Things I Liked About UFC on ESPN+ 30

Some things I appreciated from Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 30 fight card.

Hey ya’ll. This is one of the things that will be moving to the Patreon at some point. My plan is to do this one and a “Things I Didn’t Like” post after UFC fight cards that warrant a post.

This will be part of one of the Patreon tiers (probably 3). So if you want to sign up now to get a jump on it, please do (and I’ll appreciate that). I’m unsure of when this will slip behind the paywall, but it will.

Here is the post that goes into more detail about the Patreon thing.

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Paul Felder: Felder, working the UFC commentary desk, quoted his former boxing coach when saying one fighter was “cut up like a cheap bag of dope.” I don’t know if we’ll hear that comparison again, but I applaud Mr. Felder for getting that one on the air.

Ariane Lipski’s kneebar: This, this was a nasty, evil thing to witness. Kneebars are inherently unpleasant to see, but this one, with the amount of torque applied because of the position — Lipski was close to standing — was all the more horrific. Lipski’s opponent, Luana Carolina, reportedly had to be carried from the cage. Hopefully she will not face long-term damage.

Rafael Fiziev: Well, thanks to Fiziev we know what body kicks sound like in an empty arena. And to borrow, I think, from Paul Felder, they sound like “gunshots.”  Fiziev landed multiple kicks that made me cringe. They echoed throughout the arena. That Marc Diakiese could eat the kicks was impressive. When Fiziev patted Diakiese on the stomach at the end of the bout, I think it was more to check if he had some kind of kevlar ab implants. 

Askar Askarov and Alexandre Pantoja: For my money, this was the best fight of the night.  It was an all action bout with some fantastic scrambles. It wasn’t a “just bleed” type of scrap and that made it even more interesting. 

Joe Duffy: Duffy retired after his loss to Joel Alvarez. He wrote on Instagram, “I felt great all through camp and even warming up, I believed I was back to my former self then when I went in there it just falls to pieces. “I think it’s time to realize that I haven’t got what it takes any more.”

I respect a fighter who knows when it’s time to go. Fighters often continue on for too long, after all, if fighting is the only thing they know, retirement and trying something new can be a daunting task. 

Congrats to Duffy on his career.