Who’s up? Who’s down? Who might we have discussed on this week’s CME podcast if we weren’t taking the week off from recording on account of the Thanksgiving holiday and travel plans related to same? (Psst, that’s your reminder that the CME audio offerings are off this week.) The Potato Index is here to tell you.
Ketlen Viera +78
Always good to get a win over a former UFC champ. Not so great to do it mostly while moving backwards in a fight that it looked like you really could have dominated if you wanted to. She’s big, athletic, and has a cracking right hand. So why does it seem like she’s the one least likely to believe any of that?
Miesha Tate -43
Still has heart for days and doesn’t particularly mind bleeding her own blood, but the comeback tour hit a snag here with the first serious opposition she’s faced since returning. Would we still watch her against peers like Holly Holm? Probably we would. Would that be preferable to just feeding her to the younger crop until she gets sick of it all? Absolutely.
Jon Jones -58
Your man is pleased to announce he’s 60 days sober. Nevermind that his arrest for “what happened in Vegas,” as he put it, was only 58 days ago. You ever know him to be restricted by the truth when it comes to patting himself on the back?
Adrian Yanez +99
A win in the “Fight of the Night.” His fourth straight victory in the UFC. Hasn’t lost in three years, and even that was a split-decision. And still he is, as of this writing, unranked at bantamweight. If he did all this at heavyweight he’d be the top contender by now.
Davey Grant +/-0
The guy’s a goddamn bonus machine, owing in part to the fact that he does not appear to experience the sensation humans call “pain.” Bad part about that is it only encourages matchmakers to give you tough-ass fights just so crowds can delight in your ability to take punishment.
Khamzat Chimaev +45
So the exciting welterweight contender basically ragdolled middleweight Jack Hermansson in a grappling match, which probably isn’t going to make anyone less excited about seeing what he can do against the top guys in his own division.
Sean Brady +78
Starting to think he might be pretty good, you guys. And before you ask, yep, it was the undefeated record that tipped us off first.
Michael Chiesa -11
With another two or three or five rounds to work, who knows, he might’ve pulled this one out.
Cody Durden -66
Good job finding a way to make sure that no one is talking about your win, dude. Instead they’re talking about what a racist asshole you seem to be, so that’s fun. Good thing the UFC has already made it very clear that there is no such thing as too racist in the fight game.
Lupita Godinez +51
She’s 2-1 in the UFC since the start of October, and her loss in that time was in a new weight class just seven days removed from her last fight. Wonder if she sheds a tear whenever the UFC takes a week off and denies her another chance to fight.
Joanne (Calder)Wood -44
Nothing but love for The Whispering Warrior, but is this where we start to ask if her best years are now behind her? She got submitted pretty damn easily by a younger and seemingly hungrier Taila Santos here, and it’s not like there are a ton of easy matchups to be had for her at this point in her career.
Rani Yahya +38
Has this man aged at all since 2007? He still looks (and mostly fights) exactly the same. Not going to win them all with that style, but you fuck around on the mat with him at your own peril, and chances are he’s going to make you put in a full night of work one way or another. Respect to a dude who came up on the blue canvas of the WEC and is still at it today.
Just Some Fights -53
If we’re saving the good stuff for the pay-per-views, fine. And hey, the pay-per-views have been legitimately dope lately. It’s just that the trade-off appears to be this, a more or less weekly Fight Night show that is pretty damn skippable, especially when you get a string of decisions to numb any sense of potential excitement.
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