UFC 225 has come and gone, and it was one of the best cards of the year. Anytime an event like this takes place where so many important fights happened, there are going to be numerous talking points coming out of it. Following the event, UFC president Dana White held his post-fight press conference and a number of tidbits came out of it. Here are some newsworthy items.
UFC 225 News And Notes
– White said he scored the main event 48-47 for Robert Whittaker over Yoel Romero. I had the same scorecard, giving Whittaker rounds 1, 2 and 4 and Romero rounds 3 and 5. Someone asked White if he thought round 3 should have been a 10-8 round but White didn’t think so. Since White thought Whittaker won and the judges agreed, I don’t see a trilogy match anytime soon between these two even though the first two fights have been amazing. For Whittaker, he has a broken hand and could be potentially out for a while healing up, while White says he wants Romero to move up to 205lbs and possibly challenge UFC light heavyweight Daniel Cormier next.
– As for the co-main event, White had Colby Covington winning 48-47 over Rafael dos Anjos, so again, no controversy there and no rematch should be expected. I actually had Covington winning 49-46, only giving RDA the fourth round. It was a solid fight but Covington deserves the chance to unify the belt against Tyron Woodley, while RDA will have to work his way back up the ladder.
– White was impressed by Holly Holm’s win over Megan Anderson and said her next fight could be at either 135lbs or 145lbs, but either way there’s a good chance her next fight will be for a title. Either she moves back down to 135lbs to fight UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes or she stays at 145lbs to fight UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. Either way, the dominant win for Holm pretty much assures her of a huge fight her next time out.
– White said he scored Tai Tuivasa vs. Andrei Arlovski 29-28 in Tuivasa’s favor and was impressed with the young Aussie’s performance, as well as the fight Arlovski gave to him. Again, I don’t think there was any controversy here as I believe Tuivasa won the fight. I don’t think he’s put himself in the heavyweight title picture yet, but with a few more wins he could be.
– CM Punk will most likely not be offered another fight in the UFC and White hinted that he should retire after losing an uninspired fight against Mike Jackson. And White wasn’t impressed with Jackson either, so he could potentially be one of the rare fighters who is released after a win. This was a terrible, amateur-level fight and should have never been on a UFC PPV.
– White didn’t commit to Curtis Blaydes getting the next heavyweight title shot after demolishing Alistair Overeem but said he could potentially be in the mix, along with Alexander Volkov, to fight the winner of UFC 226’s Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier superfight. Personally, I believe Blaydes has jumped in front of Volkov at this point, and Blaydes himself said he wants a title shot next, or at least a rematch against Francis Ngannou, who is the only man to beat him in MMA to this point.
– And finally, White said he talked to Rashad Evans after the card and it’s expected that Evans will hang up his gloves following a brutal KO loss to Anthony Smith which marked his fifth-straight defeat in the Octagon. Evans had an amazing career but he is taking way too much damage in his fights and should strongly considering retiring for good.
