UFC Vegas 19 took place Saturday night in the UFC Apex Center and it was a night loaded with great fights, tremendous individual performances, and some less than spectacular things we’d like to forget. Today we’re going to take a look back at UFC Vegas 19: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
UFC Vegas 19: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good: Derrick Lewis and his Uppercut!
Embed from Getty ImagesDerrick Lewis showed that he has solid takedown defense, can survive the clinch game and when the opportunity presents itself, separate his opponent from consciousness. Saturday night he did all three. He caught Curtis Blaydes trying to execute a level change and answered with a picture-perfect uppercut that knocked Blaydes out cold. It was a tremendous shot and Lewis followed it up with two devastating, albeit, unnecessary bombs on the ground. Derrick Lewis was ranked fourth, and Blaydes was second. I’d expect a flip/flop after this performance.
UFC Bad: Ketlen Vieira’s entire weekend
Ketlen Vieira showed up to Vegas as a betting favorite and was expected to put on a brilliant performance on the big stage with co-main event billing. Well, it didn’t turn out that way. She showed up heavy and missed weight by three pounds on Friday.
Saturday things didn’t go much better. She was bested in signature strikes 47 to 7. In total strikes, she was outhit 215 to 35. Vieira did manage to secure takedowns in the first and third rounds, but was beat up on the canvas and didn’t do enough to secure the victory. It’s not a great weekend especially when you factor in that she paid a percentage of her purse to Yana Kunitskaya for the privilege of being defeated. You come to Vegas and sometimes you win, sometimes to lose.
The Ugly: Aleksei Oleinik’s striking
To say Aleksei Oleinik’s striking was poor, smacks of an understatement. He came forward, throwing plodding, looping punches against Chris Daukaus. They were easy to defend, and when Daukaus threw shots, they landed, in bunches. It took only two minutes for Daukhaus to outland Oleinik 34-5 and get the TKO stoppage victory. When the referee jumped in to call the fight, Oleinik was nearly unable to stand let alone fight. He was badly compromised and was a mess.
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