One of the most wild nights in MMA history broke out on Saturday in the crown jewel of International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
UFC 290 produced a non-stop buffet of courageous displays and jaw-dropping moments which created a contagious feeling that anything could happen. With two title fights atop the marquee, a big-name retirement and so many fights which exceeded expectations coming in, T-Mobile Arena turned out a truly magical night.
Let's take a closer look at the biggest takeaways from the UFC's annual summer showcase.
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1. Alexander Volkanovski is even better than we thought
The defending pound-for-pound king welcomed the most dangerous test of his growingly historic featherweight reign and made it look easy. Volkanovski targeted the strength of interim champion Yair Rodriguez's entire game as a dangerous and unpredictable striker by unleashing a dominant wrestling attack that wore him down. "Alexander the Great" also relied on a damaging ground-and-pound attack to bloody Rodriguez. There isn't a part of Volkanovski's game that isn't elite after working overtime in recent years to evolve his grappling and power punching. And not only is he closing in on G.O.A.T. status at 145 pounds, he's getting better at age 34. A full-time move to lightweight and an eventual rematch with champion Islam Makhachev may be the only thing holding Volkanovski back from approaching all-time great status. Up first, however, is arm surgery.
2. Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Moreno co-authored a modern flyweight classic
How great has this division been in the aftermath of title reigns from Demetrius Johnson and Henry Cejudo? If the four-part series between Moreno and former champion Deiveson Figueiredo in recent years wasn't indicative enough at the violent parity which defines this division, the third meeting between Pantoja and Moreno on Saturday was possibly the best in flyweight history. Both fighters left a large piece of themselves inside the cage after such a brutal and competitive fight. But Pantoja, now the UFC's lone champion from Brazil, had too much heart and timely grappling to be denied. Pantoja, surrounded by his wife and kids, also delivered an emotional post-fight speech for the ages afterwards in the defining moment of a career which now features three decisive wins over the two-time champion Moreno.
3. Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya are going to have one heck of pre-fight build
First of all, du Plessis' upset stoppage of former champion Robert Whittaker as a nearly 4-1 underdog was among the most shocking developments in recent years. But nothing at all was fluky about how it took place as the South African native steamrolled a legendary durable competitor and looked like a monster in doing so. After the second-round TKO, DDP and Adesanya engaged in a colorful face-off filled with profanity and racial undertones. The feud between them is centered around du Plessis' claim that he's the real future African champion despite that the Nigerian-born Adesanya currently holding the belt. While there's plenty of potential for the build toward their inevitable title fight to go down the road of bad taste, there's no denying the potential for true electricity between them. And after such a devastating performance, du Plessis demands all of our respect as a legitimate threat to the title.
4. They don't write better endings than Robbie Lawler's walk-off KO
Arugably the greatest action star in the 30-year history of UFC, Lawler walked away on his own terms and did so in typical violent fashion. The 41-year-old former welterweight champion has fought everywhere from Pride to Strikeforce and EliteXC in a pro career which encompassed 22 years. Even though the expectation for his final fight against Price was a two-way firefight, Lawler only needed 38 seconds to finish the fight without absorbing more than a scratch in return. The only thing that could make the moment more perfect was UFC's handling of the post-fight production, which included throwing to a video montage of Lawler's career highlights after the commercial break before his final post-fight interview. Happy endings are rare in the unforgiving world of combat sports, which is why former two-division champion Amanda Nunes' exit felt so perfect in June. Lawler's magical swan song was no different.
5. The good, the bad and the ugly for a trio of bright prospects
Among the more unpredictable moments of UFC 290 surrounded three fighters who brought a ton of hype to the Octagon yet walked away with decidedly different results. On the good side, blue-chip middleweight Bo Nickal improved to 5-0 after the former three-time NCAA wrestling champion needed just 38 seconds to put away late replacement Val Woodburn. Nickal never actually needed to show his wrestling in a performance which was scary because it showcased the power and accuray of his punching. On the bad side, 24-year-old Yazmin Jauregui saw her hope to become Mexico's next great breakout star hit a serious roadblock when Brazil's Denise Gomes stunningly dropped and finished the 10-0 women's strawweight prospect in just 20 seconds. And the ugly surrounded the bad luck that breakout welterweight Jack Della Maddalena underwent throughout fight week. After his original opponent, Sean Brady, pulled out with an elbow injury, debutant Josiah Harrell filled in on six days' notice only to be hospitalized Friday with a rare blood vessel disorder in his skull. The result not only placed Harrell's health and fighting future in question, it left Della Maddalena, a native of Australia, on the bench after extreme last-minute attempts to book Chris Curtis fell through.
