The Trilogy is a column that writes about three recent goings-on in the UFC world, designed to be a fun and informational view into the fights and outside-the-octagon news. Without further ado, welcome to The Trilogy!
“IT’S TIME,” for this week’s edition of The Trilogy. UFC 314 was one of the better main cards we have seen in a while, and it certainly lived up to the height. With a new champion in the Featherweight division after the vacated title fight and an absolute domination in the co-main event, what will happen next in the flyweight and lightweight contender rankings are blurry. Without further ado, let’s get into the octagon and see what happened.
Mitchell vs. Silva
In the second match on the main card, Bryce Mitchell went against Jean Silva in a war where both of these fighters were throwing heavy kicks. It started, though, with Silva trying to get Mitchell to touch gloves, but the No. 13 contender refused. The first round was very close, with Mitchell seeming to have the momentum at the beginning thanks to a handful of calf kicks, putting a solid bruise on Silva’s front leg. Silva returned with a spinning heel kick that landed right on the American’s cheek. It wasn’t until the final minute when Mitchell shot a double-leg and Silva transitioned immediately into a guillotine choke. It certainly was tight, as Mitchell seemed to struggle for the remainder of the round before getting out with about 10 seconds left before the air horn sounded.
To start the second round, Silva yet again pleaded with Mitchell to try and touch gloves, but he refused again.
“I was surprised [that he didn’t touch gloves] because I thought it was part of the promotion, but I guess it was just part of him… There’s something wrong over there for him to be like that,” Silva said through the help of translator Fabiano Buskei.
Silva continued where he ended the first round, with multiple strong kicks before landing numerous punches and nearly missing a spinning elbow. It wasn’t until the middle of the second round, where Silva locked Mitchell in a standing ninja choke before bringing Mitchell to the mat and forcing a tap with 1:08 remaining in the second round.
In another win for the fighting nerds, Silva continued to show the dominance of the Brazilian MMA team that is rising to the top.
Pimblett vs. Chandler
In the co-main event, No. 12 Paddy Pimblett went against the No. 7 contender in Michael Chandler.
It began like no one expected. Pimblett layed on the leg kicks, but was brought down along the fence by Chandler only a minute and a half in, a strategy that people did not think that Chandler would resort to. After a few big shots from Chandler, Pimblett went for a jumping triangle choke, which was denied, before the two jumped back to the feet. Pimblett continued to throw heavy leg kicks, while Chandler responded with punches of his own. At the very end of the first round, Pimblett had a beautiful series where he landed a knee along with a huge overhand that looked to knock Chandler back against the fence, before Chandler got saved by the end of the round. The calf kicks truly were what was getting Pimblett through that round, providing support to the punches he was throwing.
To start the second round, Pimblett continued the onslaught, outstriking Chandler by 20 significant strikes through the first six minutes in the octagon together. Pimblett continued to land combinations, leading round No. 2 early in the fight before Chandler nailed Pimblett in between the legs for a low blow that forced Pimblett back and for the fight to get stopped momentarily.
After the restart, Chandler took Pimblett’s back, but was sent over the top of his head and the man in orange trunks almost secured an arm triangle with about a minute-and-a-half left in the second round. Chandler then gave up his own back twice and Pimblett landed a bunch of elbows late in the fight as well as strikes around the arms. Pimblett easily took round No. 2, even with taking a low blow, leading the round in control time and total significant strikes 53-9.
To start the third round, Chandler ran directly into a jumping knee from Pimblett within the first 15 seconds, which cut Chandler’s cheek open. Pimblett then landed his first takedown of the fight just over a minute into the first round. The Liverpool native continued to throw heavy blows on the very bloodied Chandler, and was able to get to mounted numerous times, throwing major elbows and hammer fists before the fight was finally stopped 3:07 into the third round, with Pimblett leaving basically unscathed.
After the fight and before his interview with Joe Rogan, Pimblett looked directly at the camera and said, “what now?”
Joe Rogan had a very similar question, asking Pimblett who he hoped his next opponent would be.
“Anyone in the top four—top five. I want that world title… I want Dustin [Poirier], Justin [Gaethje], Charles [Olivera] or the little posh boy Arman [Tsarukyan] ... [Olivera] is the biggest legend out of them all. He gets called the best submitting artist the UFC has ever seen, well I dispute that. So me vs. Charles, f*** Arman.”
Volkanovski vs. Lopes
In the main event of the evening, Alexander Volkanovski faced Diego Lopes for the vacant Featherweight title of the world, with Volkanovski fighting in his 10th straight title match and Lopes fighting in his first. Both fighters felt each other out for the first minute, with Lopes having a five-inch height advantage over the former Featherweight champion. The first exchange from the two came in the pocket, when Volk hit a hard left hand and Lopes responded with an uppercut of his own following a nod toward Volkanovski as his cheek started to swell. The two had another encounter in the pocket, and this time Volk nailed Lopes with a right hook that drilled Lopes on the right cheek. Less than a minute later, Volk hit Lopes with another right hook, knocking Lopes backwards and showing why Volkanovski is considered one of the greatest of all time. Volk landed two takedowns late at the end of the round and showed off his ground-and-pound skills late, cutting Lopes on the nose, but giving an easy first round to the Australian.
The two started slow again in the second round before Volkanovski threw a few hard counter punches in the first minute. Lopes had his first good moment when he hit a left hand that didn’t seem to bother Volkanovski all that much, before the No. 1 contender shot a takedown which Lopes turned to the side. The two stood in the middle for a while, before Volk knocked Lopes back against the fence another time with a series of punches in the pocket before trying for another takedown that was tied up against the fence, but the damage had certainly been done at that point. At the very end of the round, when all looked like it was going Volkanovski’s way, Lopes hit a one-two combination that dropped Volkanovski to the mat, but Lopes was not able to get the finish before the round ended, as the Australian in green trunks hopped back up to his feet. A toss-up round, the judges certainly had a decision to make whether or not Lopes secured round two.
Heading into the next round, Volk had never lost a third round in his UFC career, and this fight followed that trend. The Lopes corner was looking for more aggression after the knock down at the end of the second round, and he somewhat delivered, but when the punches hit in the opposite direction, they certainly hit. Lopes showed off his strong chin, eating a left hook from Volk before the two exchanged in the pocket once more halfway through the third round. Volkanovski threw another takedown attempt, which was denied by Lopes, his fifth denied takedown of the fight. Despite the missed takedowns, Volkanovski took round three across all scorecards 10-9.
Things were looking set to stay in the pocket in the fourth round before Lopes hit an uppercut on Volk, which put him solidly on his backfoot. Lopes continued to push forward, but was not able to find all that much while Volkanovski was running along the fence. The round ended with Volk again struggling along the fence, and Lopes secured his first round from all judges.
In his corner before the fifth, Volkanovski could be heard from a nat-microphone saying, “I am starting to get my eyesight back”.
Going into the fifth and final round, both fighters knew there was a good chance that the score was 2-2 on most cards. Volkanovski started with a good right hand that landed, with Lopes firing back in return. The two got caught in the clinch with two minutes left in the fifth round, where Volk landed a few good punches before sending a knee toward Lopes as well. They continued to dance around the ring, with Volk slipping many of Lopes’ incoming attacks. The Brazilian landed a few strikes with just under a minute remaining before the two both nodded in agreement to press forward for the final few seconds. They both threw in the pocket before pointing toward the middle and throwing down until the final second passed and the air horn stopped the fight.
The final decision was 48-47 x2, 49-46 in the way of Volkanovski, who won back his former Featherweight title after Ilia Tuporia vacated the belt to move into Lightweight.