UFC 255 was all about the men’s and women’s Flyweight divisions, with five out of the eleven bouts featuring fights in the 125lbs divisions, including both of the UFC Flyweight championships on the line in the main and co-main event.
Big sister leading by example:
The prelims of this card featured a Women’s Flyweight bout between Ariane Lipski and Antonina Shevchenko, who is the older sister of UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko.
This would be the first time that two sisters had ever fought on the same card and Antonina would put on an impressive display fitting of her number fifteen ranked status in the 125lb division.
In a surprising performance, Shevchenko would get the majority of her success in the fight on the mat, which is an area in which many questioned her abilities, particularly after her last defeat against Katlyn Chookagian.
Shevchenko would land multiple takedowns and would look comfortable in dominant positions, even when Lipski would threaten to take her back and look for submissions.
The elder Shevchenko would eventually find the finish after a takedown put her on top in the north-south position, Shevchenko would move her way around and threaten to get into mount and rain down with ground and pound on her opponent.
After the referee told Lipski multiple times to show him signs of defence or he would stop the fight, the referee would award Antonina the TKO victory in the second round.
Brandons battle for potential title bout:
The featured fight on the prelims pitted the number one ranked Men’s Flyweight contender Brandon Moreno against number six ranked Brandon Royval.
Typical of a Flyweight bout, the action was fast paced from the opening horn and while Moreno was touted to have the advantage on the feet going into the bout, he would establish dominance on the ground.
Moreno would climb onto Royval’s back from a standing position and drag him to the ground, beginning a series of submission attempts that showcased the heart of Royval. Moreno would repeatedly try to get his arm under the chin of Royval for a rear naked choke and when Royval prevented that, Moreno would simply try and crank the neck of his opponent.
Royval was able to escape his opponent’s clutches but the fight would have an unfortunate end as with seconds left in the opening frame, Royval would roll away from Moreno and would succumb to ground and pound from Moreno while clutching his arm. It was apparent after the TKO was called that Royval’s shoulder had been dislocated.
Means puts on measured performance to top ‘Platinum’:
The final non-title bout of the evening was a Welterweight matchup between the controversial Mike Perry and Tim Means. Perry would start strong under uncharacteristic circumstances, by taking Means’ back and threatening to secure a rear naked choke, showing some grappling developments building off of his previous victory against strong grappling prospect Mickey Gall.
As the fight wore on, Perry’s typical blood and guts style began to creep into the bout as Means would continuously frustrate ‘Platinum’ with his incredibly accurate jab, keeping his explosive opponent at distance.
In the final round, Means allowed himself to be dragged into a brawl momentarily as the two men stood toe to toe and traded leather, leaving Perry bloodied. Means would close out the round and be awarded with the unanimous decision victory.
In his post-fight interview with the returning Joe Rogan, Means pointed to Perry’s lack of respect in the pre-fight build up to the bout as his main motivation, referencing Perry missing weight and when he was questioned on whether or not the weight disadvantage bothered him, he said, ‘It wasn’t frustrating at all, it means he gives me like 30 percent of his cash, so it’s not a big deal to me’.
‘Bullet’ finds her target again:
In the co-main event spot was a match up for the UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship between challenger Jennifer Maia and champion Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko. Before this fight, it was noted on commentary that if Maia were to win, it would be the biggest upset in UFC history in terms of Vegas betting odds as Valentina came in as a -2000 favourite.
In the octagon however, Valentina’s approach would have likely come under fire from many fans as despite her opponent boasting a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Shevchenko spent the majority of the fight taking Maia to the ground and attempting to establish dominance on the ground.
While she was successful in her famously slick and fluid takedowns, landing five out of six attempts, when both fighters were actually on the mat, Maia was able to negate any of Shevchenko’s ground and pound and not allow her to get into any positions where the champion could execute a submission.
Rogan on commentary understandably questioned Shevchenko’s refusal to keep the fight on the feet, where it was perceived that she would have a substantial advantage. Due to this approach, Maia was able to join an extremely short list of fighters that have won a round against Shevchenko as Maia’s main game plan was clearly to smother her opponent to try to sap her energy and not allow Valentina to strike.
Maia would only get the one round however as Shevchenko’s overwhelming advantage in number of takedowns and ground control time secured her a unanimous decision victory and another opportunity for a trademark Bullet victory dance.
‘Deus da Guerra’ shows no mercy against replacement Perez:
In the originally scheduled main event, newly minted UFC Men’s Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo was to take on former UFC Bantamweight Champion Cody Garbrandt, but after Garbrandt was injured, number four ranked Flyweight contender Alex Perez was brought in to replace him and get an opportunity to dethrone ‘Deus da Guerra’ aka the God of War.
The opportunity would not last long however, as Perez would look to secure a takedown around 90 seconds into the fight, holding one of Figueiredo’s legs off the ground.
In an incredible sequence that looked reminiscent of former UFC Flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson, Figueiredo swung his other leg around to try to trap Perez into a kneebar but when Perez defended it and tried to scramble on the ground to get into a dominant position, Figueiredo turned around and instantaneously locked in a guillotine choke to force the tap in under two minutes of the opening round. In his post-fight interview, the champion called for a fight with Brandon Moreno.
What’s next?
While a lot of details surrounding the UFC’s last pay-per-view of 2020, UFC 256 are yet to be confirmed, it has been speculated that the main event will be for the UFC Bantamweight Championship when Aljamain Sterling takes on champion Petr Yan. It has also been reported that a potential Lightweight clash between contenders Charles Oliveira and former interim Lightweight champion Tony Ferguson could also be on the main card.
In Dana White’s customary post-event press conference, he spoke on the expected next test for Deiveson Figueiredo, saying that he intends to hold the fight between the champion and number one contender Moreno next month, eliciting stunned reactions from the media in attendance.
In terms of what’s next for Shevchenko, Dana seemed to confirm that former UFC Women’s Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade will be the Bullet’s next opponent, describing it as a ‘very fun fight’. A fact that adds fuel to the fire of that matchup is that Andrade has already proven that she can contend with the best at 125lbs as she made her Flyweight debut with a one round victory over former title challenger Katlyn Chookagian in October.
The UFC also announced the full card for their last event in 2020, a Fight Night event headlined by a Welterweight clash between surging Khamzat Chimaev and number three ranked Leon Edwards. The card also features fights such as Jose Aldo vs Marlon Vera, Marlon Moraes vs Rob Font and Stephen Thompson vs Geoff Neal.
Full card results:
Main Card
Flyweight – Deiveson Figueiredo (c) def. Alex Perez via Submission (Guillotine choke, Round 1 – 1:57)
Women’s Flyweight – Valentina Shevchenko (c) def. Jennifer Maia via Unanimous Decision
Catchweight (175.5lbs) – Tim Means def. Mike Perry via Unanimous Decision
Women’s Flyweight – Katlyn Chookagian def. Cynthia Calvillo via Unanimous Decision
Light Heavyweight – Paul Craig def. Shogun Rua via TKO (Round 2 – 3:36)
Preliminary card
Flyweight – Brandon Moreno def. Brandon Royval via TKO (Round 1 – 4:59)
Middleweight – Joaquin Buckley def. Jordan Wright via KO (Round 2 – 0:18)
Women’s Flyweight – Antonina Shevchenko def. Ariane Lipski via TKO (Round 2 – 4:33)
Welterweight – Nicolas Dalby def. Daniel Rodriguez via Unanimous Decision
Early preliminary card
Welterweight – Alan Jouban def. Jared Gooden via Unanimous Decision
Middleweight – Kyle Daukaus def. Dustin Stoltzfus via Unanimous Decision
Welterweight – Sasha Palatnikov def. Louis Cosce via TKO (Round 3 – 2:27)
The Inbound Observer 