I’m not going to lie, week four was an ugly episode of Contender Series. We got a couple big finishes, and I was quite impressed with Silvestre Sanchez, but it wasn’t all good. I’m not sure all five contracts were deserved, there was a bad early stoppage, and the main event was a complete mismatch.
Adam Livingston vs Hunter Smith
Kicking off the night, we had a very underwhelming fight. Not that it wasn’t a solid back and forth fight, but I expected Livingston to go for it a bit more. I thought he would be the one on the front foot, pressing the action, but he was content to stay behind the black line and score points. Livingston did start the first round off with a cool spinning backfist into a head kick that rocked Smith, but Smith recovered quickly and stayed in the fight. Smith fought his way back into the round by using good foot work to get in range and land big shots. To be honest, all three rounds looked very similar and stayed very close. It was all Hunter Smith on the front foot, looking to land a knockout blow, with Adam Livingston skirting around the outside of the octagon landing jabs. The times where Livingston did let his hands go a bit were what won him the first two rounds, in my opinion. I had it 29-28 Livingston, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see 30-27 Livingston or 29-28 Smith with how close each round was.
I think Adam Livingston is a fine fighter for the UFC. I didn’t think he deserved a contract with this performance, but I also don’t think he will completely drown in the UFC. Livingston is good enough to grab a couple wins in fun fights against guys in the lower tier of the UFC and maybe earn himself another contract. In my opinion, his ceiling isn’t very high, and I don’t expect him to even sniff the rankings.
Gabriel Lorenço vs Charlie Cleveland
I wasn’t particularly impressed with either of these guys, but you can get away with a lot at heavyweight. They got to swinging almost immediately, and you could tell this wasn’t going to last very long. Cleveland landed a few good shots that I was surprised Lorenço took. Whenever Cleveland would close the distance to engage, it felt like Lorenço was just winging punches and praying they would connect. Just before the halfway mark of the first round, Cleveland backed up out of an exchange with his hands down at his sides, and he paid the price. Lorenço took advantage by landing a big punch and finished the fight. When Cleveland was trying to build up to his feet initially, Lorenço landed an elbow that was dangerously close to being back of the head, but they must’ve deemed it clean.
Lorenço is a big, fast, athletic heavyweight that will definitely knock guys out in the UFC. His biggest downfalls are how hittable he is and the fact that there seems to be no thought behind the punches he throws. There are some really bad heavyweights in the UFC, and I’m not sure he needs to be all that great to score a couple cool knockouts.
Silvestre Sanchez vs Liam McCracken
This was by far my most anticipated fight of week four, and Silvestre Sanchez really impressed me. His gameplan was great as he was really able to wear McCracken out. Early on, McCracken did well to stuff Sanchez’s takedown attempts and get back out to space. McCracken looked really fast in that first round and put his jab to good use. The first round was a close back and forth one, but Sanchez scored a takedown near the end that likely won him the round. In the second round, there was a short period where I thought Sanchez looked like he was slowing down and McCracken was going to take over. However, that didn’t last long as Sanchez got to work and solidified himself the second round as well. When they came out for the third round, it was very obvious that McCracken was actually the one slowing down. After some back and forth, with Sanchez scoring another takedown, McCracken realized he needed to go for it or he was going to lose on the scorecards. After opening up and landing some good shots, he really loaded up on a left hook, but Sanchez kept his a bit shorter and got to the target first. The punch laid McCracken out, and it was over.
I am very excited to see Silvestre Sanchez in the UFC. While I wanted and thought McCracken would win, it was nice to see Sanchez has clearly continued to level up. He got his biggest step up in competition by far and beat McCracken quite handily. Sanchez is well rounded, has crazy power in his hands, and showed a solid gas tank to find the late finish. It will be interesting to see, as he continues to improve, if he can get himself in and around the rankings. At the moment, I can see him being a fighter that touches the rankings but bounces in and out of them. At the very least, though, Sanchez will be in fun fights and score some cool finishes.
Modestino Rodrigues vs Brandon Holmes
Unfortunately, an early stoppage robbed us of knowing if Holmes could weather the early storm he found himself in. I’m personally not a big fan of Holmes, but it is unfair to him that he didn’t get the opportunity to see if he could fight out of that situation. It is no slight on Rodrigues, though, as he did what he needed to do and the ref messed it up. We didn’t get to learn a lot about Rodrigues, but we do know the guy is explosive and powerful. He absolutely has holes in his game, but at only 22, maybe he can still sure them up. At the moment, I don’t think Rodrigues has a high ceiling, but he is definitely going to be a fun guy to have around. With his big power, as well as his disregard for defense, Rodrigues will knock some guys out and probably get knocked out.
Adam Darby vs Patrick Rivera
This fight annoyed me the most out of any of the problems with Contender Series week four. Of course, Adam Darby looked good, but we didn’t get to see if he is UFC level. We didn’t get to see any new tools or see if Darby could perform on a big stage against a good opponent. No disrespect to Rivera, but he just isn’t good enough to be getting a Contender Series opportunity. Darby did what he needed to do, though, and used his long weapons well en route to a doctor stoppage.
With all that being said, I do think Darby is good enough to warrant getting a chance in the UFC. Rivera was able to catch him a few times while Darby was using his tall man defense, so that could be an issue going forward. With all his tools and length, though, Darby will be a tough outing for a lot of fighters. Darby is a guy I could see sticking around in the UFC for a while. I would need to see huge improvements defensively to say he could earn a shot at the rankings, but I would be lying if I said his offensive tools weren’t impressive.
