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Before the epic interim title fights at UFC236 began, former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight titlist RichFranklin was announced as the promotion’s next hall of fameinductee. Franklin’s work in the cage merits the honor by itself,but one of the reasons he stands apart from other former championsis that he was one of the UFC’s finest ambassadors. At a time whenmost people only saw the sport as brutish barroom brawling, theeducated and erudite Franklin -- a former teacher with a master’sdegree -- was a congenial face and articulate voice behind theviolence.
This was a fitting prelude to the fights at the top of the card. Ata time when ugly feuds and domestic abuse allegations have overshadowed the sport, thefights at UFC 236 on Saturday in Atlanta and the individualcombatants in them were ideal ambassadors of what mixed martialarts is at its best. They showcased the thrill of competitiveviolence but also transcended their immediate entertainment valueto demonstrate different contours of what makes fightingbeautiful.
Unless you’re a jiu-jitsu purist, I’m not sure what more you couldask for in a fight. That goes for both of them, the co-main and themain event. They were technical and action-packed, stylisticallydynamic and narratively compelling. Both were tied going into the finalround on my scorecards and came down to the final five minutes todetermine the winner. It was Game 7, overtime stuff, the type ofmake-or-break homestretch that renders sports clichés nearlyimpossible to avoid: It came down to grit, determination, “whowanted it more.”
Going into the fifth round, IsraelAdesanya and KelvinGastelum had both won two clear-cut rounds and put the other invisible danger several times. “The Last Stylebender” dictated theaction at range with a deeper and more diverse striking arsenal,but when Gastelum pushed the pace and got inside of Adesanya’sreach, he landed the kind of flush power shots the unbeatenkickboxer had never dealt with before in an MMA fight. It wastechnique vs. tenacity, patience vs. pressure. With everything onthe line, Adesanya dug deep -- I told you, these clichés are hardto avoid -- and put on the type of definitive, virtuous performancethat defines a career, scoring three knockdowns and nearlyfinishing the fight in the fifth round. It was a sensationalperformance and a perfect conclusion for an early “Fight of theYear” contender.
In the main event, the scorecards were a bit mystifying after fourrounds. All three judges had it three rounds to one for DustinPoirier, despite the fact that MaxHolloway landed morestrikes in three of those four rounds. Of course, thedifference between strikes was visible: Poirier’s weresubstantially more powerful, and it would be an understatement tosay Holloway did not wear the damage well. Still, Round 4 was, inmy opinion, a pretty cut-and-dry win for the featherweightchampion. Aside from an empty split-second takedown and a knee thatsliced open a gash on Holloway’s forehead, Poirier enjoyed verylittle success in the round, while Holloway peppered him withvolume for four of the five minutes. Regardless of the officialscorecards, the fight felt like it was up for grabs going into thefifth. Poirier was visibly tiring, and Holloway is known forfight-ending barrages in the championship rounds. Poirier, however,battled back from the brink -- again with these accurate clichés --and not only won the striking exchanges but also effectivelystalled Holloway against the fence to seal the round. It was agutsy performance and showed an impressive presence of mind. Thoughit was somewhat upstaged by the co-main event, this, too, is worthyof “Fight of the Year” consideration.
More than the brilliance of the fights, however, the fightersthemselves demonstrated what makes this sport so special. BothGastelum and Holloway walked away with losses on their records, butneither of them feels like a loser. Gastelum’s story of beingundersized and overlooked is easy to appreciate, just likeHolloway’s humility and sincerity. Adesanya has an optimisticbuoyancy that isn’t overbearing and is nerdy without being wimpy orannoying. Poirier has earned everything the hardest way possibleand has made countless tiny improvements that, in aggregate, havemade him a completely different fighter. Each man is unique andinteresting and easy to root for, in and out of the cage.
What made these fights so resonant was how they contrasted thego-to grudge match angle that is so frequently and nauseatinglytrotted out to promote fights. The main event in particular provedthat you don’t have to manufacture a rivalry: Genuine respect andgoodwill can be just as compelling as bad blood, and neither meansmuch without a great fight underpinning it. Poirier and Hollowaystood face-to-face in the cage after the final bell before bloodilybro-hugging it out. When Poirier was announced the winner, heembraced Holloway and apologized for cursing at him at theweigh-ins before saying “nothing but respect.” Poirier, along withhis wife Jolie, have dedicated their efforts to building aplayground for kids with special needs, and Holloway donated hisfight gear to help them reach their goal. The ugliness of combatsports is only matched by the beauty to which it’s capable ofascending.
Part of what makes fighting great is how it’s a vehicle ofdiscovery. As spectators, we learned a lot about these fighters.Poirier can sustain insane power for 25 minutes. Holloway can takeridiculous punishment and keep going. Gastelum has no quit in him.Adesanya has fire to match his flash. Yet the fighters themselveslearned more than that, something deeper that only they can fullycomprehend but something we were able to access vicariously.Experiencing a fight of that intensity changes you, and while weweren’t in the cage, witnessing it can be transformative in its ownway, the same way the dimensions of our interior lives can expandafter reading a book, watching a movie or listening to music. Justas Franklin redefined what a fighter could be for a generation offans, these fights and fighters demonstrated what the sport iscapable of becoming on its best day.
The buzz of UFC 236 will eventually fade if it has not done soalready, but that’s OK. We were lucky to have been able to bask inits glow for a few hours, to have been a part of something largerthan our individual experiences and to have lost ourselves inemotions we didn’t earn.
Eric Stinton is a writer and a teacher from Kailua, Hawaii. Hehas been writing for Sherdog since 2014 and has published fiction,nonfiction and journalism in Bamboo Ridge, The Classical, Eastlit,Harvard Review Online, Honolulu Civil Beat and Vice, among others.He currently lives with his fiancée and dachshund in Seoul. You canfind his work at ericstinton.com.