5 mostsignificant takeaways from UFC 278: Leon Edwards’ knockout of Kamaru Usman was no fluke

Any hopes of seeing Jose Aldo land in another title battle or hold gold at this phase in his profession were mostlikely rushed away in a uninspired loss to Merab Dvalishvili.

Aldo’s (31-8 MMA, 13-7 UFC) takedown defense stays impressive, and he stopped intense grappler Dvalishvili from putting him on his back a single time over the course of 15 minutes. That’s an outstanding accomplishment in its own ideal, however regrettably Aldo landed little to no considerable offense throughout the contest. As a outcome the choice went the other method and the famous previous UFC featherweight champ discovers himself back at a crossroads.

Aldo’s drop down to bantamweight was absolutely the right call to offer his profession an injection of brand-new life, however with that department growing more competitive by the day, you have to marvel if he missedouton his window to endedupbeing champ.

That doesn’t mean Aldo oughtto fold up the campingtent and go house, . There are plenty of engaging battles still out there for “The King of Rio,” however this felt like an indictment on his ceiling, and it’s not another belt.

If that’s the last time we see Luke Rockhold in the cage, then what a method for him to go out.

Short of a win, Rockhold couldn’t have squeezed any more juice out of his last battle week, from rocking the boat with his talk about fighter pay, health care and bonusoffer structure to what he infact did inside the octagon in a unanimous choice loss to Paulo Costa.

It’s not easy to return to combating after 3 years away and face an elite, extremely ranked challenger. Rockhold (16-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC) took that obstacle, and inspiteof losing every round on all 3 scorecards, he combated his heart out upuntil the bitter end and did whatever possible get his hand raised.

Rockhold was provided with numerous opportunities to take an out versus Costa. He was bloodied, hurt and painfully fouled, however he kept on pressing. He landed some big shots and had some helpful ground positions at time, however you might inform it was a far lessened variation of the male who assoonas held UFC and Strikeforce gold.

That’s the vicious nature of this sport, . From what I saw throughout my pre-fight interactions and healthclub checkouts with Rockhold, he was doing whatever right in order to optimize this minute and provide himself the finest opportunity of triumph. No matter how difficult somebody works, though, it’s insomecases simply difficult to regain that magic completely. As Rockhold stated in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he’s simply “f*cking old.”

In the end, you have to appreciate Rockhold’s nerve. From speaking about what he bel