Jay Primetown gives his thoughts on each of the fighters who competed at UFC Fight Night 78 in Monterrey, Mexico. Jay gives his letter grades for each fighter on TheMMA-Analysis podcast which can be found on MMAOddsbreaker.com. Valmir Lazaro vs. Michel Prazeres Lazaro: I like his boxing fundamentals. He has a consistent jab. Needs to work on conditioning as he grew tired throughout the fight. Lack of power in his hands is really telling. It lets opponents back in the fight. Grade remains C- Prazeres: His top heavy body presents some issues for him when he faces some of the bigger fighters in the division. His inability to get inside and land strikes is a real issue. He squeaked out a close decision in this bout, but it certainly was far from his best performance inside the Octagon. Grade remains C- Cesar Arzamendia vs. Polo Reyes Arzamendia: Good size for the weight class. His timing is excellent securing takedowns, but his inability to hold his opponent on the ground proved problematic. His chin is a real concern as it doesn’t appear he takes punches well. He was doing well against Reyes until he took a counter right on the button. Debut grade is D- Reyes: Aggressive striker with some power in his hands. His defensive wrestling needs a lot of work and would be easily controlled by even an average wrestler. Training at Alliance MMA will certainly help, but there’s a lot of holes to fill. Debut grade is D- Alvaro Herrera vs. Vernon Ramos Herrera: Very quick fight without much of a chance to see his extended skill set. What we did see was a quick counter and an ability to finish a fight. Debut grade is D- Ramos: Disappointing debut. Left himself wide open to be clipped on the feet. It’s unlikely he appears again in the UFC. Debut grade is F Gabriel Benitez vs. Andre Fili Benitez: His offensive striking looked solid. Sharp leg kicks to the lower part of the body and a tight jab. His problem in this bout was he didn’t see the head kick coming on two occasions. It wobbled him twice and forced the referee to step in. Grade remains C- Fili: Strong performance from the Team Alpha Male-trained fighter. He found openings in Benitez’s striking defense and was able to finish him in the first round. He needs to show he can handle grapplers before his grade improves. Grade remains C Scott Jorgensen vs. Alejandro Perez Jorgensen: He’s had a long career spanning back to challenging for a championship in his time in the WEC. Jorgensen is still an above average wrestler, but his time being able to compete in the UFC is over. His body just isn’t able to hold up anymore. Downgraded from D+ to D Perez: He got the victory, but is inability to finish a hurt opponent is troublesome. He will need to offer more in his next couple fights to stick around in the organization. Grade remains D Bartosz Fabinski vs. Hector Urbina Fabinski: Reliant on the takedown. Reminds me quite a bit of Cathal Pendred, but with a better jab. Boring, yet effective. Grade remains D+ Urbina: Terrible takedown defense. When he’s on the feet, he has decent offensive input. Otherwise, offers little else. Downgraded from D to D- Taylor Lapilus vs. Erik Perez Lapilus: He had the advantage on the feet, but was exposed in the grappling where his inability to return the fight to the feet once taken down was the difference between a win and a loss. That said, this was a close fight and the French born fighter showed he belongs. Upgraded from D+ to C- Perez: His striking skill-set is starting to being exposed by the better fighters in the division. What won him his fight against Lapilus was his superior ground game. He’s very active in top control striking with volume. Good win against a rising fighter. Grade remains D+ Efrain Escudero vs. Leandro Silva Escudero: Simply didn’t have the athleticism and speed to compete with Silva. Struggled in this fight to get anything going. Downgraded from C- to D+ Silva: The speed advantage was evident in this bout. Improved conditioning was also a positive change I noticed. He usually tends to struggle late in fights. Upgraded from D+ to C- Enrique Barzola vs. Horacio Gutierrez Barzola: Strong performance. Worked in takedowns and good ground and pound. Constantly working in top control. Has a limited ceiling, but may be a fighter who has a decent career due to his worth ethic. Upgraded from D- to D+ Gutierrez: In the opening couple minutes, he showed off flashes of a nice striking attack. Inability to defend takedowns or do anything off his back turned this fight into a blowout. Without any semblance of a ground game, he will struggle in the UFC. Grade remains D Enrique Marin vs. Erick Montano Marin: Has a decent boxing game, but simply not enough output in this fight. Needs to increase volume to stick around in the UFC. Grade remains D Montano: In a very competitive fight, his continued pressure and willingness to engage were the difference. Need to see more of him to know if he will be able to stick around in the UFC. Upgraded from D- to D Henry Cejudo vs. Jussier Formiga Cejudo: He doesn’t necessarily dominate opponents, but knows what he has to do to win rounds. Opponents struggle to amount any sort of offense against him. He’s certainly one of the top fighters in the division and deserving a title shot against Demetrious Johnson. Upgraded from A- to A Formiga: A well-rounded fighter that is a top 10 flyweight in the world. He simply lacks the top level athleticism to compete with the elite in this division. Grade remains B+ Ricardo Lamas vs. Diego Sanchez Lamas: Picked Diego Sanchez apart as the fight worn on. He was baited into a war, but fought smart and for the most part kept the fight at distance. Grade remains A- Sanchez: It doesn’t matter what weightclass it is, but his brawling style of fighting doesn’t translate to wins anymore. It’s a different era now where well-rounded fighters are able to counter Sanchez’s pressure game. Grade remains C+ Kelvin Gastelum vs. Neil Magny Gastelum: Got himself into an early hole which proved too deep to get out of. He’s a young fighter with a lot of upside, but this a bout he should of won. Downgraded from B+ to B Magny: Perhaps his best performance inside the octagon. He really got off to a nice start in this fight neutralizing Gastelum. He had a rough fourth round nearly being finished, but recovered in order to get a close decision on the scorecards. I still think there’s a couple holes in his game that submission heavy fighters are able to exploit, but he’s improved tremendously over the last couple years. Upgraded from C+ to B-
