UFC Fight Night 75: Standout Stars and Prospects

For this week’s column, I wanted to take a look back at UFC Fight Night 75 and break down the fighters who stood out on the card and where they stand to move up from beforehand. The main event went as I expected for the most part. Josh Barnett pretty much dominated Roy Nelson, who has one of the toughest chins in the sport. But for all of his toughness, Nelson was still outworked, which seems to be the story of his entire UFC career. It just makes you wonder if Nelson could have been even better if he spent more time several years ago really focusing on his technique and getting in shape rather than being an amusing character for the sport.

Uriah Hall, where have you been?: In a word, wow. In what was the biggest upset of the night, Uriah Hall rose to the occasion and pulled off a highlight reel knockout over the No. 6 ranked middleweight in the world in Gegard Mousasi. Ever since Hall got into the UFC, he had been somewhat of an underachiever and disappointment. This is especially by comparison to the intimidating killer he looked like during his time on The Ultimate Fighter. On paper, he looked severely under-matched against Mousasi, and in the first round, he looked just like that. Mousasi absolutely dominated Hall with his grappling and wrestling. He almost submitted Hall in a rear-naked choke twice. Hall just barely managed to escape. Call it a lucky shot or a fluke, but when Mousasi shot in for a takedown, Hall threw a perfectly timed jumping spinning back kick. It looked like Chris Jericho’s charged strike from ye olden WCW/NWO Revenge days. Hall took a big step-up in competition, and he finally started showing some of the initial promise he had. As a fighter, Hall appears to be a nice guy and a class act. It’s just that when he steps in the cage, he seems to lack that killer instinct. He has trouble letting his hands and feet go. Whatever it is, he managed to get it done against Mousasi.

Right now, it’s probably premature to rank Hall at No. 6. I would say with such a huge win, he definitely deserves a spot in the top 10. What Hall finally has now is a huge amount of momentum. To capitalize on this, I would like to see the UFC match him up with another striker at middleweight. I know Belfort has a rubber match lined up with Dan Henderson, but I would really like to see Hall fight Belfort. Now do I think a top shelf middleweight would probably eat Hall alive like say Jacare? Yes, but honestly, I thought that’s what Mousasi was going to do to Hall. Even in a match-up with Yoel Romero, who sometimes starts very slow in the early rounds, I could see Hall exploiting some of Yomero’s weaknesses. Hall picking up this win puts a lot of intrigue at the top of the middleweight picture. I would say the wrong thing to do is put Hall in there with someone the likes of Tim Kennedy or Thales Leites next.

Diego Brandao starches Katsunori Kikuno: Former Ultimate Fighter winner Brandao extended his winning streak to two with a 28-second mauling of Katsunori Kikuno. On paper, this was really a gimme fight for Brandao. Kikuno isn’t the worst fighter on the planet, but his striking defense is poor. He has no problem blocking punches with his face. At least Brandao capitalized on that and looked great. Brandao has some good momentum going again after going 0-2 against Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. At this point, Brandao could easily be a fring etop 15 featherweight, especially when you thoroughly analyze some of the names in the bottom half of the rankings. Brandao is an exciting fighter when he shows up. Sometimes he just seems to have mental issues or blocks that keep him from getting further. Either way, he’s moving on up now if he continues performing like this.

Kyoji Horiguchi rebounds beautifully: Kyoji Horiguchi was thoroughly dominated by Demetrious Johnson in their flyweight title bout before being submitted late int he fifth round. Horiguchi’s fight against Chico Camus at UFC Fight Night 75 was a crucial bout for Horiguchi to rebound and prove he can still be a force in the division. Horiguchi’s performance was literally a treat to watch as he utilized marvelous speed, technique and footwork to ultimately dominate and defeat Camus. It’s disappointing how much respect flyweights like Horiguchi do not get when they do such tremendous work. Flyweights virtually never get tired and can maintain a fast pace for much longer than the higher weight classes. Horiguchi reinforced that last weekend. It might be a while before Horiguchi competes for the title again, but this win solidifies that Horiguchi will remain a top 10 contender for some time I believe. I think Ian McCall would be a very interesting match-up for both fighters. Either that, or possibly have Horiguchi face the winner of Ali Bagautinov vs. Joseph Benavidez at this weekend’s UFC 192 event. But considering how high level Horiguchi continues to look also reinforces just how good Demetrious Johnson is.