UFC Vegas 121 yet again goes to show that simply because a card is in the Meta Apex and doesn’t have the biggest star power doesn’t mean it can’t deliver. UFC Vegas 121 delivered in so many ways, proving to be an entertaining night in the Octagon.
That was capped off by a star-making five-round war between Raul Rosas Jr. and Raoni Barcelos, which, while perhaps Rosas’ best UFC performance yet, ended in near-tragedy with Barcelos being stretchered out of the Octagon unconscious. My thoughts and prayers are with him as he recovers.
So, let’s talk about the other notable thing I took away from UFC Vegas 121: to borrow a famous book title, A Tale of Two (Prospect) Cities. One man has given his stock a boost, and another has probably done some damage (even if a tiny bit) to his.
Luis Hernandez
The one who drew eyeballs and gained fans? Luis Hernandez.
If you don’t know who this is, it’s because he’s legit brand new to the Octagon. And that’s because “The Stache” only earned his UFC contract 12 days ago. He competed on Dana White’s Contender Series and made a statement with a 61-second submission victory over 7-1 Hugo Guillon.
That was already a cool moment for Hernandez, the first full-time active-duty U.S. law enforcement officer to join the UFC. But you know how UFC CEO and President Dana White really loves guys who take chances and are ready at a whim – and that came on Thursday, Sept. 24, when Hernandez got the call to compete on two days’ notice against Sedrqiues Dumas after Mickey Gall was not cleared to fight.
So this fight was already bizarre enough with the short-notice light heavyweight nature of it, but Hernandez was ready and then some for his quick UFC debut. Hernandez landed an overhand on Dumas, dropping him and getting on top. As Dumas looked to get up, Hernandez locked up a guillotine choke, keeping it with both combatants standing and scoring the tapout in about a minute.
Hernandez then had a wild celebration as the Vegas crowd was in a frenzy, thrusting and doing the D-Generation X-style crotch chops. And then the guy goes and says he wants to fight again before the year ends, hoping for three fights in three months, and even appealing for a fight down at welterweight.
This guy might be crazy, but it’s a fun kind of crazy I’m all for. And at 9-0 with all finishes (most in the first round), he’s certainly one I’ll enjoy watching.
Mehemmedeli Osmanali
Then there’s the unfortunate case of Mehemmedeli Osmanali, one of the fighters who competed in the finale bouts for The Ultimate Fighter season 34 on the card.
Any episode where Osmanli was a featured star, especially the weeks in which he fought, it seemed like a number of points in these episodes were dedicated to talking about how Osmanli was special. Even White’s comments about the fighters during the season seemed to indicate he sees something special in Osmanli.
Merab Dvalishvili even said Osmanli’s attitude, approach and intensity in fighting reminded him of a young Conor McGregor.
These all seemed to be subliminal messaging that not only was Osmanli a person to watch to make it to the finale, but it seemed to be subliminal messaging that this was the guy most had a stake in winning the season. He seemed to impress with submission wins against Artem Belakh and Christian Strong during the tournament – even producing the first buggy choke victory in any UFC-related product (UFC, TUF, or DWCS).
There was plenty of hype around him, and plenty seemed to feel he’d be able to defeat Ilimbek Akylbek.
Then, the knee happened. After scoring a knockdown of Akylbek during the first round, Osmanli charged forward, and his knee collided directly with Akylbek’s head. After Akylbek was turned over, he appeared to be out.
Plenty of debate has emerged online about whether Akylbek feigned being unconscious to get the win. And while there is validity in having such a debate, there is one issue – this debate wouldn’t be happening if Osmanli wasn’t careless and landed a clearly illegal knee on a clearly downed fighter.
And with that, the wind is taken out of TUF 34’s sails. For the first time in the show’s 34 seasons, over 20 years of TUF, a TUF championship is handed out by disqualification. And instead of an epic finish like women’s strawweight counterpart Tina Black’s TUF victory, we get something that reminds us of Aljamain Sterling winning the UFC bantamweight title from Petr Yan via DQ.
And Osmanli still had the nerve to raise his arms at the end. Yeah, not a good look.
Now White and company will have to make a decision on what they do with Osmanli – whether they still sign him, wait for things to die down and book him another fight, or if they let him go quietly and see if they can bring him back later. Even if he were to sign with PFL/MVP, he’ll probably still find his way back to UFC eventually. But with how much praise White has had for Osmanli, the former probably happens.
Let’s just hope he doesn’t blow his second chance.
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