safety.
How much did the stock of Aspen Ladd fall with tonight's result?
Okamoto: Not much, in my opinion. She was playing a bit with money from home. This was a major breakthrough in the competition for Ladd, and it's easy to simply say that it's too much, too early. There is also controversy in the shutdown, although I personally do not put a lot of actions in it. Whether you thought the stop was early or not, the fact is that Ladd has absolutely shaken in the first 20 seconds of the fight. She was not ready for this place or this opponent. This does not mean that its ceiling is lower than last weekend. I still have a lot of hope for Ladd. You only hope that the disappointment and the damage she suffered in this fight will not push her back too far.
Raimondi: A gradual decline, if that. Ladd is 24 years old. She is not yet close to her sporty climax. Chances are she's a future champion of the UFC. Ladd is well balanced and has a great killer instinct, which you can not really teach. She was caught by an experienced kickboxer with over 10 years of experience in the world of combat sports. It happens. Nobody remains undefeated forever, for the most part.
All Ladd needs is an extra win to get back on track, and two more could put her in a position to win the title. It was only a minor setback, especially since many thought the fight should have continued when referee Dean intervened to stop him after the coup. Inverted fist of De Randamie. The part of Ladd's game that needs to be immediately refined is weight reduction. Even if she was nervous on the scale, causing chills and scary seconds, this is a problem she must fight. It's much more a red flag than a defeat at KO's Randamie.
WagenheimThe main events are supposed to provide answers, but it has generated only questions, at least on the side of Ladd after seeing it eliminated with the first punch of Randamie.
Has the UFC pushed the 24 year old player too fast? There was certainly an experience gap between her and her 35-year-old opponent, who was fighting as a professional since the age of 5 years of Ladd. But Ladd was very well placed, so she must be called to prove what she has. De Randamie had been on leave for over a year and had beaten only once since February 2017. It was time to meet a Veteran like Randamie, it was over. (Until it is not.)
To what extent did this loss allow Ladd to return to the lean weight division? The direct answer is that a loss is not the end of the world; it's the way a fighter reacts that matters in the long run. But I wonder if the bantamweight is the perfect place for Aspen. Did you see the scales on Friday morning, shivering and shaky and not looking like someone who should be in a caged brawl in 18 hours? What effect did this weight reduction have on her? Hard to say after just 16 seconds, but no one will ever convince me that a fighter who looks like that at weigh-weighing can come to fight at night at his best.
What was your favorite fight of the night?
Okamoto: Faber against Simon. I am a sucker, agree. Second second is Josh Emmett against Mirsad Bektic. Andre Fili is opposed to Sheymon Moraes. But I was fortunate enough to be Octogonside for the main event, and if I'm honest, it all warmed my heart. The clutch. The knockout. I cover this sport for 10 years. I've seen Faber fight in Sacramento several times. It was like a step back in time for me. I liked it.
Hall is a master strategist, he does not get much touch and, if he does not put you on the ground, he may hit you in the head with something that goes wrong unorthodox way. Fans have it a little booed because he would not get into a fight. But for me, Hall is on appointment.
Wagenheim: Give me more fights from Ryan Hall. Why not next Saturday? What about tomorrow? I will look. For me, there is an endless intrigue among the unorthodox, whether in the martial arts or in the arts in general. Hall seems to be creating in the present moment, splashing the canvas like an abstract painter, improvising like in a jazz club. It's frustrating to fight, I know, but that's part of his calling. Hard-working elites like Darren Elkins – a veteran of 31 previous 35-year-old fights – are entering this lean, gloomy, carefree place, and can neither attack nor defend him. Elkins was so hypnotized by Hall's seemingly insane incursions that he was wounded first by a big kick, then by a big punch. Hall set up a full fight, and I was completely entertained.
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