UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 Results
- Achilles Rocha defeats Andy Verela by points in OT
- Hannah Goldy defeats Amanda Mazza by Submission due to an Armbar
- Aaron Wilson defeats Cristian Guzman by Submission due to an Armbar
- Vagner Rocha defeats Victor Silverio by Submission in OT
- Elisabeth Clay defeats Luiza Monteiro by Submission due to a Heel Hook
- Jonnatas Gracie defeats Nicky Ryan by Points in OT
- Victor Hugo defeats Dan Manasoiu by Submission due to an Americana
- Mason Fowler defeats Haisam Rida by Submission due to Kimura
- Co-Main Event: Nicky Rodriguez defeats Yuri Simoes by Points in OT
- Main Event: Nicholas Meregali defeats Felipe Pena by Submission due to a one-handed Rear Naked Choke
I got a steal of a deal for signing up for UFC Fight Pass a few weeks ago and specifically signed up to watch this event. Originally scheduled on the card was both Gordon Ryan and Georges St. Pierre, but both pulled out of competing due to injury. Even with those two having to pull out of the event, the event still had a stacked card, and it was a good night of matches.
I did like that the event was on a Sunday, as a Jiu Jitsu hobbyist, with a full-time job, and a family, Sunday evenings is usually one of the quieter days of the week and allows for extended time in the schedule to watch an entire Jiu Jitsu event. For this event I made some fries and chicken wings with my 12-year-old son, and both enjoyed the event. Here are some of the thoughts that I had about the event.
Fighters and the Fights
The fights were very technical and for the most part did not disappoint. The card was absolutely stacked, and it was amazing seeing the big names in action against each other. I enjoyed all the fights and there were many highlights throughout the event including:
- Achilles Rocha winning at age 17 to a very game Andy Verela
- Elisabeth Clay and Luiza Monteiro in a leg shoot out
- Victor Hugo with a crazy sweep and Americana finish
- Yuri Simoes complaining about Nicky Rod greasing
- Felipe Pena jumping out of the ring
UFC Production and commentary
The production was top notch coming from the UFC. The camera work was great, and you could see the matches well from all positions. There were cut scenes showing the buildup between the fights and very little wasted time between matches. Everything seemed to run smoothly.
There were a couple of things that could be areas of improvement. The first thing for improvement is the ring size. The ring felt too small from my perspective. The ref constantly had to restart and assist the fighters from falling out of the ring throughout the night. There were a couple of falls out of the ring I think including one where it appeared that Felipe Pena pulled himself outside of the ring. It was an elevated ring and could be very dangerous for fighters. I also noticed that in this event all the fighters wore a long sleave UFC branded rash guard. I felt that this made it a bit sterile of an environment and all the fighters essentially looked the same. I think this helps with greasing concerns, but I wasn’t too much of a fan of the uniformed look. Nicky Rod still got a complaint from Yuri Simones about greasy legs haha.
The commentary was great. Commenters included TJ Desantis, BMac Brandon McCaghren, and the commenting debut of Gordon Ryan and Georges St. Pierre. The commenters were great. BMac and Gordon Ryan really know their stuff and explained positions and advantages well throughout the event. Gordon Ryan is a master of his craft. I have a few of his instructionals and just as he explains moves while teaching, he saw the positions and expertly explained what the fighter was or needed to do to get the advantage of their opponent. At one point during Vagner Rocha’s fight Gordon mentioned he trained with Vagner recently and was showing him, some passing that he looked like he was applying during the fight, and after that Vagner pointed at Gordon and said he is trying his passing methods. Georges was great, maybe not as technical as BMac and Gordon, but a true martial artist and brought great commentary. It was nice to have both Gordon and Georges part of the event, even though they couldn’t compete.
Refereeing and Rules
I enjoyed the ruleset for this event. It appeared that the UFC was really trying to promote aggression and action. They did this by the ref taking a very active stance in warning fighters for passivity and taking points away fighters that were stalling or not putting effort into advancing. It was odd, because there were no points in the first round, but you could get points taken away for passivity, meaning you could go into the OT with negative points. The only way to win in the first round was via submission. At first it felt like the ref was being heavy handed in warnings and point deductions, but as the event progressed it started to feel different, and I think made the fighters move to more action making the pace faster. Some of the deductions seemed arbitrary, but most were in line. I would like to see some refinement here, but I like overall where they were trying to go with the ruleset.
Overall, this was a great event with high quality delivery, commentating, fights, and a rule set that I think was pretty good and can only get better. It was a great Sunday evening spent with my son watching some high-level grappling.