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5 biggest takeaways from UFC Fight Night 194: Marina Rodriguez does Carla Esparza a solid

What mattered most at UFC Fight Night 194 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …

1. Marina Rodriguez adds clarity to the title picture

It’s Carla Esparza’s 34th birthday Sunday, and Marina Rodriguez gave her the ultimate gift by putting together a largely one-sided unanimous decision performance against Mackenzie Dern in the main event.

Coming into the fight, there was a lot of discussion about how Dern could jump Esparza (18-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in the strawweight title queue if she did something spectacular. The former champion Esparza, in my opinion, already got screwed out of a title shot once when the UFC decided to book Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili 2, rather than an Esparza vs. Namajunas rematch.

It was realistic to fear that could happen again given Dern’s budding star potential, but I think Rodriguez’s (16-1-2 MMA, 5-1-2 UFC) win settled the situation where it belongs. Esparza is the only person to beat Rodriguez in MMA, and though it was a razor-thin decision, even Rodriguez admits she doesn’t deserve to skid ahead of “The Cookie Monster.”

So, case closed, right? Let’s hope. But I still have a bad feeling…

If Weili exacts revenge on Namajunas at regains the title at UFC 268 on Nov. 6, it’s possible UFC could book the trilogy right away, thus resetting the title picture once again. Hopefully sanity prevails, though, and Esparza gets her rightful shot at the winner.

So where does that leave Rodriguez in all this? It’s pretty clear she needs to fight Joanna Jedrzejczyk next. That style matchup is too good to resist, and it could be a definitive No. 1 contender bout. These are the right moves to keep the division rolling in a harmonious way, and there’s no need to overthink it beyond that.

2. Mackenzie Dern's style hits a wall

Mackenzie Dern learned a hard lesson about being a specialist in MMA courtesy of Rodriguez.

The fight put a microscope on the two-sided nature of Dern’s (11-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) style. When the decorated jiu-jitsu champion got it to the ground, she always felt a step away from locking in a submission that would end it. When it was standing, though, she was at a deep disadvantage.

None of these observations are surprises given the pre-fight scouting report. This was as close to a striker vs. grappler matchup as you’ll get in the modern era, but to see it actually play out in front of your eyes brings a different perspective.

It’s obvious at this point that Dern needs radical improvement to her striking and offensive grappling if she wants to be champion. She can’t implement her jiu-jitsu if she can’t get the fight to the ground (duh) – and it’s as simple as that. Talented striker occupy much of the top of the strawweight rankings, and in addition to Rodriguez, the likes of Rose Namajunas, Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk could beat her in a similar manner. That’s problematic.

None of this is to say Dern shore up the gap through hard work and dedication. She seems to have her head on straight when it comes to her purpose for fighting, and she has a proven trainer by her side in Jason Parillo to continue guiding things in the right direction.

If I had to guess, this loss to Rodriguez will be a defining fight for Dern, one way or another. Either this fight was her ceiling and there’s no getting past it, or it proves to be a transformative moment that lifts her game to the next level. I’m betting on the latter.

3. Mariya Agapova steals the show

You can’t ask for much more from a fighter coming off a devastating loss than what Mariya Agapova provided in a third-round submission win over Sabina Mazo.

After succumbing to one of the biggest upsets in UFC history in terms of betting odds in her previous outing, there were a lot of questions about Agapova (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC). She said a lot of the right things pre-fight, but it was hard to erase the memory of what happened against Shana Dobson.

Agapova had a ton of hype around her after winning her UFC debut – so much so that she was installed as a -1600 betting favorite against Dobson in August 2020. She crumbled in the moment, though, and was stopped by shocking TKO. She took more than a year off, changed gyms, and promised to be better against Mazo.

She delivered in a big way, becoming the first to stop Mazo in MMA competition. The 24-year-old schooled her opponent on the feet for two rounds, then in the third connected with a shot that dropped Mazo to her knees. Agapova snatched the back within seconds and forced the tap, and just like that her hype is back.

There’s certainly good reason to be cautious about Agapova’s potential going forward. She seems to have all the physical attributes, and it’ll be interesting to see how she holds it together mentally if and when adversity hits again.

4. Alexandr Romanov has potential

Moldovan heavyweight Alexandr Romanov is making himself increasingly difficult to ignore as he continues to add wins on his undefeated record.

Romanov (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) had arguably his best performance in the octagon thus far as he completely overwhelmed Jared Vanderaa with his grappling and ground-and-pound en route to a bloody second-round TKO. It’s now 15 straight wins for him, and he’s finished 14 of those inside the distance.

Now, as we all know, the gap between the lower/mid-tier of the heavyweight division and the elite is immense. Thus far Romanov is taking care of business against, with all due respect, weak competition. It bodes as a good sign for a step up, which has to come next.

The question, however, is how big a step up Romanov should receive. Top 15? Top 10? Considering his dangerous style and lack of name value, there’s not much upside for top names to accept a fight with him right now.

UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard has a history of getting someone in Romanov’s shoes a fight he deserves in this scenario. There’s good reason to think he’ll show why he’s one of the best matchmakers in the biz again and find the best pairing for the 30-year-old.

5. Damon Jackson's blood-soaked victory

Good grief. It was too early in the day for the type of blood we witnessed pour of Damon Jackson’s head in the final round of his unanimous decision win over Charles Rosa.

Jackson (19-4-1 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC) was well on his way to a pretty much flawless victory over Rosa (14-6 MMA, 5-6 UFC) going into the third round of the featherweight matchup. He was dominating the grappling positions and barely taking any damage, but then Rosa came out with a Hail Mary elbow that somehow landed and split Jackson wide open.

It seemed like the type of cut that would be stopped instantly once the doctor got a look at it, but somehow that didn’t happen. Instead Jackson was allowed to fight the distance, gruesomely staining the mat for the remainder of the fight and broadcast.

It’s been a minute since we saw a leaker quite like that in the octagon. By the looks of him it would seem Jackson was the loser, but instead he got a very important win on his resume.

P.S. – Rosa’s streak of alternating wins and losses in UFC fights has now hit 11. That’s a pretty weird stat and one that’s kind hard to explain.

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