Bobby Green relished his role as underdog to score a fast-and-furious main event finish one week, then the man who derailed his sense of invincibility within the promotion some nine years ago recovered from danger to prevail in his own headliner the very next week. At a time where UFC fans and critics seem all too quick to crown the next future champion, it’s a fitting sign of symbolism.
Almost a decade after their duel, both still alive and kicking
Experiences can’t be bought, you have to earn them.
Neither Bobby Green, nor Edson Barboza, are likely to be challenging for UFC title honours in their respective weight classes between now and whenever they hang up the gloves for good. While coming to terms with that fact will eat away at some top-ranked divisional fighters elsewhere, that sentence is immaterial in this case.
With more than 50 UFC fights logged between them, we know what they are: all-action fighters capable of the contrasting wins we’ve watched over the past ten days.
Since suffering a first-round stoppage on the regional scene in April 2016, Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Grant Dawson had reeled off an impressive 11-0-1 streak – including five finishes – adding deceptively difficult names to his resume.
Leonardo Santos, Jared Gordon, Mark Madsen and recently Damir Ismagulov in July had all been bested by a rising lightweight contender keen to continue the trend.
Riding the wave of his first main event spotlight and looking to make a statement, a fortnight after Mateusz Gamrot’s anticlimactic win elsewhere at 155lbs, the 29-year-old’s big night was all over in 33 seconds. The fastest win of Green’s 15-year pro career to date, and what a time to produce with no-one expecting such an outcome.
It was a purposeful, if aggressive start and then boom: Green turned southpaw, landed a straight left hand – no windup needed – dropping Dawson, before raining down strikes to finish a quick contest needing multiple replays to truly savour it.
“I don’t call shots, I could call names all day but I just wanna fight in December and be the most active fighter this year!”
- Green on what’s next, as he’s now ranked #13 at lightweight
Lightweight rankings, 10-15
10: Rafael dos Anjos
11: Jalin Turner
12: Renato Moicano
13: BOBBY GREEN
14: Matt Frevola
15: Grant Dawson
As for Barboza, it was the powers of recovery – being stung by a whipping right hand which flattened him up against the cage in round one – that saw him overcome adversity and later outwork Yusuff as the pair went the distance, taking chunks out of one another over 25 minutes during a worthy Fight of the Night encounter.
“You have to kill your opponent to win the war, he’s one of the world’s best and never gave up,” Barboza mused afterwards as Michael Bisping questioned whether he thought a finish was near after landing a spinning wheel kick in the third round.
Targeting the body paid dividends for the Brazilian, revealing it was part of his gameplan against a contender who crucially hadn’t yet fought over those main event rounds – nor shared the Octagon with the same opposition level – to really compare.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m a bit disappointed and it hurts pretty deep [to lose]. I feel like I let my coaches down, I’ll be back for sure. Could’ve picked my shots a bit better, got overzealous but am still a young guy in the game – it sucks to lose to an OG, but I used to watch him as a kid – it’s okay.”
- Yusuff reflects post-fight on defeat, having started so well
Yusuff, whose four-fight UFC win streak was ended by #4 contender Arnold Allen two-and-a-half years ago, naturally took defeat hard as this could’ve been his showcase night. Instead, he’ll need to hone mistakes from analysing tape study and regroup.
Barboza has looked human against Bryce Mitchell, Giga Chikadze and even Dan Ige dating back to the first slate of post-lockdown shows in 2020, but is unpredictable (and dangerous) enough that opponents are never sure what to expect.
Featherweight rankings, 8-13 pre-fight:
8: Giga Chikadze
9: Movsar Evloev
10: Bryce Mitchell
11: Sodiq Yusuff
12: Dan Ige
13: Edson Barboza
We’ll have to wait and see what’s next for both in an increasingly fast-changing landscape across all weights, but one thing is clear: enjoy them while they’re here.
Results rundown
UFC Vegas 80 results, in full
Main card
Lightweight: Bobby Green bt. Grant Dawson via R1 KO (punches)
Middleweight: Joe Pyfer bt. Abdul Razak Alhassan via R2 submission (arm-triangle choke)
Welterweight: Joaquin Buckley bt. Alex Morono via UD (30-27 x 2, 30-26)
Lightweight: Drew Dober bt. Ricky Glenn via R1 TKO (punches)
Featherweight: Bill Algeo bt. Alexander Hernandez via UD (30-27 x 3)
Prelims
Women’s Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz bt. Diana Belbita via UD (30-27 x 3)
Flyweight: Nate Maness bt. Mateus Mendonca via R1 TKO (punches)
Women’s Strawweight: Vanessa Demopoulos bt. Kanako Murata via UD (29-28 x 3)
Bantamweight: Aori Qileng bt. Johnny Munoz Jr via UD (29-28 x 3)
Women’s Flyweight: JJ Aldrich bt. Montana De La Rosa via UD (30-27 x 3)
UFC Vegas 81 results, in full
Main card
Featherweight: Edson Barboza [13] bt. Sodiq Yusuff [11] via UD (49-46, 48-46 x 2)
Women’s Flyweight: Viviane Araujo [11] bt. Jennifer Maia [9] via UD (29-28 x 3)
Bantamweight: Jonathan Martinez [13] bt. Adrian Yanez [14] via R2 TKO (leg kicks)
Middleweight: Michel Pereira bt. Andre Petroski via R1 TKO (punches)
Catchweight (140lbs): Christian Rodriguez bt. Cameron Saaiman via UD (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
Prelims
Featherweight: Darren Elkins bt. T.J. Brown via R3 submission (rear-naked choke)
Women’s Bantamweight: Tainara Lisboa bt. Ravena Oliveira via UD (29-28 x 3)
Lightweight: Terrance McKinney bt. Brendan Marotte via R1 TKO (knee, punches)
Women’s Bantamweight: Melissa Dixon bt. Irina Alekseeva via UD (30-27, 29-28 x 2)
Bantamweight: Chris Gutierrez [15] bt. Alateng Heili via UD (30-27 x 3)
Women’s Strawweight: Emily Ducote bt. Ashley Yoder via UD (30-27, 29-28 x 2)
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via UFC broadcasts
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