UFC 190 Results: What We Learned from Jessica Aguilar vs. Claudia Gadelha

UFC 190 kicked off with an important contender bout in the other women’s division, as Jessica Aguilar and Claudia Gadelha met to determine who would likely be next for a strawweight title shot. While the world was waiting to see Ronda Rousey ply her trade in the main event, Aguilar and Gadelha took advantage of the spotlight with a spirited affair of their own.

Over 15 minutes, Gadelha repeatedly scored with punching combinations and knees, punctuated by occasional takedowns, on her way to a unanimous decision win. Aguilar came on late, perhaps overcoming some Octagon jitters to steal the third round, but it was too little, too late.

Here’s what we learned.

 

What We’ll Remember

This fight showed how Gadelha had tightened up her game in an effort to get back to a rematch with Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

The first time they met, Jedrzejczyk narrowly came out on top in the decision. Over the course of Gadelha's bout with Aguilar, it became evident that she had worked hard to close the holes in her game that cost her the first meeting.

For the Brazilian, this might be remembered as the one before the one where she earned a title.

 

What We Learned About Aguilar

Aguilar is tough, durable and focused, and her lifetime of experience outside the UFC will serve her well now that she’s arrived in the big show. Once she loosened up later in the fight, she began tagging Gadelha with some consistency and showed that she can hang with the best in the division.

Considering that the division is still fairly new, there’s no reason to think that a loss against the top contender will set her back too much. It’s likely that she’ll hang around the top five in spite of her UFC 190 outcome, and from there she can get to work pushing her way into title contention.

People have debuted with worse in the UFC.

 

What We Learned About Gadelha

Gadelha’s ready, both mentally and physically, for her second try at Jedrzejczyk—this time for a world title. Their first meeting was a stepping stone for Joanna Champion to earn that namesake, and this time around Gadelha would enter as challenger.

Her relative domination of Aguilar, her poise in tough spots throughout the fight and her capacity to limit those tough spots through skill and force are all good signs for her going forward. That she took to English, a second language, in front of a partisan Brazilian crowd to specifically get Dana White’s attention and call for a title shot also shows some major growth in the mental side of the game.

UFC 190 was a major indicator that she’s ready for the biggest challenge in the game with the biggest prize out there on the line.

 

What’s Next for Aguilar

Carla Esparza is presently not booked and would be a perfect test for Aguilar. She’s also coming off a loss and was the first strawweight champion in the history of the promotion. It would make for an interesting bout, given the championship pedigree of Aguilar and the fact she did little to devalue her stock in the Gadelha loss.

If not Esparza, former Invicta atomweight champion Jessica Penne, also coming off a loss, could fit a similar bill.

 

What’s Next for Gadelha

As noted, it has to be Jedrzejczyk. The first fight was a razor thin decision, and Gadelha is undeniably the second-best strawweight on Earth. No one else makes sense competitively, a fact only punctuated by Gadelha’s callout after her UFC 190 win.

 

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UFC 190 Results: What We Learned from Neil Magny vs. Demian Maia

One of the best fights on the UFC 190 card was Demian Maia vs. Neil Magny. While the event is largely comprised of fights between middling and/or aging veterans, Maia is still a relevant top-10 welterweight, and Magny was on a strong seven-fight win streak.

Unfortunately, the fight didn't pan out to be all that impressive. 

Maia took Magny down with a scary ease and advanced to mount. Anyone who has seen Maia fight before knows that isn't good. While Magny would survive the first round, the second was similar with the exception of a fight-ending rear-naked choke. 

So what did we learn from this fight?

 

Magny is Totally Not Legit

A seven-fight win streak in the UFC's thick welterweight division is nothing to shrug off. A fighter has to be pretty good to pull that off. However, as soon as Maia scored an effortless takedown, that was the end of Magny's days as a potential player at 170 pounds.

Yes, Maia is one of the rare Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialists who actually has a legitimate wrestling game, but he's not exactly Johny Hendricks. When he got ahold of Magny's leg and just rolled right through him and got to work, it was a sign that Magny either lacked the wrestling skills to hang with real top-10 talents or came in woefully underprepared for one of the most predictable fighters in high-level MMA.

Either way, the top-10 ship has officially sailed, and Magny was not on it.

 

Maia Still Has 'It'

It's always easy to jump off a bandwagon. More often than not, it's the right thing to do. MMA as a sport, and the pool of athletic talent, improve with time. Fighters? They rarely get better with age. 

When Maia lost consecutive fights to Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald, plenty of fans and pundits hit the eject button. Anyone who hit it was a tad too quick to jump ship.

Maia still has "it." He might not be able to beat anybody ranked too high above him. He might not come close to getting another title shot. But he's still one of the toughest outs at 170 pounds.

 

Magny Still Can't Use His Physical Tools

Magny towers over the competition. He also has a huge reach advantage over everyone in his division. 

Sometimes, a huge height and reach advantage helps a fighter turn into Jon Jones. Sometimes a huge height and reach advantage results in a Stefan Struve. Guess which category Magny falls into?

It's a bit disappointing, of course. With a bit more swagger and a few more techniques, Magny could be almost unstoppable. The window for him to start making those strides, however, is rapidly closing.

 

Neither Man Should Be Fighting Top-10 Competition Right Now

Please give us Demian Maia vs. Gunnar Nelson. Please.

— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) August 2, 2015

As stated, Magny's days as a top-10 welterweight are done. It's sad that the door has to slam so hard, but the welterweight division is just too competitive right now for this kind of loss to go unnoticed.

While Maia could reasonably be slotted against fighters such as Tyron Woodley or Matt Brown, that isn't what is best for him—or the division—right now. Right now? Maia should be fighting one of the many, many solid fighters looking to get a signature win.

Gunnar Nelson, as MMAFighting.com tweeted, makes a lot of sense. So, too, does fellow veteran Rick Story. How about Jorge Masvidal? Benson Henderson? A rematch with Dong-Hyun Kim?

There are a lot of options.

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UFC 190 Rousey vs. Correia: Live Results, Play-by-Play, Fight-Card Highlights

UFC 190 is scheduled for Saturday, August 1. The action will take place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Headlining the card is a bantamweight title contest between undefeated champion Ronda Rousey and undefeated challenger Bethe Correia. Correia earned the title shot by winning each of her three UFC bouts to date. For Rousey, this bout is an opportunity to defend her UFC title for a fifth time.

In the co-main event of the evening, Brazilian fighting icons Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will square off. Both men are coming off quick knockout losses and are looking to get back into the win column.

The full UFC 190 fight card is as follows:

 

UFC 190 Main Card (10 p.m. ET)

• Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia
• Mauricio Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Glaico Franca vs. Fernando Bruno
• Reginaldo Vieira vs. Dileno Lopes
• Stefan Struve vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
• Antonio Silva vs. Soa Palelei
• Claudia Gadelha vs. Jessica Aguilar

 

Prelims on Fox Sports 1 (8 p.m. ET)

• Demian Maia vs. Neil Magny
• Rafael Cavalcante vs. Patrick Cummins 
• Warlley Alves vs. Nordine Taleb
• Iuri Alcantara vs. Leandro Issa

 

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass (7 p.m. ET)

• Vitor Miranda vs. Clint Hester
• Hugo Viana vs. Guido Cannetti

Join us here once the action begins for Bleacher Report's live play-by-play coverage of the full fight card.

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UFC 190: Fight Card, PPV Start Time and Final Rousey vs. Correia Predictions

Over the past few years, Rio de Janeiro has become a favored destination for UFC, and on Saturday, the company will once again occupy the HSBC Arena.

UFC 190 will begin with the UFC Fight Pass preliminaries at 7 p.m. ET and work its way up to the main card, which is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET.

From top to bottom, the pay-per-view card doesn't offer a whole lot, but sometimes the more underwhelming shows on paper turn out to be pleasant surprises once they get underway.

Here's a look at the full card for the PPV, followed by brief previews for three of the bigger fights at UFC 190.

 

UFC 190 Card

 

Forecasting Saturday's Biggest Fights

Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia

Ronda Rousey is basically John Cena at this point. "Cena wins LOL" has become a meme for WWE fans since it's a near guarantee Cena will overcome the odds and win his biggest matches, especially when he's paired with a wrestler who has a smaller profile.

Calling Rousey the favorite ahead of her UFC 190 bout would be a massive understatement. She is superior to Bethe Correia in in every single facet of MMA.

Like Cena is essentially forced to do in order to build drama, Rousey basically moved the goalposts during an interview on America's Pregame. via Fox Sports' Damon Martin, when discussing her definition of an underdog and how she fits under the designation:

In these individual fights I might be a heavy favorite; in the end goal I'm not a favorite at all. I'm a huge underdog. The end goal is I want to retire undefeated and be remembered as one of the most dominant athletes of all time. There's these athletes that have come up and been really dominant for a period and seemed indestructible for a period, but that time came to an end and eventually they had to retire.

You can kind of see where Rousey is coming from with regard to the entirety of her mixed martial arts career and overall legacy. But there isn't a bigger individual "overdog" in sports today.

The gulf in class between Rousey and Correia looks to be gargantuan, and it would be a surprise if their fight went beyond the second round.

Prediction: Rousey wins, first-round submission

 

Mauricio Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Mauricio Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira put on a classic when they fought in PRIDE. Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden joked that fight might serve as a great replacement for their upcoming bout on UFC 190:

Quite a bit has changed in the 10 years since they last met in a competitive match. "Shogun" is 33 years old and the loser in four of his last fights. Nogueira, meanwhile, is 39, having fought twice between UFC 140 in December 2011 and now.

In a way, you can envision this being the best fight on the card. Neither guy has anything to lose, and they're both relatively at the same level talent-wise. Sometimes, it can be a lot of fun watching two older stars throw caution to the wind and simply go after each other.

You can make a strong case for either Rua or Nogueira to win. "Shogun" might have a little more left in the tank, and he also has much more to fight for Saturday following his string of defeats.

The two will fight to a near-stalemate, with Rua just edging out his opponents on the scorecards.

Prediction: Rua wins, decision

 

Antonio Silva vs. Soa Palelei

Desperate men can do desperate things.

Antonio Silva hasn't won a fight since knocking out Alistair Overeem at UFC 156 in February 2013. He has lost three fights—none of which went past the first round—and drawn with Mark Hunt, which was immediately followed by Silva's failed drug test.

The 35-year-old needs a win against Soa Palelei in the worst way, and that might force him to be much more aggressive in the Octagon than he was on his last few fights.

Even then, Silva still might not have enough to finish off Palelei, who's 4-1 since coming back to UFC in August 2013.

The biggest factor in the bout will be whether Palelei can get Silva down on the mat. If he does, then he'll go to town on the Brazilian with a flurry of punches. Few fighters are stronger than Palelei, so Silva won't stand much of a chance if he gets clocked by one or two big blows.

Simply put, you can't look past Palelei here. Since returning from suspension, Silva has been helpless in the Octagon. Maybe he gets lucky Saturday night, but he looks way past it.

Prediction: Palelei wins, second-round knockout

 

Note: UFC 190 odds are courtesy of Odds Shark and up to date as of 11:50 p.m. ET Friday.

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UFC 190 Fight Card: PPV Schedule, Odds and Predictions for Rousey vs. Correia

UFC's red-hot summer continues Saturday night with Ronda Rousey defending the women's bantamweight championship against undefeated challenger Bethe Correia at UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro. 

All eyes will be on Rousey, who has become one of the world's biggest sports stars and has needed a grand total of 96 seconds to win each of her last three fights. She has been taken past the first round only one time in 11 career fights, finishing all of her opponents with nine submissions and two knockouts.

Correia doesn't boast that kind of resume, but she has won all nine fights in her career—three in the UFC—and earned this title shot after defeating Shayna Baszler—part of MMA's four horsewomen, which include Rousey—by technical knockout at UFC 177.

No one will be expecting Correia to win, though she always has a shot because punchers have the ability to score a knockout in a hurry. There's no secret to what Rousey will try to do, but no one has been able to stop it thus far. 

 

What They Are Saying

Rousey has reached rarefied air in mixed martial arts, similar to where Anderson Silva was from 2006 to 2012. She's become a fascinating novelty act with the talent to back it up, which is a difficult pairing that few athletes can claim. 

The UFC has lost a lot of its top stars for one reason or another in the last two years. Silva is suspended for failing two drug tests. Georges St-Pierre hasn't fought since November 2013 and has given no indication that he will ever return. Jon Jones is indefinitely suspended while he works through various problems outside the Octagon.

Developing new marquee superstars is now more important to the UFC than ever. Rousey and Conor McGregor look like the new torchbearers for the sport, which is why a loss for Rousey in this spot would hurt the company.

Yet Rousey is so versatile that losing wouldn't ruin her career or drawing power, Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports noted:

She’s a dominant athlete. She’s a terrific interview. She’s witty and wise-cracking, trash-talking and insightful. She’s attractive. And much like Oscar De La Hoya did when he rose to pay-per-view stardom in the mid-to-late 1990s, she brings a different audience from the standard fight crowd.

Rousey has a great following among women, and they buy her fights in larger numbers than they do for others.

As logical and true as that is, there's a mystique following Rousey around right now because of how she is winning and that magical zero in the loss column. That does mean something in a combat sport, as Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather can attest. 

Rousey's willingness to provide a quote, such as the one she provided to Damon Martin of Fox Sports about needing the rest of the division to come up to her level, does make her a dream athlete:

I need these other girls. It's not like I could do this by myself. I need a dancing partner. The analogy I use a lot is these girls are like plants -- sometimes you can grow a crop and harvest it year after year like Miesha and sometimes you harvest it once and it will never grow back, like I don't think Bethe will ever come back after this.

With Rousey looking for challengers, it's telling that this far into the preview, not a lot has been said about her opponent.

Correia isn't the opponent anyone would have handpicked for a title shot, but as Jeff Wagenheim of Sports Illustrated noted, she figured out how to play the game after defeating Baszler:

The show apparently earned a thumbs-up from UFC reviewers/matchmakers because the Brazilian was given a shot on her weight division’s most brightly lit stage without a single top-10 victory. A rationale for this: Rousey already has beaten six of the nine women behind her in the SI.com bantamweight rankings, two others just lost fights, and the one remaining is Correia.

No one is giving Correia a chance to win this fight. She's a 12-1 underdog, per Odds Shark, and doesn't have a victory over an opponent currently ranked among the top 15 women's bantamweight fighters listed by UFC.com.

The combination of Correia's anonymity and her opponent's quick-finish ability will make this a victory for the challenger if she can force this fight into the final minute of the first round. 

Correia does have stats to suggest she can give Rousey a challenge, based on how the champion prefers to fight.

Again, even trying to make a case for Correia, she has never gone against a fighter in the same realm as Rousey. Her three UFC opponents have a combined career record of 34-26, including 1-7 in the UFC. 

It's impossible to draw a parallel between Correia's ascent and Rousey's before she became a superstar because Correia isn't destroying opponents. Rousey dominated four Strikeforce opponents in the first round before defeating Miesha Tate to win the bantamweight title in March 2012. 

 

Main Event Prediction

There are a lot of arguments for the biggest upset in UFC history as of this moment. Matt Serra knocking out St-Pierre in 2007 is up there. Renan Barao's loss to T.J. Dillashaw in May 2014 is the most recent fight that can make a case for falling into that category. 

Yet any argument would stop and start with Correia defeating Rousey if it were to happen at UFC 190. The champion is operating at a different level than anyone else in the women's division right now. If it takes you longer to walk to the cage than it does to win your last three fights, things are going well. 

Correia's best chance to win this fight is catching Rousey with a hard punch that fazes her early, and she's able to keep bringing the heat with her fists and avoid going to the ground. No one has been able to do it thus far, so don't expect anything different now. 

The good news is that the fight will take longer than 15 seconds, though not by much. 

Prediction: Rousey wins via first-round submission.

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