Jay Primetown gives his thoughts on each of the fighters who competed at UFC Fight Night 85 in Brisbane, Australia. Jay gives his letter grades for each fighter on TheMMA-Analysis podcast which can be found on MMAOddsbreaker.com. Damien Brown vs. Alan Patrick Brown: Outside of a tricky submission skill-set, he didn’t show much in this fight. He was taken down repeatedly and showed very little on the feet. It was on short notice, but still not a good performance. Grade remains D- Patrick: Better cardio than expected and did a really nice job focusing his effort to control Brown on the ground. He never let his opponent get into the fight. Grade remains C- Chad Laprise vs. Ross Pearson Laprise: One of the closer fights I’ve seen in a while. Laprise did very well with his jab and got the best of the boxing in this match-up. He didn’t defend leg kicks well enough and it ended up costing him a decision. He showed he’s on the same level as a veteran like Pearson and that’s a positive he can take from this fight. Grade remains C Pearson: Did an excellent job landing leg kicks, but was outlanded in the boxing. It was a close fight, but the judges gave Pearson the nod. He’s proven to be a solid gatekeeper in the lightweight division. Grade remains C Viscardi Andrade vs. Richard Walsh Andrade: This was never going to be an easy fight for him with the long flight to Australia and fighting outside his native Brazil, but he worked in takedowns effectively to win two rounds on the scorecards. Grade remains D+ Walsh: He did well on the feet, but was terrible in the grappling situations being taken down repeatedly during the three round fight. Furthermore, he was threatened with submissions. Walsh had every opportunity to win this fight, but gave it away by not being able to get off his back. Downgraded from D+ to D Rin Nakai vs. Leslie Smith Nakai: Showed a surprisingly decent offensive wrestling game, but is at such a disadvantage on the feet as the shortest fighter in the division. Striking is really poor and it cost her in this fight. Grade remains D+ Smith: She won the fight, but was taken down too easily. This fight was much more competitive than it should have been. Downgraded from C+ to C Mark Eddiva vs. Daniel Hooker Eddiva: Pushed his opponent against the cage, but allowed his neck to be exposed which was a bad mistake. He continues to be underrated as a fighter, but this was not a good performance. Grade remains D+ Hooker: Striking may not have been sharp early, but used his length to set up a choke attempt and did well to finish the fight. Solid win for Hooker. Deserves to face a step up in competition. Upgraded from C- to C Alan Jouban vs. Brendan O’Reilly Jouban: He did what he was supposed to do against Brendan O’Reilly. This was poor matchmaking and resulted in a dominant performance for the American. It gets him back in the column, but it doesn’t alter my opinion of his skill-set. Grade remains C O’Reilly: He’s not big enough or skilled enough to compete in the welterweight division. Not a strong enough grappler and just doesn’t have the athleticism to be successful on the feet. Grade remains D- Seohee Ham vs. Bec Rawlings Ham: Her speed and skill on the feet is pretty decent, but she lacks punching power. Not to mention she’s small for the weight class and can be pushed against the cage. She’s fun to watch and is a decent gatekeeper and always puts on entertaining fights. Grade remains D+ Rawlings: Her boxing is pretty solid and she has a tricky submission game. I feel she should be higher in the division, but results haven’t been there so far. This was a decent start. Needs to work on conditioning to make a bigger impact. Grade remains C- Steve Bosse vs. James Te Huna Bosse: Landed one big punch and was able to put his opponent away. He doesn’t offer much skills otherwise, but he has a big right hand that can finish with one good shot. Upgraded from D to D+ Te Huna: His chin is shot and he hasn’t won a fight in the UFC since February 2013. I think this is the last fight for him in the promotion. Downgraded from C to D Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Daniel Kelly Junior: Shocking result. He did so well in the first round, but was unable to score takedowns after that. He twisted his ankle in round two and was not defending strikes well afterwards. This is a bad setback for the Brazilian. He still has plenty of time to learn, but you have to wonder how he develops from here. Downgraded from C+ to C- Kelly: The best win of Kelly’s career. After being dominated in the first round, he showed resilience stopping takedowns and starting to score with strikes. His gas tank really held up in this fight and he turned it on in round three to earn himself one of the biggest upsets of the year. Upgraded from D- to C- Johnny Case vs. Jake Matthews Case: He had some success with the grappling, but he didn’t show enough urgency in this bout when he went behind. His chin may be granite, but body shots took their toll as he was rag dolled in the final round. Downgraded from C to C- Matthews: Fantastic performance and the best of his career. His striking improved significantly over the past 12 months. He did well to mix in body kicks to hurt his opponent in the second round and poured it on in round three to get a well-earned stoppage win. Upgraded from C to C+ Hector Lombard vs. Neil Magny Lombard: He had multiple chances to finish in the first round and was unable to do so. Once Magny recovered, Lombard was in big trouble as conditioning let him down and Magny took over the fight. Downgraded from B+ to B Magny: He survived an early challenge again. After that, he absolutely dominated a top 10 opponent. Magny’s earned his chance to fight a top five fighter in the division. Upgraded from B to B+ Mark Hunt vs. Frank Mir Hunt: He led this fight from start to finish. Hunt was patient, stopped all the takedowns, and landed a clean strike in the first round to put his legendary opponent away. Grade remains B+ Mir: He looked slow at the very onset of the fight. There was no way he could compete in the striking, but his inability to find takedown opportunities meant this fight wasn’t going to last long. Downgraded from B to B-
Updated UFC Fight Night 85 Fighter Grades
