UFC 219 Report: Cyborg sees off Holm to defend UFC women's featherweight title

By Alistair Hendrie

Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino dodged a bullet on Saturday night at UFC 219, outpointing Holly Holm in the main event to hang on to her UFC women’s featherweight title. The Brazilian was expected to power through Holm with raiding combinations, but in her first defence of the belt, she was made to chase Holm around the cage and had to settle for one or two-punch salvos. In fact, Holm nullified the titlist early on and made it competitive through her work-rate and conditioning.

The challenger, a former boxing world champion and a one-time UFC 135lbs queen, landed leg kicks at will in the first round and scuttled low with her back to the cage. She scored with two and three punches at a time, but Cyborg connected with the more powerful counters. Indeed, the champion started to find inroads with body kicks and head kicks in the second, despite conceding underhooks against the fence.

By round three, Holm was still circling at pace and throwing out jabs and straight punches. However, the American insisted on wheeling towards Cyborg’s more dangerous right side, and after a while her attacks become predictable. Cyborg began to grow in to the fight. She read Holm’s head movement and snapped her head back with a jab, also bashing the body with step-in kicks.

Holm continued her fleet-footed tactics in the final two frames, befuddling the favourite and making a mockery of pre-fight predictions for a Cyborg blowout. She upped her output but Cyborg pulled ahead with her snapping jab and knees to the body on the break. Eventually, the Curitiba-born striker generated more openings for power kicks and violent combinations, and she was fair value for scores of 49-46 and 48-47 (twice) in her favour.

Cyborg never looked in danger despite eating plenty of kicks to the body and forearms. She displayed strong cardio and astute game-planning which showed coach Jason Parillo in an excellent light. But given her fearsome reputation – this was her ninth knockout on the bounce – and Holm’s lack of pedigree at 145lbs, shouldn’t she have prospered in more explosive fashion? Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn primed their charge well for this bout, but it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Cyborg needs a tougher test, and the Australian Invicta featherweight titlist Megan Anderson, who would be Cris’s most menacing opponent yet, should be waiting in the wings.

Khabib Nurmagomedov dominated the lightweight co-main event, exhibiting a tirade of ground-and-pound to shut out Edson Barboza by scores of 30-25 (twice) and 30-24. Those scores were perfectly accurate too. The Russian sambo specialist scored vice-like half guard and full mount positions throughout the fight and peppered his rival with hammer fists, elbows and forearms, inflicting a miserable beating on Mark Henry’s man.

Keep in mind Barboza is one of the most dangerous fighters at 155lbs, the only man to finish two UFC outings with leg kicks. Nurmagomedov nevertheless closed the distance, and even rubbished accusations that he’s a pure grappler by landing his own kicks to the head and offsetting the action with leg kicks. Khabib spent most of the decider posturing up, bloodying up Barboza with punches, completing one of the most vicious displays of ground-and-pound ever seen in the UFC. Bouts with world champion Conor McGregor or interim belt-holder Tony Ferguson await.

Also at lightweight, New Zealand’s Dan Hooker saw off Britain’s Marc Diakiese, telegraphing a takedown attempt to seal a guillotine choke in round three. Hooker, a bean-pole striker with a 75inch reach, engaged in a patient battle of kicks and scrambles before earning his seventh victory by tapout. His rival deviated from his corner instructions though, and shot for the takedown despite coach Conan Silveira telling him not to. Hooker can now attack the top 15 with his length and crafty jiu-jitsu, while Diakiese slips to 3-2 in the UFC.

Carla Esparza went some way to retrieving her old women’s strawweight title by taking a decision over Cynthia Calvillo, with three scores of 29-28 which were perhaps unfair to her opponent. One of the best prospects in the sport, Calvillo showed excellent timing and execution of the takedown in the first round before fending off an armbar in the second. Eventually Esparza’s boxing - which has improved leaps and bounds - and more active wrestling game perhaps saw her through.

Neil Magny put the welterweight division on notice with a cast-iron decision over Carlos Condit, the verdicts of 30-27 (twice) and 29-28 bringing him the biggest win of his career. The New Yorker stifled the better striker with beautiful takedowns against the fence, dominating with his superior wrist control, head positioning and shoulder strikes for good measure. Condit enjoyed more success with varied combinations in the closing moments, but Magny showed too many fakes and level-changes for “The Natural Born Killer” to turn it into a war.

On the UFC Fight Pass Prelims, Polish light-heavyweight Michal Oleksiejczuk debuted in the UFC with a hard-fought victory over Khalil Rountree Jr, all three judges seeing it 30-27. The newcomer, buoyed by three consecutive first round Kos/TKOs, fought fire with fire and earned the upper hand with front kicks and crafty hooks to the head and body. A powerful striker, Oleksiejczuk, 22, could be a contender if he develops more size and muscle at the weight.

At featherweight Miles Jury shut out Rick Glenn 30-27 on all cards, showing spiteful counters and an active clinch game to have it all his own way. Meanwhile, at middleweight, Omari Akhmedov and Marvin Vettori threw caution to the wind in a back-and-forth fist fight which culminated in a draw – two 28-28s and one 29-28 for Vettori.

Elsewhere on the Prelims, Brazilian flyweight Matheus Nicolau grabbed a decision over Louis Smolka, dropping his man three times for a 30-26 (twice) and 30-25 victory. Bantamweights Tim Elliot and Mark De La Rosa opened up the event, as Elliot earned a submission in round two with an anaconda choke.  

Read more reaction on Cyborg's standing in the sport and why she should tackle Megan Anderson next

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UFC 219 Preview: Cyborg aims to silence the naysayers against Holm

By Alistair Hendrie

UFC women’s featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino will look to silence her critics on Saturday, when she faces Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 219 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Brazilian has earned eight consecutive KO/TKO victories since 2013, but her reputation has dipped thanks to a lack of competition at 145lbs, and a doping suspension in 2012 after testing positive for stanzolol. 

Cyborg looked outstanding in her last contest at UFC 214 in June, as she broke down Tonya Evinger to seal the KO with a flurry of knees to the face. However, the doubters will point out that Evinger had never previously fought at 145lbs. Plus, Cyborg’s only previous UFC run-outs were at a 140lbs catchweight against Lina Lansberg and Leslie Smith, both of whom were undersized and dispatched within the distance. Still, Cyborg’s leg kicks, left-right combinations and relentless ground-and-pound make her one of the most destructive fighters in the sport. Her body of work includes vicious finishes over trailblazers such as Gina Carano and Marloes Coenen (twice), helping her live up to her nickname. 

Unfortunately for the Brazilian, a win over Holm may not be enough to enrich her legacy. Although Holm won multiple boxing world titles between 140lbs and 154lbs, her form has plummeted since she upset Ronda Rousey to win the bantamweight title at UFC 193 in 2015. She has dipped to 3-1 since then, shutting off Bethe Corriea with a head kick last time out at UFC Fight Night: Singapore in June 2017. That prior trio of defeats included a rear naked choke to Miesha Tate, and dour scorecard defeats to Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie, the latter for the 145lbs strap which Germaine subsequently vacated. That bout in particular resembled a staring contest, with neither woman willing to pull the trigger. 

So, Holm might not be the highest level of contender – then again, the UFC are yet to build a talent pool at 145lbs – but it’s at least a match-up which will test out Cyborg’s skills. Both women like to probe with legs kicks and kicks to the body, although Holm is much more likely to keep the distance with oblique kicks. The Jackson-Winkeljohn product waits patiently to look for the head kick, so it will be interesting to see how or when Cyborg lets rip with boxing combinations. The pick is for Holm to befuddle Cyborg in the opening exchanges, but the champion should come through by rounds three or four. That said, Cyborg would be better off challenging the likes of Invicta FC’s featherweight queen Megan Anderson, who boasts reach and size and plenty of pedigree at 145lbs. 

The lightweight co-main event features returning Russian phenom Khabib Nurmagomedov, who tackles Brazilian striker Edson Barboza. Nurmagomedov is one of the best wrestlers in the UFC, boasting a broad range of suplexes and slams, not to mention shrewd strikes from half guard and knee-on-belly position. He scored a brutal kimura over Michael Johnson in his last visit to the Octagon, at UFC 205 in November 2016, but his career has been blighted by his struggles to boil down to 155lbs. He was hospitalised during his weight cut for his UFC 209 grudge match with Tony Ferguson, which was eventually cancelled, and you can understand the sceptics who wonder if “The Eagle” will even make it to the cage on Saturday night. 

Keep in mind it’s not only the scales the Eastern European will have to battle. Barboza exhibits a stunning range of kicks, not least his unforgettable wheel kick knockout of Terry Etim at UFC 142 in 2012. He’s the only man in UFC history to finish two bouts by leg kicks, against Mike Lullo and Raphael Oliveira, while he also winds up on his kicks with velocity and disguise. He’s currently on a tear of 3-0, boasting decisions over legendary pair Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez, not forgetting a flying knee knockout of Beneil Dariush at UFC Fight Night: Fortaleza in March that sent shockwaves through the division. 

You could argue that Nurmagomedov would enter as the favourite thanks to his superior grappling, fight IQ and well-rounded skill-set. If he can secure half guard or back mount, the American Kickboxing Academy man should be able to dominate, rain down strikes and earn a cast-iron decision. Still, he should watch out for kicks and knees when shooting, and of course, he’ll need to make sure his weight cut and rehydration are on point. If he comes through, marketable showdowns against the likes of lightweight king Conor McGregor or interim champ Ferguson could be on the cards. 

Also at 155lbs, hot prospects Dan Hooker and Marc Diakiese will clash in a battle to enter the rankings argument. New Zealand’s Hooker starched Ross Pearson with a knee at UFC Fight Night: Auckland in June, snapping the Brit’s head back and sending his mouthguard flying above the canvas. He mixes up his jab well, but does leave his chin high at times. 

His rival Diakiese, another Brit, tore through the domestic scene with a highlight reel of spinning kicks, jumping guard passes and raiding combinations. He entered the UFC with three wins, featuring a check hook that dropped Teemu Packalen like a stone in the ocean at UFC Fight Night: London in March. Still, he suffered his first loss at The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale in July, as Dakkar Klose nuffilied the striker on his way to a decision which nobody could debate. If Hooker keeps his guard up and works behind his jab, he could scrape through with the verdict. Either way, if Diakiese backs his man up to the fence and unloads his flamboyant striking, this could be a sleeper for fight of the night. 

Speaking of prospects making their name in 2017, strawweight Cynthia Calvillo is another one. The 30-year-old, who only turned pro in August 2016, is one of the most in-form fighters in the world and owns scalps over the likes of Montana De La Rosa, Pearl Gonzalez, Amanda Bobby Cooper and, most impressively, Joanne Calderwood, despite giving up plenty of experience to the Scot. On Saturday Calvillo battles the former world leader, Carla Esparza, and could get her hand raised if she follows Team Alpha Male’s instructions as well as she did against Calderwood. That said, Calvillo has never faced a wrestler like Esparza, who works doggedly from top position, so this is the acid test the Californian needs. 

Rounding off the main card is a welterweight scrap between crowd-pleaser Carlos Condit and the long, rangy striker Neil Magny. Despite getting past the likes of Rory MacDonald, Thiago Alves and Dan Hardy in a stand-out career, Condit’s defeats have come against the likes of Robbie Lawler, Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks, when all three were at the peak of their careers. After losing five of his last seven bouts, “The Natural Born Killer” needs to utilise his cardio and end combinations with kicks to outlast Magny. His rival is an awkward customer but can be gun-shy. You feel the UFC fanbase will be rooting for Condit whatever happens, though. 

Heading up the UFC Fight Pass prelims, powerful light-heavyweight Khalil Rountree Jr takes on surging UFC debutant Michal Oleksiejczuk. Neither man takes it to the ground much, while Oleksiejczuk loves a slugfest and has finished his last three outings by TKO or KO in round one. Expect fireworks if either man lands flush, but Oleksiejczuk should start as the favourite. Elsewhere on the prelims, featherweights Myles Jury and Rick Glenn collide, while middleweights Marvin Mattori and Omari Akhmedov will also look to put on a show. Flyweights Louis Smolka and Matheus Nicolau start off the prelims, while a 135lbs showcase, Tim Elliot against Marc De La Rosa, takes place on early UFC Fight Pass prelims.

After you've enjoyed Cyborg's showdown with Holm, visit Alistair Hendrie Sport for the latest news, reports and opinion from UFC 219. 

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Fight Game book release - Ian Dean tells story of Cage Warriors women's divisions

Reading, England - Sunday 26th October 2017 

Alistair Hendrie’s Kindle book, Fight Game: The Untold Story of Women’s MMA in Britain, is out now on Amazon. 

The book uncovers the development of the scene and the personalities on the circuit, offering unprecedented insight from fighters such as Joanne Calderwood, Rosi Sexton, Wendy McKenna, Jade Barker-Morge and many more. 

In one passage, Cage Warriors matchmaker Ian Dean opened up about how his promotion energised the scene in July 2013 by signing nine British females including LJ Adams and Laura O’Brien-Howarth. 

“Rosi Sexton called a lot of people’s bluffs,” said Dean. “She contacted a lot of female fighters and asked if they’d like to sign for us. 

“It was quite funny – I think (president) Graham (Boylan) and Rosi had chatted about it more in-depth on their own but one morning Graham just walked into the office and asked how I’d feel about doing more women’s fights. I just said: “Yeah, OK.” We had the database and it went from there.

“I think women were just being overlooked unless a promoter was trying to push someone,” added Dean. “There’s no real incentive sometimes. There’s not a great deal of depth in the divisions and putting on women’s fights isn’t easy – it’s ridiculous. 

“There was a lot of excitement for some of the women when we first made the signings. I’m not going to be patronising and say we’re going to give you opportunities you won’t get anywhere else and all of that kind of thing, but we gave women a chance to really go somewhere.”

Previous press releases for media use can be found here. When providing media coverage for the book, please include the pre-order link.

For more information, media requests, interview requests and review copies, please contact Alistair Hendrie on allyh84@hotmail.com. 

Kind regards, 

Alistair Hendrie
@allyh84 

Fight Game book pre-order - Joanne Calderwood discusses leaving nursing for MMA career

Reading, England - Wednesday 22nd November 2017

Alistair Hendrie’s latest Kindle book, Fight Game: The Untold Story of Women’s MMA in Britain, is now available for pre-order on Amazon with a final release date of 25th November. 

The book charts how British women ripped up perceptions to finally reach the UFC, featuring candid insight from the likes of UFC strawweight Joanne Calderwood and Bellator pair Kate Jackson and Helen Harper. 

In one passage, Calderwood opens up about how she left a career in nursing to commit to fighting – much to the initial shock of her mother. 

“I got to a point in my muay Thai career where I couldn’t keep working full-time as a nurse and training on top of that,” said the Scottish striker. “It was so hard. But Guy (Ramsay) gave me a job at the gym so I could fight full-time, and I haven’t looked back since. 

“Quitting my nursing job meant taking a pay cut, but that didn’t bother me – as long as I made enough money to take my career to the next level that was fine by me. 

“The next step was convincing my mum. At first she was like: “Whoa, what are you doing?” But now she supports my career one hundred and ten per cent.”

Previous press releases for media use can be found here. When providing media coverage for the book, please include the pre-order link. 

For more information, media requests, interview requests and review copies, please contact Alistair Hendrie on allyh84@hotmail.com. 

Rosi Sexton discusses humble beginnings at SBG Manchester - Fight Game book extract

Rosi Sexton was born on 16 July, 1977, and grew up in Crowthorne, Berkshire. Contrary to what it might look like, she wasn’t a sporty child, nor did she dream of competition or fighting another woman in front of thousands of people. Instead she played cello and piano with the Reading Youth Orchestra. 

As such, her interests, passions and talents ripped up the stereotypical perception of a fighter. She came across restrained and modest during interviews, but throughout her career her competitiveness revealed itself in a constant strive to get better, learn more about herself, and learn more about the sport. After my chats with Sexton, my lasting impression was of someone who’d have been a success whatever career she chose. 

She discovered mixed martial arts through a Channel 5 documentary, Natural Born Fighters, which starred Huddersfield’s Leigh Remedios and Sunderland’s Ian Freeman. The first Brit to appear in the UFC, Freeman smashed past Frank Mir at London’s UFC 38 show in 2002 and retired in 2013. 

“I first watched the documentary in 1999,” said Sexton. “As soon as I saw it I knew MMA was something I’d like to have a go at. At the time I knew nothing about MMA but I started training for the same reason that everyone else does – self-defence.”

Sexton practised martial arts from a young age and at 14, she began learning taekwondo and judo around Berkshire. You could picture her grinding away trying to perfect techniques when she stated: “I wasn’t very good at first. I didn’t take to it particularly naturally, but it was something I enjoyed and wanted to get better at. It was when I moved to Manchester for university in 1999 that I realised taekwondo didn’t have much artistry and there was more to fighting than having a taekwondo sparring match.

“One of the things that prompted me to move to jiu-jitsu and other disciplines was that I wasn’t sure if the techniques I’d learned would work in real life. It got to a stage where I was teaching self-defence classes for people but I’d never been in a real fight, so I felt uncomfortable telling people what would work if someone attacks you.”

Sexton said in those days “everyone was winging it. If you remember the early UFC events people were still trying to work out how to put it all together. You were capable of finding fighters who were well-versed in more than one discipline, but they still didn’t combine the disciplines as well as today’s fighters. Nowadays you have Georges St-Pierre, Frankie Edgar… These guys do everything well. It’s all much better understood and we’ve seen that change and evolution in the sport in the last 15 to 16 years.

“But it was 1999 back then and you’ve got to remember people were still picking up techniques from grainy VHS tapes and practising in their mates’ garages. It was when I found Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym in Manchester that I began taking Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling more seriously. I also did sport jiu-jitsu which is a semi-contact, semi-sparring style of combat which a lot of people did back then. At the time there wasn’t a lot of women competing at all, certainly not in the UK.”

Apart from Lisa Higo of course. Given that both women trained at SBG they would be linked together throughout the 2000s, and would also feature heavily in some of the BBC’s first coverage of British women’s MMA – more on that later. You only needed to ask today’s generation to understand the legacy the pair left. Joanne Calderwood, Scotland’s UFC standout, told me: “Rosi and Lisa had awesome careers and maybe if Lisa arrived five or ten years later, she’d be fighting in the UFC now.”

While Sexton entered MMA due to a passion for learning, Higo began training for altogether different reasons – one evening in 1990 she was attacked in a street in Leeds. 

Throughout writing this book I’ve thought to myself: “Would Higo have taken up MMA without that attack? Would young women know about the sport without Higo making her debut back in 2008, when the British scene was still growing?”

There was so much I wanted to speak to Higo about but after a while my emails, calls and Facebook messages fell on deaf ears. Higo has a young family and her own life to lead though, and when we did speak, her enthusiasm for the sport was infectious. She would sign off every one of our conversations by exclaiming: “Cheers love!” in her broad Yorkshire accent. 

“I think if anyone is out there competing, achieving their goals, then good on them,” said Higo. “If British women keep going in the same direction there’s no reason we should be behind the men. We’re competing as well as them, if not better.

“When I started kickboxing in the early 1990s there were barely any women involved in the sport, the same with MMA,” said the strawweight, reinforcing Sexton’s point. “I was the only woman at my early kickboxing classes in Leeds. To start with the men just ignored me and probably just thought: “Oh, she’ll only be here for a few classes.” It was only until I stayed for a while that the coaches and other fighters began to really take an interest in me and act more positively towards me.”

Stand-up fighting was always an area where Higo prevailed. She won a WKA kickboxing title in 2003 and also claimed various karate titles. “When I won the WKA title my twins had just turned two so to put the icing on the cake for them was fantastic,” said Higo. “I put a lot of work into that like any other sportsperson would. You have to sacrifice a lot and sometimes family time gets put on the backburner.”

Despite her allegiances to her family, nobody could doubt Higo’s commitment to the sport, particularly in 2009 when she travelled to Indiana to win HooknShoot’s GFight Grand Prix. Higo even won the final against Angela Magana, who would progress to fight in the UFC. It was around that time in America that female fighters such as Las Vegas’s Gina Carano and Brazil’s Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino were beginning to gain traction. 

“I wasn’t really expecting to win the GFight Grand Prix but for everything I do, I like to put a lot of time and effort into it,” said Higo. “To put the work in and then get the rewards was really overwhelming. I really enjoyed MMA and it was something I was passionate about, so as you can imagine I was overjoyed. I’m still in touch with some of the Americans who attended the event and to hear their positive feedback was amazing, it really was.”

On reflection, it’s incredible to think a British women’s MMA revolution was taking place inside Manchester’s SBG gym, which sits across the road from Manchester Piccadilly train station. Higo and Sexton would learn from each other and grow together under that very roof but it was Sexton who made her mark on MMA first of all.   

Fight Game: The Untold Story of Women's MMA in Britain is out now on Kindle. Buy it here.