I have written several posts about how I think the UFC has gotten stale for many reasons but I was also kind of excited about this event that took place over the weekend because the card seemed to be pretty stacked including two championship matches at the top of the card.
I was excited for the Shevchenko vs Zhang fight in particular. In the past I would make a big deal about being around other people during the fights but for most of 2025 we have just watched it separately at our own homes. This time though, I was excited enough about this particular matchup that I got the pals down to the sportsbar to watch the last 2 matches on the main card.
Wow, were we disappointed.
If 18 or so of the overall 25 minutes of a fight being a ground hugging contest is the sort of thing that you find entertaining, this would have been a great match for you. For those of us that would like a bit more action though, this was exceptionally boring. Shevchenko and Zhang would stand up for the first minute or so and exchange blows but then Shevchenko would tire of that, shoot for a takedown, get it, then just lie on top of Zhang for the remainder of the round. Once she did this for 3 rounds the overall victory is guaranteed because she is going to be ahead on points... but but but! She has to make sure she doesn't get KO'd in the last 2 rounds, so the best way to accomplish this is to lie down on top of her opponent and make it impossible for Zhang to mount any offense.
What we got in the end was not the slugfest that we had hoped for, but instead it was yet another boring lying on the ground tickling contest that unfortunately has become the norm in UFC.
The 2nd main event was up next and we in the crowd who had all been leaning on our arms and groaning for the past half an hour really hoped that Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena could turn the momentum around and make this last match of the night exciting.
...and then exactly the same thing happened in that match as Islam lied down on top of Jack for a great deal of the full 25 minutes of the fight.
Every round was the same. They would start out standing up, both would get a few kicks and punches in and then Makhachev would take it to the ground and there they would stay, most of the time, until the end of the round. Once again, Makhachev was up 3-0 on rounds after 3 and he knew that all he had to do was keep doing the same thing for the last two rounds and avoid getting finished by KO.
Well for both Shevchenko and Makhachev this strategy was effective and they both emerged as winners and champions.
Islam Makhachev is now a two-division champion and not many have pulled this off in the history of the UFC. I think I can say with near certainty that of this exclusive list, Makhachev is definitely the most boring fighter to watch and despite the fact that he is clearly quite good at what he does, he doesn't inspire a great deal of enthusiasm for his fights in the past, present, or the future.
When you look at it from a bystander who is just watching point of view, this is just the most boring way that these fights could possibly happen but from a fighter's perspective it is very effective. The UFC has accidentally figure out that this is the path to victory and now we have about half, perhaps more, of the championships being in the hands of people that fight like this and only like this. Once the guys get heavier, they seem to spend less time on the ground like this and I don't have enough experience in both being big or fighting big to know why that is... endurance I guess.
From what I was told and read the fights leading up to the main event were explosive and fun to watch with almost all of them ending in a finish from the feet - which is always more exciting.
I truly feel that the people who are attempting to work their way up the championship ladder put much more effort into having and impressive and explosive win so they will get noticed and therefore get put into the championship picture. Once they get to the championship picture though, they almost exclusively resort to this sort of tactic for victory. I've said it many times before: When one has the belt they are not fighting for an explosive victory, they are fighting to "not lose." It appears at though the safest way to not lose is to be defensive on your feet and look for an opportunity for a takedown and then once you get there focus on maintaining top position while doing actual damage is a secondary concern.
This is a problem with the scoring system that doesn't really have a solution. The scoring awards points for ground control so heavily that when people get in top position on the ground, their primary objective is to maintain it, not necessarily to do a great deal of damage from that position. Manage to use this boring but effective tactic for 3 rounds (or 2 in a non championship fight) and you are basically guaranteed victory provided you do not get knocked out in the other round(s).
I was so bored with the final hour of the UFC event that I made a decision then and there with my friends who were also bored, that we are no longer going to attend these events. I think it is better for me to have the fights muted in the background of my house while I watch something else, and glance over at it every now and then.
This weekend's event was a complete waste of my time and money as the final hour of the fights was some of the most boring MMA that didn't have Rose Namajunas in it, in several years.
If there are people out there that find this sort of thing exciting then congratulations, I'm happy for you. But for a vast majority of fight fans, this is not exciting to watch and I don't plan to do so anymore. I think I'll go and peek at Bellator and see if that is any better. I don't think it will be because this method does seem to be wildly successful and I suppose I can understand why the fighters do it. It is just a bit strange to me that they don't seem to do it on their way to the top, just once they get there. I think UFC is aware that people are sick of this because they took away the "ground control time" stat from their fight result statistics.
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From the Shevchenko (left) and Zhang (right) fight
He would you look at that! 5 successful takedowns for Shevchenko! How many rounds are there again?
I gotta hand it to UFC during 322 though, they seem to have noticed the outcry from the fans about how they are being subjected to far too much advertising during an event that you have to pay to watch anyway, and did away with a great deal of the commercial breaks. Instead, they showed highlight reels and history of the fighters in the upcoming events. This made the entire ordeal more bearable I guess.
What did you think? I'd especially like to hear from you if the wrestling and grappling aspect that dominates the sport these days is something you find exciting. Enlighten me, please.