UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Daukaus

I recall my Jiu-Jitsu coach being very excited for Leavitt’s UFC debut awhile back. I had never heard of him so I did some research…and the first words to come out of my mouth after watching a quick highlight video was a quiet and underwhelmed “…huh…”

I don’t get the hype around him. I betted Claudio was going to beat him because I didn’t see him as anything impressive. Sure, his ground game seems decent, but his striking is ******* non-existent. Watch a Leavitt fight, any fight, watch as how the minute he gets hurt or takes one single semi-decent punch to cranium, he dives on his knees and goes face first into his opponent’s crotch faster than Tyron Woodley’s ex-wife. Jordan pulls every punch, every kick, every knee and elbow is straight out of a yellow belt Karate sparring match, every single strike looks limp and without any intent to harm or damage anything. I personally theorize this has less to do with his actual skill and more to do with him being too ******* nice. He’s absurdly polite, and is very vocal about how he feels hurting someone in the ring. I think this manifests in his fighting style, he cannot pull the trigger. Putting someone to sleep with a choke is less damaging to a fighter’s career than knocking their lights out in his mind. Jordan does not have killer instinct.

Ignoring that for a moment, consider the fact the man is a part-timer. He’s a school teacher, not a full time martial artist. Not a lot of time to iron out your weaknesses with that kind of schedule, hence why he suddenly decided to move down to Featherweight like that’ll fix anything. Jordan is strictly a one-dimensional grappler.

That being said, what does Sayles have to offer? I’ll be honest, up until I did research on him, I didn’t know jack**** about him, but upon watching his DWCS debut and his bout with Kyle Nelson, I can comfortably say he’s better than I’d thought he’d be. The guy has a natural killer instinct, he sees an opening or god forbid sees you trip or get knocked down and he swarms you till you tap. He’s sloppy, but powerful and easily a better striker than Leavitt. How does his grappling hold up? Solid, at least defensively. Has stuffed 8/11 takedowns in the UFC and has surprisingly good submission defense. The only doubt you could have in his grappling defense is getting subbed by Bryce Mitchell, which, I think you’d have an easier time convincing me a doomsday prophecy where sewer gators from the moon wearing twelve inch strap-ons will collide like meteorites into the earth while singing “kumbaya” in unison than convince me Jordan and Bryce are on the same level. 

Matt also has a win over Kyle Nelson, who has a better resume than all of Jordan’s opponents combined (Kyle has beaten Polo Reyes, Khama Worthy and Johnathan Brookins) I think he’ll stuff most if not all of Jordan’s predictable double leg attempts and will fall apart under Matt’s pressure.

Sayles via R2 KO

* Edited at 12.13.2021, 4:38 AM ET *