You can tell it’s a packed UFC pay-per-view when just five takeaways doesn’t seem like enough space.
It doesn’t give us a chance to discuss all the ins and outs of UFC 310, like the razor-sharp and now very adult version of “The Korean Superboy” Doo Ho Choi. It also doesn’t leave us room to reflect on the career of Anthony Smith, which might have come to an end on Saturday in Las Vegas, or the y’all-must’ve-forgot quality of Vicente Luque’s quick win over Themba Gorimbo.
Still, hard decisions had to be made, and here’s what we’re left with as the most significant takeaways to come out of the last UFC pay-per-view of 2024.
1. Import all the fresh challengers you can, because Alexandre Pantoja is going to need new victims.
The UFC flyweight champion had zero trouble with debutante Kai Asakura. And it’s not because Asakura didn’t bring it, either. He looked big and fast and sharp and not at all awed by the bright lights of the UFC after his years as RIZIN champ over in Japan.
It’s just that Pantoja was, yet again, considerably better. He’s one of the most dominant champs the UFC has right now. If this keeps up, the big problem is going to be finding new opponents to feed to him.
2. Shavkat Rakhmonov is still undefeated, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t suffer a serious scare against Ian Machado Garry.
His unanimous decision win was a lot closer than expected. Not only did Garry become the first person to see the scorecards against Rakhmonov, he came within a forearm hair of submitting him with a rear-naked choke.
Rakhmonov deserved the decision, but his status as the boogeyman of the division took a hit. Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has to like his chances better now after being cageside for that look at his next challenger. On the flip side, Garry finally has a loss on his record but shouldn’t fall too far in our esteem as a result. That was a fine showing under the circumstances, proving that he’s a potential contender too — just not quite yet.
3. Alexander Volkov got robbed in full public view, and even Ciryl Gane knew it.
We saw a couple questionable scorecards at this event, but this was the worst.
Volkov outworked and outfought Gane and somehow still went home with a loss. The fact that Gane initially turned and fled the cage after the scores were read tells us he didn’t exactly feel triumphant after those three rounds. It’s a bummer, because Volkov really has improved in so many areas since the last time they fought. Here he deserved a victory to knot the score, but the judges got in his way.
4. Why did Kron Gracie take this fight?
Does he really want to have a UFC career, or does he just feel like he has to get in the cage every so often? When he pictured himself winning this, did he really think the path to victory began with pulling guard every time Bryce Mitchell got close? Was there at any point a plan B, and if so why didn’t that ever make any appearance?
These and other questions are swirling in the air after his third-round knockout loss. And I’m at such a loss for answers that I can’t even be bothered to ask how a guy who hates seatbelts and basic power tool safety as much as Mitchell does has even managed to live this long.
5. Aljamain Sterling said he’d show us why he didn’t deserve to be on the prelims.
He succeeded, just not with the final result he’d hoped for.
Sterling and Movsar Evloev combined for probably the best fight of the night, not to mention one of the most compelling and entertaining grappling battles in recent memory. Evloev got the decision in the end, but it could have easily gone the other way. I know it irked Sterling that this wasn’t on the pay-per-view portion of the card, but hopefully keeping it on the more widely available prelims gave more people a chance to see it. This was the kind of fight you’d want to show to someone who doesn’t think the ground game is any fun to watch. Then you can stand there and, like Sterling, say I told you so.
