UFC International Fight Week saw the world’s MMA fans descend on Las Vegas for a big week of activities and events, with UFC 329 bringing the curtain down on celebrations on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Here are our power rankings for the night’s top performers in Las Vegas.
UFC 329 Power Rankings
1. Paddy Pimblett
Whether you were a believer at the start or not, you surely have to tip your cap and give Paddy Pimblett his flowers now.
The Englishman fought with heart and passion in a thrilling scrap with Justin Gaethje as he lost out to “The Highlight” last time out. It meant that the pressure was on Pimblett this weekend when he faced in-form lightweight danger man Benoit Saint Denis.
Pimblett used Saint Denis’ aggression against him as he immediately locked up a choke as the Frenchman shot in for an early takedown. The Next Generation MMA athlete then adjusted his technique as he transitioned from a guillotine choke to a Peruvian necktie and choked out the former French special forces soldier in stunning fashion.
It took “The Baddy” just 52 seconds to finish the job and prove to the world that he’s among the very best at 155 pounds. And with Gaethje now holding the undisputed title, a rematch between the pair looks like a mouthwatering possibility for later this year.
2. Brandon Royval
To call Brandon Royval a “nearly man” sounds disrespectful, but he has to be, skill-for-skill, one of the best active fighters not to have captured a UFC title.
Royval was in outstanding form on Saturday night as he faced England’s rising star Lone’er Kavanagh, and the pair served up a Fight of the Night performance as they went back and forth in a breathless fight that at times looked like it was playing out at x2 speed.
Royval’s experience, smarts, and superior experience all played into the contest, with “Raw Dawg” fighting through some adversity before eventually submitting Kavanagh with a rear-naked choke mid-way through the third round.
Royval sportingly paid tribute to Kavanagh, saying that the young Englishman was a “future champion” but Royval’s own status needs addressing before that. There’s no doubt he has the game to make it all the way to the top. And he might be asked to get one more win first – he smartly called out Asu Almabayev – but Royval looks pretty ready for another shot at championship gold.
3. Robert Whittaker
When it was announced that Robert Whittaker would be moving up to light heavyweight, there were one or two raised eyebrows. The former undisputed middleweight champion was a smaller, more compact 185er, so how would he fare against the giants of the 205-pound division.
As it turned out, not too badly at all.
Whittaker broke down seasoned light heavyweight veteran – and one of the biggest athletes in the division – Nikita Krylov to earn a third-round stoppage after he sustained a jaw injury.
He might be undersized for the division, but Whittaker’s power in MMA gloves clearly carries up to 205 pounds, and with the Aussie looking as happy as we’ve seen him for a long time, this could be the start of an exciting new chapter for “The Reaper”.
4. Mario Bautista
Mario Bautista may not have scored a finish at UFC 329, but he came away from the Octagon satisfied with his night’s work, and rightly so.
Bautista faced the man who defeated him on his UFC debut, Cory Sandhagen, and proved that he was “The Sand Man’s” equal over a super-competitive three-round bantamweight contender clash on the main card.
Bautista had Sandhagen in trouble after a Suloev stretch left the former title challenger limping. And in the third round he added another key moment as he dropped his man as he poured on the pressure in search of a finish.
He couldn’t quite get the wily veteran out of there, but he certainly did enough to earn scores of 29-28 across the board to claim arguably the biggest, most significant victory of his career to date.
5. King Green
When you purchase a ticket to a King Green fight, you get the whole seat, but you only need the edge of it. That fact was as clear as day as Green took on hard-hitting first-round finishing machine Terrance McKinney.
Green has been clipped and stopped before in his career, so this was a fight with serious jeopardy for the lightweight veteran, but he bit down on his mouthpiece and went to war with his younger opponent. And, to be honest, things didn’t look too good early on.
McKinney seemed to be well on top as he landed several big shots on Green, then took him down and started to punish him on the mat, too. But this wasn’t Green’s first rodeo, and the 55-fight veteran used his savvy, and his trash-talking skills, to avoid too much damage on the mat while wearing out and frustrating his opponent at the same time. Then, when he managed to escape McKinney’s clutches, he turned the tables to get the TKO victory with one second left in the first round.
It was a brilliant performance, and one that showed that you should never underestimate a vet with the experience, the smarts, and the skills, of King Green.
