Here’s a look at the athletes who elevated their profiles with their work in the cage on Saturday night at UFC 157.
Robbie Lawler
I was one of the many who expected Lawler to get beaten by Josh Koscheck on Saturday night. Can you blame us? Lawler had been falling asleep at Strikeforce press conference at late, and hadn’t fought at welterweight since losing to Nick Diaz at UFC 47.
UFC 157 didn’t start out great for Lawler, but he managed to shake Koscheck from his back, and put him to sleep with just a couple bombs along the cage late in the first round.
Despite being around for a long, long time, Lawler is still just 30 years old (he’ll be 31 at the end of March), and clearly still packs a punch. “Ruthless” seems reinvigorated with a return to the UFC and the welterweight division, and had a great “return to the spotlight” moment on Saturday night.
Michael Chiesa
It’s only been eight months since Chiesa won Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter, but it felt like he’d been gone for longer heading into his bout with Anton Kuivanen on Saturday night. His initial post-TUF debut was delayed in December, but he made up for lost time at UFC 157.
After coming out a little flat in the opening round, Chiesa quickly took over the fight in the second, taking Kuivanen’s back and sinking in a rear naked choke.
He’s now won five consecutive bouts with that same choke, is charismatic, and has a leg up on the competition when it comes to getting a push thanks to his win on TUF 15.
Lightweight is always in need of fresh faces with talent, and Chiesa fits the bill. Don’t be surprised if he gets a step up in competition and a steady push going forward.
Dennis Bermudez and Matt Grice
These two are going to be linked to each other for the next little while, so it only made sense to connect them here.
Bermudez and Grice teamed for the Fight of the Night at UFC 157, and are the current frontrunners for Fight of the Year as well.
I liken this fight to the WEC 48 battle between Leonard Garcia and Chan Sung Jung (aka The Korean Zombie), both in terms of entertainment value and capability to carry two lesser-known fighters to new heights of popularity.
That bout was Jung’s North American debut, and made him an instant fan favourite, while it cemented Garcia’s status as a never-say-die brawler who almost always delivers excitement when he steps into the cage.
This bout has the potential to do similar things for its two participants.
Everyone who saw the fight is still talking about it a couple days later; still wondering how Grice remained upright despite taking loads of punishment in the wild third round, and still trying to figure out where it fits in the pantheon of all-time great fights.
The nod went to Bermudez, who has now won three straight following his loss to Diego Brandao in the featherweight finale of TUF 14. He’s a good wrestler, has solid hands, and showed a steely resolve by coming back after getting dropped in the first.
As for Grice, this was the kind of fight that buys you all kinds of extra time on the roster. Even though he’s 2-5 in his UFC career, his performance opposite Bermudez earned him plenty of points with the brass, and introduced him to countless new fans.
Both will receive a bump up in competition coming off this contest, and will undoubtedly be more recognizable names from here on out as a result of their wild 15-minute slugfest at UFC 157.
Kenny Robertson
Breaking out a move we’ve never seen in the UFC before is a good way to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, and that’s exactly what Robertson did on Saturday at UFC 157.
I still don’t know what to call the hold Robertson used on Brock Jardine to earn Submission of the Night honours this past weekend. While mounted on Jardine’s back, Robertson grabbed his ankle, and extended his leg, as you would with a kneebar, except it was Jardine’s hamstring that was in jeopardy of being torn, forcing the submission.
Whatever you want to call it — hamstring slicer, The Suloev Stretch, or just plain painful — one thing we might end up calling it is Submission of the Year. We could also just call it “The Robertson” after the man who introduced it to many of us — and used it to move from the background to the foreground Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim.