Stand and Deliver: UFC Fight Night 191

Every fight matters, but some matter just a little more.

In some ways, of course, a win is a win and a loss is a loss. The difference between one fight and the next lies in what’s at stake. Any given card is likely to feature some fights for which the risk and reward are higher and more immediate. Picture the fighter on a losing streak who knows he or she is likely fighting for their job; or conversely, any matchup on Dana White's Contender Series, where two hopefuls know that the brass ring is within their reach if they can win impressively. At other times, a fight feels especially important for reasons that are harder to quantify, but no less real. Whether it’s the symbolic heft of being a pioneer in MMA from one’s country, or the simple added spice of two fighters who really hate each other’s guts, that fight means just a little more.

This week, UFC Fight Night 191, a card that had been slated for London up until well into July, instead takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. True to its original intent, the 10-fight lineup is loaded with British fighters, as well as a handful more from continental Europe. They include headliner Darren Till, making his first Octagon appearance in over a year, and former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship multi-division star Paddy Pimblett, who rides into his highly-anticipated UFC debut on a wave of self-generated controversy.

Till and Pimblett lead the pack, but they are by no means the only ones who should be feeling a little extra pressure ahead of “UFC Vegas 36.” Here are some fighters who really need to stand and deliver at UFC Fight Night 191.

Smoke and Mirrors Time Is Over, Darren Till

Don’t get me wrong: I understand some of the reasons why Till is as highly regarded as he is, and why he is the betting favorite over Derek Brunson in this weekend’s main event, even if I don’t agree. However, “The Gorilla” has cruised into position as a Top 10 fighter in two different divisions based on the eyeball test, backed up by a pretty thin portfolio of real-world achievement. He is 1-1 at middleweight, and while a competitive loss to consensus No. 2 guy Robert Whittaker is nothing to be embarrassed about, his win over Kelvin Gastelum has aged poorly as Gastelum’s fortunes have continued to wane.

Till’s résumé at welterweight, the division in which he first came to prominence, is similarly shaky. Depending on your personal preferences, Till’s signature win at welterweight is either a wholly undeserved decision nod in his native Liverpool over Stephen Thompson — for which he also missed weight by three and a half pounds, thus enjoying both kinds of home cooking — or his drubbing of Donald Cerrone, which was the third loss in a row for “Cowboy.” Neither is especially scintillating and both took place over three years ago.

That brings us to this weekend and Till’s return to the cage after 13 months away. It is a sign of Till’s charisma, skills and physical gifts that he is the favorite over Brunson, a rock-solid middleweight contender with no truly bad losses on his UFC ledger, but it’s well past time for the 28-year-old to prove it. He badly needs an uncontroversial win over a Top 10 fighter to justify his own place in the division; to underperform here would vindicate all those naysayers, myself included.

Are You Going to Be Able to Cash Those Checks, Paddy Pimblett?

By that headline, I do not mean to question whether Pimblett’s purse for this Saturday will clear; if nothing else, the UFC is extremely solvent financially. No, I am speaking of the metaphorical checks the 26-year-old’s mouth has been writing all spring and summer. Like an English version of his CW forebear, Conor McGregor, “Paddy the Baddy” is a brash character who is happy to stir the pot with everything from bold predictions of his future exploits, to ill-advised forays into geopolitics.

In the wake of that offhanded tweet, which appeared to piss off every single fighter from one of MMA’s fastest-growing hot spots, Pimblett apologized, but also confidently predicted that the UFC wouldn’t have punished him. And he’s likely right, given the promotion’s track record with managing its fighters’ public behavior, but here’s the catch: Now he really needs to win. Going back to the example of McGregor, whether you found the Irishman’s shtick charming, offensive or something in between when he was on top of the MMA world, once he stopped winning fights it just got sad. If Pimblett can back up his talk with in-cage achievements, his personality will probably make him a star, and a polarizing one at that — the best kind, if you’re the UFC. If he loses his debut against Luigi Vendramini this weekend, however, the whole dynamic changes, and like the “Notorious” one, his next outrageous tweet or sound bite will have just a little whiff of desperation to it.

Pink Slip Derby: Khalil Rountree vs. Modestas Bukauskas?

Considering that just days ago, we learned Sam Alvey is probably going to get the chance to extend his winless streak in the Octagon to eight straight, it may seem silly to feel too concerned about Rountree and Bukauskas and their dueling two-fight skids. However, “Smile’n Sam” has the accumulated goodwill of 20-plus UFC fights, of being a product of one of the last memorable seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter” — Alvey cringing in the background during Julian Lane’s “Just let me bang, bro” meltdown is pure gold — and of course his quirky visual and musical trademarks.

Rountree and Bukauskas have none of those things, but they do have points in their favor. Rountree’s win over Eryk Anders was one of the most eye-opening individual performances of 2019, and his demolition of Paul Craig, impressive at the time, is looking amazing in hindsight. The 27-year-old Bukauskas has the advantage of youth, especially by light heavyweight standards, and can make a pretty good argument that he shouldn’t even be on a losing streak. However, despite those modest aces up their sleeves, and in spite of the fact that three straight losses is no longer the automatic death sentence it once was for non-contenders, it’s safe to say that both of these men would really, really rather not be the one who gets to test that reality.