The best and worst from UFC Vegas 15: Smith vs. Clark
After the cancellation of its planned main event, UFC Vegas 15 was basically devoid of any kind of name value, even when the UFC upgraded Anthony Smith vs. Devin Clark into the top spot.
In execution, the show was an up-and-down one, with only a couple of slower fights across the card in the end. However, thanks to the show sharing a date with the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Junior boxing match, it might end up as the most overlooked UFC show of 2020.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC Vegas 15: Smith vs. Clark.
#1 Best: Smith ends his year on a high note
He might not be the best fighter on the UFC’s roster, but there are few more likeable characters in the promotion than Anthony Smith. And to that end, it was nice to see ‘Lionheart’ end his year on a high note by submitting Devin Clark in last night’s main event.
Smith had suffered a pair of pretty bad defeats earlier in 2020, taking a beating against both Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic. And coming into last night’s fight – which was switched to a five-rounder by the UFC on very late notice – he didn’t exactly look in the best shape we’ve seen him in.
However, ‘Lionheart’ absorbed the wild aggression of his opponent, quickly got him to the ground, and then used a textbook triangle choke to submit him at the midway point of the opening stanza.
The win was Smith’s third in the UFC by tapout, and his first win overall since June 2019. With a pretty nasty year put behind him, this win should give ‘Lionheart’ a nice platform to work off going into 2021 – assuming he doesn’t try to fight again in 2020 to get the UFC out of a hole, that is!
#1 Worst: Covid-19 puts paid to another UFC main event
UFC Vegas 15 was a pretty weak card by anyone’s standards, but the main event of Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis sounded good at least. With that in mind, you can only imagine how frustrating it was to find that the Heavyweight clash had been cancelled on Friday due to Blaydes testing positive for Covid-19.
It’s probably fair to say that the UFC has done a great job of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic from the start, putting events on during the peak of the problems in May and largely keeping its fighters safe.
However, the cancellation of Blaydes vs. Lewis was the third UFC event in a row to see its main event switched at late notice, and the next two UFC cards have already suffered the same fate as well.
Obviously nobody can blame Blaydes for contracting the virus, nor can they blame the UFC for having to fiddle around with their cards so much, but basically, the loss of the main event ruined this show overall.
Everyone now needs to keep their fingers crossed that neither Khamzat Chimaev nor Leon Edwards go down with the virus before December 19th!