Now that UFC Fight Night 127 has come and gone, it’s time to look back at the fighters competing on the card and analyze whether their stock went up, down, or stayed the same.
Stock Way Up
Alexander Volkov – There was no bigger riser on the card than Volkov, who viciously knocked out Fabricio Werdum in the fourth round in the main event. Volkov is now 4-0 in the UFC and is on a six-fight win streak overall. At just 29, the Russian is poised to be a title contender for a long time. I bet Bellator regrets cutting him now.
Danny Henry – In one of the best performances of the night during a card full of them, Henry was able to rock highly-touted prospect Hakeem Dawodu and then choke him out in the first minute of the first round. Henry is 1-1 in the UFC now and is poised for a quick turnaround at the UFC Liverpool card in May.
Charles Byrd – One of the most dominant performances of the night belonged to Byrd, who tapped out John Phillips in the first round of his UFC debut. Byrd took Phillips down and controlled the entire first round before getting the finish. It was a great performance and Byrd, who is now on a four-fight win streak, looks like he’ll stick around in the UFC for a while.
Stock Up
Jan Blachowicz – The Pole has now won three-straight fights after taking out Jimi Manuwa via decision. He’s a top-10 light heavyweight and has earned a shot at fighting one of the top-five fighters in the division such as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who he called out.
Leon Edwards – The Brit is now riding a five-fight win streak after his TKO win over Peter Sobotta and called out Darren Till for the main event of UFC Liverpool, and in my opinion Edwards has earned this fight. Considering no one else wants to fight Till, the UFC should book this fight between two of Europe’s top fighters, and the winner would be a legitimate welterweight title contender.
Danny Roberts – This guy is always in exciting fights, win or lose, and it didn’t stop with a KO win over Oliver Enkamp. Though he’s not a title contender, he’s a fun, exciting fighter to watch and should get a fight on the upcoming UFC Liverpool card.
Kajan Johnson – He now has four-wins in a row in the UFC after winning a split decision over Stevie Ray. The holder of one of the most surprising win streaks on the roster is poised for a matchup with a top-15 opponent his next time out.
Dmitry Sosnovskiy – He was losing against Mark Godbeer but came back and won via submission in the second round. Considering he hadn’t fought in three years, this was a big comeback win for him, and could be a great momentum builder for the young Russian heavyweight prospect.
Stock Stays The Same
Tom Duquesnoy and Terrion Ware – In what was a fun fight, Duqeusnoy won a close unanimous decision in a fight that will keep both fighters’ stock around the same level. Duquesnoy is now 2-1 in the UFC and Ware is 0-3 but both guys appear around the same level as mid-tier bantamweight fighters.
Paul Craig – He was down huge on the scorecards but with one second left in the fight tapped out Magomed Ankalaev. It was a great comeback but it’s hard to forget how bad he looked before the finish. At 2-2, he’ll likely be offered another contract by the UFC, but he’s far from a contender.
Stock Down Fabricio Werdum – Wow, I mean wow. Werdum was on the verge of getting another heavyweight title shot but this KO loss to Volkov will set him back for good. At age 40, his best years are behind him. He’s still a top-10 heavyweight but with the younger crop of heavyweight contenders coming up, he’ll likely be relegated to gatekeeper status at this point.
Jimi Manuwa – Another loss for Manuwa, this time against Blachowicz in a rematch. He was rocked early on, showing of his fragile chin once again. At 38, his prime years have past him by. Obviously 205lbs is a weak division and he’s still a top-10 fighter, but he’s no longer a title contender.
Peter Sobotta – While he’s shown promise at times, he’s always lost when he steps up in competition and this TKO loss to Edwards was no different. Sobotta has settled into gatekeeper status at this point, but since the UFC is rumored to be going back to Germany, he’ll likely stick around for another fight.
Oliver Enkamp – Another bad loss for Enkamp, who was knocked out by Roberts in quick fashion. He’s now 0-2 in the UFC and will be lucky if the promotion offers him another fight.
Hakeem Dawodu – The Dawodu hype train is officially over for now after his quick loss to Henry. I still think he’s a really good prospect and this loss reminded me of Aaron Pico’s loss against Zach Freeman in Bellator. Dawodu will be back, but clearly he has some serious holes in his game that he needs to fix first.
Magomed Ankalaev – He was dominanting Craig and was going to win a unanimous decision but decided to tap out with one second left in the third round instead of risking going to sleep. That’s not good. We saw some skills in this fight and he clearly has a good top game, but this submission loss showed something about his lack of heart, and that’s going to be a problem at this level of the sport.
Stock Way Down
John Phillips – A terrible UFC debut from Phillips, who was taken down immediately by Byrd, controlled, and then tapped out. He’ll likely get another fight in the UFC, but after this awful debut it’s hard to see him going anywhere in the UFC with that poor of a ground game.
Stevie Ray – Yikes. Ray was riding a nice little win streak and was looking like a serious contender in the lightweight division for a while there but after back-to-back losses to Paul Felder and now Johnson he’ll be at risk of being released by the UFC — again. It just seems like he’s lost all of his confidence. His stock couldn’t be lower.
Mark Godbeer – Another bad loss for Godbeer, who was winning the fight against Sosnovskiy before making a bad mistake and getting tapped out by a gassed-out opponent. Godbeer is 2-2 now in the UFC, but one of those wins was a DQ. He’ll be lucky if he gets another fight in the UFC.
