What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 56 in St. Louis? Here are a coupleof post-fight musings …
5
Esteban Ribovics takes Terrance McKinney’s M.O.
May 11, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Terrance McKinney (red gloves) battles Esteban Ribovics (blue gloves) throughout UFC Fight Night at Enterprise . Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports
Coming into their light-weight bout on the prelims, Terrance McKinney was recognized as the male capable putting challenger’s lights out in the blink of an eye. After it, though, those type of expectations have to put on Esteban Ribovics.
Ribovics (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) required simply 37 seconds to punt McKinney’s head into the bleachers with a lovely best head kick while in the movement of a mix. The Argentinian fighter set McKinney up completely and landed the harsh knockout shot, and this type of efficiency isn’t foreign to him – we simply sanctuary’t seen it in the UFC to this point.
Out of his now 13 expert wins, Ribovics has won inside 2 minutes a overall of 6 times. That consistsof a seven-second knockout back in December 2020 on the local scene, and now he’s transitioning those results to the greatest phase. He insomeway didn’t get a Performance of the Night bonusoffer for this, either, which is kind of awful.
McKinney is an undoubtedly irregular rival and specifies “kill or be eliminated” in there. This time it didn’t go his method, and that permitted Ribovics to shine.
4
Chase Hooper’s unexpected efficiency
May 11, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chase Hooper (red gloves) battles Viacheslav Borshchev (blue gloves) throughout UFC Fight Night at Enterprise . Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports
Chase Hooper no longer can be explained as one-dimensional after his efficiency versus Viacheslav Borshchev.
Yeah, Hooper (14-3-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC) invested most of the time on the ground and eventually completed the task with a D’Arce choke in the 2nd round, however it was all begun in the opening round of the light-weight bout, when he scored his veryfirst UFC knockdown.
Borshchev was floored by the shot and neverever discovered a minute of success from that point forward. It was a appealing minute for Hooper fans. He’s now 3-0 giventhat moving up to 155 pounds a year ago, and this effort revealed he’s progressing.
At 24, Hooper still has a lot to of work to do on his videogame before contending with the elite of the department. But he’s taking guaranteeing strides versus significantly more tough competitors, and that’s all you can ask for out of a possibility like him.
3
Robelis Despaigne’s buzz train thwarted, and Dana White’s response
May 11, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Waldo Cortes Acosta (red gloves) battles Robelis Despaigne (blue gloves) throughout UFC Fight Night at Enterprise . Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports
Robelis Despaigne informed MMA Junkie previous to stepping into the octagon with Waldo Cortes-Acosta that he was going to be combating for the UFC heavyweight champion by2025 Those aspirations took a huge blow with his veryfirst profession loss.
Coming in, Despaigne (5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) looked like he was capable of wreaking havoc over the department. He blew tossed his veryfirst 5 profession challengers in the veryfirst round, with 4 of those wins coming in less than 20 seconds. That type of fighter is frightening, however likewise a target for numerous concerns.
Despaigne provided us responses to a lot of unknowns, however not in a excellent method. His takedown defense and conditioning were not up to par for somebody looking to put their name in title contention, nor was his resistance to difficulty.
All due regard to Cortes-Acosta, who truly did what he required to do to get this win, however a remarkable fighter to him would’ve had the referee pulling them off Despaigne on this night.
UFC CEO Dana White relatively felt the exactsame. He totally crapped on Cortes-Acosta’s win at the post-fight news conference, declaring it would’ve gotten a benefit for “sh*ttiest battle of the night” if he was able to offer one.
White was right in his description that Cortes-Acosta vs. Despaigne was the worst battle on the card. He went down this roadway at veryfirst to program that the rest of the action on the night was amusing, however it’s likewise hard to understand what more Cortes-Acosta might’ve done. Standing with Despaigne for any length of time would’ve been absurd, and the takedowns came simple.
The criticism oughtto eventually fall larger on Despaigne, as he had no defense for Cortes-Acosta’s fundamental