Sooo … About Last Night

Last night (Sat., April 12, 2025), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida for UFC 314. After a particularly dreadful run of “Fight Night” events, UFC 314 served as a breath of fresh air. A genuinely intriguing title fight in the main event? The all-action Michael Chandler and the UFC debut of Patricio Pitbull? Venerable vets like Darren Elkins and Jim Miller on the undercard? Top-to-bottom, this card was a major step up in intrigue and quality, creating the kind of buzz that’s been hard to find as of late.

Let’s take a look back over at UFC 314’s best performances and techniques:

Volkanovski Reclaims Gold

I have to say, Alexander Volkanovski looked at his all-time best in the opening five minutes of his clash versus Diego Lopes. His in-and-out movement was beautiful to watch, as his feints and rhythm allowed him to time heavy counter connections while standing in the face of a serious puncher. Then, he blended his takedowns and transitional strikes together so masterfully to close the round — it was just a top-notch display of MMA, as good as it gets.

Some cracks began to show as the fight wore on. Volkanovski was hit while retreating more often than is ideal, and he never managed to scare Lopes with his power. A few years back, I don’t think he has those problems, and I don’t believe this fight demonstrated any problems for the theoretical Ilia Topuria rematch that is never going to happen.

Still, give the man his due. The odds said this win was impossible, and Volkanovski made it happen anyway. F—k all the other details and remember that “The Great” is an absolute legend!

As for Lopes, I’m not sure he gave himself the best shot here. Part of his issue was undeniably technical, as Volkanovski made the Brazilian finisher look really foot slow. However, he also did himself a disservice by really holding back on the aggression and refusing to fire in combination for more than brief moments. His cardio held up great through five rounds, but he also never really tested it by fighting in spurts. He was hesitant, and the outcome was fighting a technical match with one of the smartest fighters of all time.

Perhaps a Lopes who doesn’t hold back walks away with gold. We’ll never know, and more punishingly, he’ll never know.

Chandler Is WASHED!

Paddy Pimblett utterly dominated Michael Chandler to a degree that’s hard to overstate. Sure, Chandler landed a couple takedowns, but he never managed to establish real control or advance position. On the feet, he was utterly stranded at range, unable to pull the trigger and commit to attacking “The Baddy.”

There are two elements to consider here: how good is Paddy and how washed is Chandler? I attribute quite a bit of this stoppage to the latter. Chandler just couldn’t make himself throw punches, and that’s always a telltale sign that a fighter is DONE.

Still, Pimblett deserves serious credit. His range control and strategic approach was really good. He punished Chandler with kicks, scared him with punches, and then finally timed that heavy knee in round three. His physicality was seriously impressive, as he outmuscled Pimblett on several occasions.

At the bare minimum, Pimblett proved himself Top 10 here, even if I’m still unconvinced a title reign is in his future.

Lord Assassin Is The Truth

Jean Silva beat the crap out of Bryce Mitchell.

In fact, it looked a lot like Ilia Topuria’s beatdown of “Thug Nasty,” and that Topuria guy turned out to be pretty decent at the whole fighting thing! Mitchell was able to keep it competitive with his kicks and movement for a few minutes, but he didn’t have the physical strength to wrestle with Silva in any meaningful way. Stranded on the feet, Mitchell eventually was forced to trade punches with “Lord Assassin.”

It did not go well.

The power and fluidity difference was unbelievable. Silva didn’t even have to look at Mitchell to beat him to the punch! It was tremendous work, further evidence that both Jean Silva and The Fighting Nerds team are here to stay.

The Devastator Is BACK!

Dominick Reyes flatlined Nikita Krylov last night.

For the record, Krylov has never really been knocked out. He got stopped by strikes from mount years ago at Heavyweight, but that was a smaller striker getting overwhelmed on the floor. This time around, Reyes dropped a picture-perfect left hand right on the button to put the Russian talent to sleep.

This was a real-deal KNOCKOUT.

Reyes really played his hand perfectly, though he was aided by Krylov’s terrible face-first strategy. “Miner” charged at him over and over again, and Reyes’ pull-cross has always been his best punch. He stuck Krylov with one hard jab that rocked him then lined up the kill shot a few exchanges later — beautiful.

The thing with the pull-cross is that it takes confidence and commitment, the exact traits Reyes was missing during his skid. Taking a year to rebuild confidence against a lower tier of competition has absolutely paid off, because Reyes is once again at a point where he’s a serious threat to top-ranked Light Heavyweight contenders.

Referee Inconsistency

On the undercard, the referee nearly let Darren Elkins die while chasing single leg takedowns for consecutive minutes (more on that below). “The Damage” is an older fighter who hasn’t been at the top of his game for several years now, whereas Sean Woodson is a rising contender trying to break into the rankings. For some reason, Woodson’s own bout versus Dan Ige was stopped very quickly from a similar position, despite having taken far less abuse than Elkins!

Opposite officiating would’ve been nice. Or some level of consistency?

As for the fight itself, it was typical Woodson. He’s a tricky fighter, rangy and difficult to hit. He definitely frustrated Ige across the opening ten minutes with his long jab and movement. However, he typically fails to really push his advantages and doesn’t often hurt his opponents. Subsequently, Ige was rather fresh in round three, still swinging for the fences. It only took one major Ige connection to drastically change the fight, iffy stoppage or not.

If Woodson ever learns to really sit on his punches and kicks, he’s likely to break into the rankings. As it stands, he’ll have to win another couple fights before getting another chance.

Hooper Outlasts Miller

I have to confess I wasn’t particularly impressed by Chase Hooper’s decision victory, though I did enjoy his single leg back control work. The first round saw Miller land the heavier shots and generally stymie Hooper, but the 41-year-old didn’t have the gas tank to handle three rounds of grappling.

Shocker.

Hooper has definitely improved his wrestling, and there’s still plenty of time to continue growing at 25 years of age. Simultaneously, this fight felt like a clear athletic ceiling demonstration for Hooper, who didn’t exactly beat up the fatigued veteran when given the opportunity.

Additional Thoughts

Julian Erosa defeats Darren Elkins via first-round knockout (highlights): “Juicy J” was too violent to be controlled. Elkins landed an early takedown and some solid ground strikes, but an upkick completely changed the fight. After the Erosa upkick, Elkins’ legs couldn’t seem to support him. Erosa scrambled to his feet easily then landed shot after shot on the stumbling veteran. Elkins never recovered, and the damage added up quickly en route to the stoppage. It was frankly uncomfortable, a call that came a dozen shots too late.
Michal Oleksiejczuk defeats Sedriques Dumas via first-round knockout (highlights): Oleksiejczuk made this one look easy, walking Dumas down from the first bell and forcing big reactions from the Floridian. Before long, the Polish boxer was touching up his opponent’s mid-section and timing left hands around the guard. He floored Dumas within a few minutes, sealing the deal with a flurry of ground strikes. After the win, Oleksiejczuk revealed that he had joined The Fighting Nerds for this camp, and hopefully that team can really help him realize his potential. Despite his eight years on the UFC roster, he’s still just 30 years old!
Marco Tulio defeats Tresean Gore via second-round knockout (highlights): Man, this was a banger! This was just Tulio’s second UFC performance, but he really separated himself from the Middleweight pack here, going toe-to-toe with a dangerous puncher in “Mr. Vicious.” Both men landed hard early, but Tulio drew the first blood with a jab knockdown in round one. He built his momentum into the second with heavy body work, setting up a high kick that sealed the deal … even if Gore showed off his heart by staying in the fight and getting dropped once more. Impressive stuff!
Nora Cornolle defeats Hailey Cowan via second-round rear naked choke: How much do we care about a submission win in which the victorious fighter missed weight? Cowan won the first round with a trip and back take, but she went to the well too often, and that same trip attempt was countered in the second. Unlike Cowan, Cornolle was able to capitalize on the position with a strangle, but the 35-year-old French fighter has now missed weight in two of her three UFC wins.