UFC Vegas: Cannonier ends 2022 with boring win over Strickland

UFC 282 couldn’t have come together any worse for the UFC. In the midst of a gambling scandal that has already done a lot of damage to the company’s legitimacy, a judging scandal arose when superstar-in-waiting Paddy Pimblett was gifted a tiebreaker decision in a lackluster main event between Jared Gordon and Jan Blachowicz. and Magomed Ankalaev are considered a draw, keeping the UFC lightweight title vacant for a little while longer.

It all made for an incredibly bad final UFC event of the year. If UFC 282 was supposed to end the year with a bang and ended up being a wet squib, what would happen at this week’s UFC Vegas, which was supposed to already be the cover for 2023?

Most of the fights involved people who either aren’t very good (Bryan Battle), have been around a long time without much impact (Bobby Green), or both (Alex Caceres), while the top two contests were designed to see who’s next in line next to the guy. Feeling the chop, everyone fought their hearts out, win or lose.

The same can be said for the co-ed, where #9 Arman Tsarukyan proved he’s the real deal at 155 pounds by snapping #12 Damir Izmagulov’s 19-fight winning streak in a thrilling three-round contest.

Here the fun came to an abrupt halt.

While the other contenders are busy going head-to-head, it makes sense to pit #3 Jared Cannonier against #7 Sean Strickland to see who is the better of the two. In Cannonier’s last fight at UFC 276, he lost to then-champion Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision. At the same event, reigning champion Alex Perreira knocked Strickland out cold.

But figuring out who’s the best of the runners-up is a lot less interesting when you consider their styles.

Cannonier fights MMA like a Cuban Olympic boxer, pressuring opponents with footwork but not actually throwing anything unless he sees an opening. As a 185lb fighter who fought at 220lbs, this technique usually works as he still carries the power of a heavyweight at welterweight and has brought him to a 15-6 record.

However, with more skilled fighters like Adesanya or Robert Whittaker preventing him from finding openings, he will have to spend the entire fight walking in circles.

As for Strickland, he takes every opportunity in an interview or on social media to tell fans he’s a crazy, nonsensical psycho, but then he actually fights and reveals that the only craziness is the basic level of his style: standing still and spamming until there’s an opening to the right . Rinse and repeat. Thus, he is a dedicated kickboxer with only three KO/TKO wins in 12 UFC wins.

Once the main event started, it immediately fell into the expected rhythm. Cannonier’s low power, power punching style and Strickland’s one-note grinding made for a match that resembled more sparring than actual competition.

Towards the end of each round, Cannonier found his groove and landed a bomb or two – one eventually bleeding Strickland’s nose – but to get there he was met with stiff, pumping punches, most of which didn’t even land; they were simply thrown to keep the Cannonier at bay.

This happened again and again without either man taking any kind of risk or gaining any real advantage. According to ufcstats.com, in terms of significant strikes, the two fighters were virtually equal, with the biggest difference being six in Strickland’s favor in the fourth round, otherwise the biggest difference was just three.

When the final bell rang, it brought a merciful end to 25 dull minutes. When ring announcer Joe Martinez announced the judges’ scores, Sean Strickland was visibly angry. He couldn’t believe he was involved in a split decision – made worse when the winner was announced as Jared Cannonier (49-46, 49-46, 46-49).

For Cannonier, this is the best possible result as the win keeps him in the top five. For Strickland, the losing streak (and the little tantrum that followed) completely undermines the persona he was trying to build and will keep him out of big fights for the foreseeable future. For many fight fans, it’s the Christmas gift that keeps on giving until 2023 and beyond.

[Header: Referee Herb Dean raises Jared Cannonier’s hand following his split decision victory over Sean Strickland in the main event go UFC Vegas: Cannonier vs. Strickland at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on December 17, 2022. /Zuffa]