The best and worst from UFC 230
Despite a fraught build that saw the UFC struggle to put together a main event before settling on Daniel Cormier vs. Derrick Lewis for the Heavyweight title, UFC 230 ended up being a really fun show overall.
It’s a good sign for the UFC as, despite some alarmingly low buyrates, the quality of their PPV shows has been way up in 2018, and the last three shows, in particular, have been pretty fantastic. Sure, there were some questionable moments, but what UFC show doesn’t have them?
Here are the best and worst moments of UFC 230.
#1 Best: Jacare and Weidman go to war
It was hard to work out quite what to expect from the co-main event between Middleweight title contenders Chris Weidman and Jacare Souza. Weidman hadn’t fought since July 2017, Jacare hadn’t really looked great in his May loss to Kelvin Gastelum, and both men are primarily grapplers who don’t always use that skillset.
What we got, in the end, was one of the best fights of 2018. Right from the first round, it was clear that the two men were willing to trade off with huge shots, and defense wasn’t exactly in the forefront of either fighter’s mind. The first round clearly went to Weidman, who used his reach advantage to land jabs and right hands that busted Souza’s nose up, despite taking some heavy body shots.
Souza came out to brawl in the second, and although Weidman was willing to oblige it was clear that a phonebooth fight didn’t really favour him. He hung tough though and the fight went into the third round, where the wild trading continued right until Jacare landed a bomb to the temple that the former champion simply couldn’t recover from.
Realistically neither man should be considered a legitimate title contender any more – they’ve both got a lot of miles on their bodies, Jacare is pushing 40 and Weidman simply doesn’t look physically like he did in his prime, but they deserve massive kudos for putting on a brawl like this during what will probably be the tail end of their careers. This was a genuine Fight of the Year Candidate.