UFC 317 saw a new champion crowned and an existing champion further exalted. Here are the five biggest takeaways from Saturday’s International Fight Week event in Las Vegas.
1. Consider the audacity of this Ilia Topuria. This man left behind his UFC featherweight title, then showed up in a new weight class and called his shot. He stood eyeball-to-eyeball with former champ Charles Oliveira on weigh-in day and told him straight to his face, with apologies, that this matter of the UFC lightweight title had already been decided. And he didn’t say it like he was trying to intimidate anyone by spreading this knowledge. If anything, it brought him a certain degree of sorrow. He was sorry it has to be this way — but it does.
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That he needed less than half a round to make it so and become the new lightweight champ maybe shouldn’t surprise us. It certainly didn’t surprise him. Why would it, when he knew himself to be capable of such precision violence? The thing about Topuria is that he’s putting in all this MMA legend type of work — winning titles in multiple divisions, knocking out one hero after another — and it seems so effortless. He’s becoming one of the greats before our very eyes. And he’s barely breaking a sweat.
2. Alexandre Pantoja has a point with this pound-for-pound rankings beef. The UFC flyweight champ won his eighth straight fight with that submission victory over Kai Kara-France. He hasn’t lost in five years, and that’s with every flyweight on the planet gunning at his title.
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Yet you look at the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings and he’s currently at No. 9 on the list. We here at Uncrowned had him in the fourth spot headed into UFC 317. Obviously, he’s way ahead of the field at 125 pounds, to the point where now the challenge is in finding someone who can actually be a challenge. Still, the flyweights get no respect. You’d think that would change at some point, especially since the four flyweights on this main card combined for some of the best action all night.
3. Don’t blame Gregory Rodrigues for that extra hammerfist on a sleeping Jack Hermansson. Yes, it looked ugly. No, it wasn’t strictly “necessary.” From our comfy seats on the safe side of the chain-link, we could all see that Hermansson was not on the verge of getting up and rejoining the fight before that final strike landed. But Rodrigues, like all the fighters, was told to keep fighting until the ref makes you stop. And referee Herb Dean? He got caught on the back foot here. Even his meme-worthy sprinting form couldn’t get him there in time to save Hermansson from that added trauma.
Some fans thought it poor form from Rodrigues to step around and deliver that coffin nail. It didn’t help that Hermansson was down for a long time afterward, giving us all plenty of time to reflect. But if Rodrigues had walked off prematurely and let Hermansson back in the fight, what would we be saying about him now? I guarantee it wouldn’t be overwhelming appreciation for his restraint and mercy.
Gregory Rodrigues reacts to his knockout of Jack Hermansson in a middleweight bout at UFC 317.
(Josh Hedges via Getty Images)
4. Payton Talbott isn’t ready to be written off just yet. When the UFC matched him with a tough out like Felipe Lima right after his shocking upset loss to Raoni Barcelos, a lot of people saw it as a sign that company executives were dumping their Talbott stock. He went from a fight where he was a massive favorite to one where he was a slight underdog. But Talbott showed some major improvements in this decision win over Lima. And really, that’s what it’s really about for a young fighter at this stage of his career. Too often we look at one bad night and then close the book on a guy, deciding we’ve seen all we need to see. But people do grow and get better in this sport. Well, some do. And Talbott did.
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5. Charles Oliveira has just three losses in the past eight years, which is insane. Those losses came against Islam Makhachev, Arman Tsarukyan (via razor-thin margins), and now Topuria. Clearly, that’s not a man who’s washed. That’s a man who’s actually been amazingly consistent, even if the very top of the division now seems just beyond his grasp.
Has Oliveira seen his last UFC title shot? Well, he is on the wrong side of 35, even if it’s just barely. And he has lost the past two title fights he was in. He’s still an incredible fighter who could turn back most of the division, which puts him in a weird spot. “Do Bronx” is entrenched as a fan favorite, and there are some fun fights still out there for him. It just seems unlikely any of them will ever have a belt on the line — except perhaps maybe one of the BMF variety, at some point?
