UFC on FOX 20: Holm vs Shevchenko – Winners and Losers

This card opened up really badly with fights that no one was interested in. Eddie Wineland ended the prelims with a bang and that momentum carried over into the main card to salvage a card that fans were getting restless with. Before that point I was considering putting the fans as the biggest losers of the night. The main event may not have been scintillating, but it wasn’t a stinker and was actually better than what many anticipated. Overall the card was an average card with your fair mix of fun fights and blah fights.

Winners

Valentina Shevchenko: I doubt she gets a title shot off of this win as she already fell short against current champion Amanda Nunes in March, but she is officially in the proverbial mix after picking up a win over former champion Holly Holm. After taking the first round to figure out Holm’s timing and combinations, Shevchenko fell into the driver’s seat from there and dominated the rest of the fight. I can’t recall Holm landing a clean strike that went unanswered following the first round as Shevchenko’s countering offense was in full effect. And has anyone seen spinning back fists used so fluidly as a counter?

The funny thing is that I would actually favor Shevchenko if she were to fight Nunes for the belt as Nunes isn’t a distance fighter. We’ll have to wait and see when Ronda Rousey decides she wants to come back before we know what’s happening with the title, but my guess is Shevchenko gets a fight with Sara McMann moving forward. Either way, I expect Shevchenko to be in the title picture for a while.

Edson Barboza: He’s officially in the title discussion. Granted that he won’t accept that fight while teammate Eddie Alvarez holds the belt, but Barboza is amongst the elite at this point. His leg kicks were the key point of the match as Melendez was stumbling with every kick by the final round after the beating Barboza had put on them. Pressure has been his Achilles heel, but he was able to fend off Melendez’s takedown attempts with ease. There really aren’t any easily exposed chinks in his armor anymore. He’s going to be floating near the top of the division for a number of years to come.

Francis Ngannou: Three UFC fights, three knockouts. The big man is still incredibly raw, but he is showing that he could be a serious player in the heavyweight division in the very near-future. Granted, this was a fight designed to be a showcase bout for him, but you can’t knock him for the UFC giving him a softball. He did what he was supposed to do and knocked it out of the park. Keep an eye on this dude if you haven’t been already.

Felice Herrig: It’s hard to get an accurate reading on body language after a mere two minutes, but Herrig looked like a completely different fighter from when she last fought in April of last year. The time off did her wonders. The transition from side control to Kailin Curran’s back was a thing of beauty, one of the smoothest I’ve seen in a very long time to sink in a choke. Good to have her back on the scene and good to see her doing well.

Eddie Wineland: Ending the underwhelming prelims with a bang, Wineland proved he still has a little bit left in the tank. His performance wasn’t flawless by any means, but he did knock Frankie Saenz down in the first and last round to show his power hasn’t gone anywhere to pick up his first win in two-and-a-half years. At 32-years old with a lot of mileage on his tires, don’t expect a title run. But he can still be an effective gatekeeper and proved the occasional highlight reel knockout in a division that isn’t known for producing too many of them.

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