Anthony Smith teaches us not to doubt him – again

The hyperbole was off the charts for Mauricio Ruffy after strong showing his octagon debut with a first-round knockout of the always-tough Jamie Mullarkey. And for the most part, it was warranted.

UFC commentator and coach Din Thomas said Ruffy (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) reminded him “of a young Conor McGregor” while he picked Mullarkey apart with strikes then finished the job in Round 1. Daniel Cormier then proceeded to say Ruffy’s performance was “one of the greatest UFC debuts we’ve seen in a long time.”

It was strong words across the board for Ruffy, who proceeded to send a message to lightweight champ Islam Makhachev that his reign will soon be under threat. That’s putting the cart way ahead of the horse in arguably the most stacked division in the sport, but you can respect the confidence.

Let’s see what Ruffy can do moving forward. He beat an opponent who is sub-.500 in the UFC in Mullarkey, and he’ll need to do much more work before his comments toward Makhachev are taken with any seriousness.

Caio Borralho continued to build momentum in the middleweight division with a near-flawless performance against Paul Craig, marking his 13th consecutive victory overall.

Borralho (16-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has been steadily climbing up the rankings, and against his most experience and established foe to date in Craig, he shined en route to a second-round knockout finish.

He called out Jared Cannonier in the aftermath of the fight, and while he might not get that next with Cannonier rumored to take on Nassourdine Imavov in an upcoming main event, he’s shooting a better shot than he has in the past – which I’ve criticized him for.

It’s time for Borralho to get a tougher test no doubt, though. He’s off to a start in his octagon tenure that few other 185-pound names have matched in the past, and that’s deserving of something meaningful.

There was a lot of excitement around Michel Pereira when he was signed to the UFC because of his flashy style and epic highlight reel. But even the most optimistic of his supporters couldn’t have seen this type of success.

Pereira (30-11 MMA, 9-2 UFC) has now won eight consecutive fights inside the octagon after a 54-second submission of Ihor Potieria, with the past three of those victories coming in a combined 3:01. It’s no coincidence those performances have coincided with his full-time move to middleweight, and it’s clear this is the right weight class for the Brazilian.

Although you could poke some holes in the quality of competition during this winning streak from Pereira, what can’t be called into question is the difficulty of putting together an eight-fight streak in the UFC, period. Only a small collection of fighters have pulled that off.

Similar to the statement on Borralho above, though, Pereira needs a real step up in competition. If he can do what he’s done to recent foes against a top-15 name at 185 pounds, then things get real.

Just when everyone thought Anthony Smith had a fork in him and was cooked – again – he comes out and takes no damage in submitting the previously undefeated Vitor Petrino in two minutes flat.

We shouldn’t be surprised, I guess. This is the type of stuff Smith (38-19 MMA, 13-9 UFC) has built his career and reputation on, but this felt like a truly difficult hurdle to get over. Nevertheless, he gets the job done and injects life into his career once again.

What is Smith capable of at this point in his career? Who is anyone to say.

He has the name, credentials and favor of the UFC brass to get another big opportunity coming off this win. He needs to make the most of it, though, because you would have to think this is probably his last chance to make a run. However, we’ve said that before, so proceed with caution when it comes to making a judgement on his capabilities.

Jose Aldo admitted during his post-fight interview that he couldn’t have imagined such a perfect night in Rio de Janeiro in his wildest dreams. You have to believe that after he outclassed the surging Jonathan Martinez for a unanimous decision.

Aldo (32-8 MMA, 14-7 UFC) returned from a 20-month retirement to complete his UFC contract against Martinez. If that was his final UFC fight, it was one of the best ways to close the door for a legend in history. Right up there with Robbie Lawler’s win over Niko Price, but respectfully, Martinez is a far, far more impressive opponent to do it against.

Now the world is Aldo’s oyster. The UFC allowed the legend to take some boxing fights during his MMA retirement with its blessing, but once he gets through an exclusive matching period he’ll be completely free, and that could mean all sorts of options.

The MMA fan in me wants to see Aldo keep going in the loaded UFC bantamweight division and see if he can make another run. But unselfishly, he definitely needs to explore his options and see what kind of paydays he can fetch on the open market. Aldo is a hot commodity after this win, and only good things are coming his way.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 301.