5 Things We Learned From This Weekend’s Fights
Championships changed hands, contenders strengthened their cases, and several fighters used Saturday night to change the direction of their careers.
Floyd Schofield finally turned years of prospect hype into a world championship, but his battle with Lucas Bahdi also showed that life at the top of the lightweight division will not be easy. Sergio Mendoza walked into Chicago as a replacement challenger and left with two world titles. Brendan Allen once again proved he belongs among the UFC’s best middleweights, while Treavon Craycraft and Dominique Crowder used a big night in Kansas City to push their careers forward.
This was a weekend when opportunity mattered. Some fighters were expected to win. Others simply refused to let the biggest opportunity of their careers pass them by.
Here are five things Fight Week learned from this weekend’s fights.
1. Floyd Schofield Is a World Champion — Now the Real Test Begins
For years, Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield has been discussed as one of boxing’s most talented young fighters. On Saturday night in Chicago, he finally added the accomplishment that separates promising contenders from established names.
Schofield defeated previously unbeaten Lucas Bahdi by unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBA lightweight championship. The judges scored the fight 116-110, 115-111 and 119-108 for Schofield, who improved to 20-0. He also dropped Bahdi in the third round and controlled much of the fight with his speed, movement and combinations.
The scorecards, however, do not completely describe the fight. Bahdi remained dangerous, continued pressing forward and dropped Schofield in the 11th round. That moment was important because Schofield had to show something beyond speed and talent. He had to recover against a heavy-handed opponent with a world championship hanging in the balance.
He did.
That does not mean every question about Schofield has disappeared. In many ways, winning the belt creates a completely new set of them. At 24 years old, he is no longer the young contender chasing champions. He is now the fighter other lightweights will be chasing.
The division will demand more difficult fights, and opponents will study what Bahdi was able to accomplish when he forced Schofield into uncomfortable exchanges. Schofield passed his first championship test, but Saturday felt more like the beginning of his story than the culmination of it.
What we learned: Floyd Schofield belongs among the champions at lightweight. Now we find out how good he can become once every opponent treats him like one.
2. Sergio Mendoza Turned an Opportunity Into a Career-Changing Night
Sergio Mendoza was not originally supposed to be fighting for two world championships Saturday night.
By the end of the evening, he owned both of them.
Mendoza stepped into the fight with Ricardo Sandoval after Oscar Collazo was forced out and proceeded to produce the most significant performance of his career. He dropped Sandoval twice in the second round, continued applying pressure and scored another knockdown in the fifth before the fight was stopped. Mendoza left Chicago as the new WBA and WBC flyweight champion.
What makes the victory especially impressive is the circumstance surrounding it. Sandoval entered as the unified champion and was preparing for a different opponent. Mendoza entered as the replacement challenger who was supposed to be taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity.
Instead, he changed the entire flyweight championship picture.
There was nothing fluky about the result. Mendoza hurt Sandoval early, recognized that the champion was vulnerable and never allowed him to fully recover. Rather than becoming cautious once he realized an upset was possible, Mendoza continued pushing for the finish.
Those are the nights that can transform careers. One week a fighter is accepting a replacement opportunity. The next he owns two world championship belts and suddenly has an entire division looking in his direction.
What we learned: Sergio Mendoza did not merely pull an upset. He announced himself as a major player at flyweight, and every significant fight in the division now has to include his name in the conversation.
3. Brendan Allen Has Earned the Right to Stop Fighting Backward
Brendan Allen keeps finding himself in an unusual position.
He is ranked near the top of the UFC middleweight division, continues winning important fights and yet repeatedly gets matched with dangerous fighters trying to take his place rather than established names sitting ahead of him.
Saturday night, Allen handled that assignment again.
Christian Leroy Duncan had won five consecutive fights and presented serious problems early with his striking and range. Allen gradually changed the fight, leaned on his grappling and eventually secured a rear-naked choke at 2:46 of the fifth round. The victory extended Allen’s winning streak to four and moved his UFC middleweight record to 16-4.
What stood out was Allen’s ability to work through adversity. Duncan had success on the feet and forced Allen to make adjustments instead of simply allowing him to impose his preferred fight from the opening minutes. By the championship rounds, however, Allen’s experience and grappling began to take over.
After the victory, Allen again called for former champion Dricus du Plessis and made it clear that he no longer wants to serve as the test for fighters attempting to climb into the elite. Ranked No. 4 and riding four straight wins, that argument is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss.
The UFC does not necessarily have to give Allen an immediate title shot, but another fight against someone trying to take his ranking would accomplish very little.
What we learned: Brendan Allen has done enough defending his spot. His next fight should give him an opportunity to move forward.
4. Treavon Craycraft Made the Most of the Biggest Name on His Résumé
Nico Ali Walsh entered Saturday night as the fighter most people recognized.
Treavon Craycraft left as the fighter people should remember.
Craycraft defeated Ali Walsh by unanimous decision in the eight-round main event of BiYu Promotions’ Heart of America card in Kansas City. The judges scored the fight 78-74 and 77-75 twice, improving Craycraft’s record to 10-0-1.
It was the type of opportunity that can become complicated for an unbeaten fighter. Ali Walsh carries one of the most recognizable names in boxing because of his grandfather Muhammad Ali, and that brings attention that does not normally accompany an eight-round fight between developing professionals.
Craycraft did not appear overwhelmed by any of it.
He remained composed, competed effectively through the close rounds and made sure the biggest name he had faced became the biggest victory on his résumé. That is exactly what developing fighters have to do when their opportunity finally arrives.
For Ali Walsh, the loss creates another difficult decision about the direction of his career. For Craycraft, it creates possibilities that did not exist before Saturday.
He still has significant development ahead of him, but being undefeated only matters if a fighter eventually proves it against better competition. Craycraft just took an important first step.
What we learned: Treavon Craycraft entered Kansas City with an unbeaten record. He left with credibility.
5. Dominique Crowder Is Ready for a Bigger Bantamweight Fight
Dominique Crowder did not need eight rounds to make his statement.
He needed two.
Crowder stopped former world-title challenger Jayson Mama in the second round to capture the NABA Silver bantamweight title and improve to 20-0 with 12 knockouts. He entered the fight ranked No. 12 by the IBF, and the victory gives him another credential as he attempts to move toward the upper level of the division.
Mama represented exactly the kind of opponent an unbeaten contender eventually needs to face. He had substantially more professional experience, had competed internationally and had already been exposed to championship-level competition.
Crowder never allowed that experience to become a factor.
He established control early and ended the fight before Mama could settle into a rhythm. At six feet tall competing at bantamweight, Crowder presents unusual physical problems, but his development is becoming about much more than dimensions. Twenty professional victories, a top-15 IBF ranking and Saturday’s championship performance mean the next step needs to matter.
There comes a point where protecting an undefeated record becomes less important than discovering whether the fighter is ready for the next level.
Crowder appears to have reached that point.
What we learned: Dominique Crowder does not need another developmental fight. He needs an opponent who can move him closer to a world-title opportunity.
Fight Week Fighter of the Week: Sergio Mendoza
Floyd Schofield became a world champion.
Brendan Allen strengthened his position among the UFC’s best middleweights.
Treavon Craycraft earned the biggest victory of his young career, and Dominique Crowder continued moving toward the bantamweight elite.
But nobody changed his career more dramatically this weekend than Sergio Mendoza.
Mendoza entered Saturday as a replacement challenger. He left Chicago holding the WBA and WBC flyweight world championships after dropping Ricardo Sandoval three times and forcing the stoppage in the fifth round.
That is what Fight Week Fighter of the Week should represent.
It is not always about the biggest name or the fighter competing in the main event. It is about the performance that changed the most.
Schofield accomplished his dream by becoming a champion, but Mendoza completely rewrote his place in the sport in less than five rounds. He entered as the replacement.
He walked out as the man everyone at flyweight now has to chase.
Fight Week Fighter of the Week: Sergio Mendoza.
