Thoughts on UFC Fight Night Charlotte: Jacare vs Brunson Part Deux

The main card delivered overall. Camacho and Dober put on a slugfest for the fans. Gillespie showed improved grappling transitions and positional control and insanely heavy hips to flatten out Rinaldi and get the finish. Jacare stayed patient and clipped Brunson to get the win without taking too much punishment. I still saw some holes in Jacare's striking that a guy like Rockhold will likely exploit as he is more of a volume striker and has a build similar to Brunson in that he's taller than Jacare.

We're left with Jacare in a position where he's actually already lost to each of the 3 guys ahead of him: Romero, Whitaker, and Rockhold. Granted, the Rockhold fight was awhile ago, but still. It's hard to think Jacare is that much changed stylistically. His striking still seems "robotic" was the term used last night and I think that's fair. His takedown was stuffed by Brunson, and against Rockhold and Whitaker and Romero, that is a major concern because each of those men has firepower in their striking, and enough to put him down for the count whereas I don't see Jacare one punch KO finish any of those three. Romero's more plodding less volume-based attack as of late is the fight I think Jacare can win, but Rockhold and Whitaker are better versions of Brunson with strong grappling, clinch, and takedown defense to boot.

Fili vs Bermudez was a solid main card fight for a UFC on FOX or PPV event. I honestly thought Bermudez did more than enough with leg kicks and clinch work against the cage to take the fight. The Camacho fight was also poorly judged with inexplicable scores from at least one of the judges.