And Junior Tafa, who was knocked out by Iwo Baraniweski in the first round (see it here) and sent immediately to a nearby “Sin City” hospital for further evaluation (those details here). But, which fighter is suffering from the worst
post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Coming into his headlining bout against Gabriel Bonfim, “Remember The Name” was hoping to finally get his hand raised for the first time in a long time after suffering two straight defeats at the hands of Jack Della Maddalena and Ian Machado-Garry. Indeed, another setback was something that Muhammad simply couldn’t afford if he wanted to keep his championship dreams alive.
Unfortunately for the former Welterweight champion, things went from bad to worse after he was completely shutout by the rising Brazilian contender, who had one of the best performances of his career at the right time, ultimately winning a clear-cut unanimous decision.
Now on a three-fight skid, Muhammad’s downfall strange to say the least (more on that here). It’s not fair to say he looked completely washed in Las Vegas, and much credit has to go to Bonfim’s stellar performance. But, something isn’t clicking for the ex-champion at the moment. He didn’t go for a lot of takedowns against Bonfim, opting instead to throw “Canelo Hands” at the Brazilian bruiser. When he did shoot later in the fight, he was unuccessful. In short, Bonfim neutralized him when he decided to attack, all while delivering a beatdown of his own.
“Alhamdulillah for everything,” Muhammad wrote. “Too blessed to be stressed. You don’t find out who you are when everything goes your way. You find out when it doesn’t. Grateful for the journey, grateful for the lessons. I’ll be back. … Thank you to all my supporters, my team, and family. Congrats to my brother on his big win. His hard work paying off on his way to the title.”
As far as where Muhammad goes after his third straight loss is anyone’s guess. He doesn’t have the size to go up to Middleweight, and dropping down to Lightweight might be too much of a cut for him; however, a new home at 155 pounds might be more realistic. If he decides to remain as a Welterweight then getting back to a title fight is going to take a ton of work because the division is infested with sharks chomping at the bit and deserving of title fights.
To make matters worse for the former world champion, he is one of the fighters who doesn’t exactly curry much favor with Dana White & Co; in fact, another loss could even be detrimental to his future with the promotion.
Still, Muhammad is determined to get back on track … somehow.
If he stays at Welterweight, perhaps a showdown against someone like Joaquin Buckley is in order. “New Mansa” is also in a bit of a rut, having lost two straight fights; however, he is still currently holding on to his No. 9 ranking (albeit by a thread).
FOR COMPLETE UFC VEGAS 118 RESULTS, COVERAGE AND HIGHLIGHTS CLICK HERE.
