Report Card: Short notice suits Magny just fine
— -- Had the UFC decided to release welterweight Neil Magny following his 1-2 start in the Octagon two years ago, few would have batted an eye. Magny did reasonably well as a contestant on the 16th season of "The Ultimate Fighter," but his run came to an unceremonious end when he was knocked out by Mike Ricci in the tournament's semifinals.
He won his official UFC debut in February 2013 -- a solid but pretty forgettable unanimous decision against Jon Manley. By November of that year, he had lost his next two and seemed headed for the chopping block. What has happened since has been nothing short of remarkable, as Magny has reeled off nine wins in his last 10 fights. Coming off this weekend's upset decision against Kelvin Gastelum, Magny will go into 2016 on the cusp of a top-10 ranking -- that is, if he doesn't break it in 2015 by accepting (and winning) another short-notice fight. Let's break down Magny's performance and others in this week's Report Card.
In a strange way, Magny might actually enjoy an advantage in some of these short-notice fights. The guy is obviously a gym rat and his endurance is never an issue. He lost the fourth and fifth rounds to Gastelum, but I didn't really chalk that up to any problem in his conditioning. Had Magny not been in phenomenal shape, he likely wouldn't have been able to recover from the two knockdowns in the fourth round. And he's an awkward opponent to fight on short notice: lanky, technical, defensively sound, plus cardio for weeks. There was some debate about the scoring of this fight, but not from me -- Magny 48-47 was correct.
A puzzling result (split decision?) doesn't take away from the fact that Cejudo has to be the next challenge for seven-time defending champion Demetrious Johnson. Cejudo hasn't shown enough in his MMA career to be considered anything close to a favorite in that fight, but he has shown the ability to match up well with "Mighty Mouse" in certain areas. You're almost forced to point out he weighed in at 126 pounds and asked to strip down in order to do so. For a fighter with such a history of missing weight (and considering he'll fight a cardio freak in Johnson), that's slight cause for concern, but Cejudo has had no issues going the distance and has made 125 before. Against arguably the best fighter on the planet, you have to expect Cejudo will strap on the singlet and go hard with his wrestling roots at times, which should be fantastic to watch.
After the fight, Lamas said he felt this win "solidifies" his place in the division. Not entirely sure what he meant by this. This win solidifies Lamas in the exact same spot he was coming in. A decision against Sanchez, who is past his prime and was making his debut in the weight class, isn't going to shoot Lamas up the ladder. In his next breath, Lamas also acknowledged that the UFC isn't likely to give him a title shot next and he's ready for anyone the promotion throws at him. This seems like a realistic take. If Max Holloway beats Jeremy Stephens on Dec. 12, that's the fight to make.
The biggest takeaway for Gastelum wasn't the "L," although that is now two in a row as a welterweight. But no, the biggest takeaway for Gastelum was his endurance against a big, busy opponent in Magny. If we're being honest, we were all waiting for Gastelum to gas in those later rounds. Considering the trouble he has had making weight, plus the style matchup, it seemed inevitable. But it never happened. Gastelum kept marching, kept scrambling out of bad positions on the ground. He just turned 24 last month and is still putting it together. I was more impressed than disappointed with Gastelum, despite the loss.
This was about as difficult of a matchup as you could ever ask for on paper. "Formiga" hasn't been able to utilize his submission skills much in the Octagon, and there was very little chance of that changing here, as that would have required him to take down Cejudo, the Olympic gold medalist freestyle wrestler. Da Silva is never going to win a UFC title, but the improvements he has shown in his hands have been tangible and his only losses have been to absolute killers in John Dodson, Joseph Benavidez and now Cejudo. He even did enough for one wacky judge to throw him a 29-28 score. Respectable showing in impossible matchup.
The standout moment of this fight came in the second round, when Lamas landed a leg kick from hell that had Sanchez hobbling the rest of the fight (and the rest of us wincing from our seats). When he landed it, there was a momentary look of pure dread on Sanchez's face where he seemed to realize, "Whelp, that's it for the right leg in this fight." Soon it was replaced by that Sanchez scowl, with that look of, "Is that all you got [insert expletive]!?" That look is still incredible to witness after all these years, and it's almost certainly going to keep Sanchez in the cage well past the point he should walk away. This was his first fight at 145, and if he chooses to stay there, it's natural to think he's going to have to make adjustments (Lamas' speed gave him some fits). I'd like to see him in a much easier matchup for his sophomore attempt.
Jorgensen is a cult favorite among MMA fans, but it's getting harder to justify his spot on the UFC roster. The 33-year-old has now lost three in a row and is 2-8 since 2012. A leg injury at the end of the first round obviously killed any momentum he had and -- despite a strange outburst on social media that the referee should have stopped the fight -- Jorgensen gutted through most of the second round before he eventually tapped. Mob the referee if you want but Jorgensen was actually still moving and throwing punches well enough to warrant the decision to let it continue. Any of that debate is masking the real issue anyway, and that's the sad reality that Jorgensen is no longer competitive in the UFC.
Related Stories
ABC News Live