Best Performance Of The Night: Zach Makovsky At Bellator 41

It’s that time once again, fans and friends. Another major MMA event has come and gone, and it’s time for my unofficial “Best Performance of the Night” award. It was pretty tough to pick one single fighter to highlight, since Bellator 41 had three of its four televised fights end in dramatic stoppages. Daniel Straus, Patricio Freire, and Zach Makovsky were all in the running to receive this award. But in the end, I gave it to the man who impressed me the most and who thoroughly dominated a very, very formidable opponent. Here’s why Zach Makovsky’s big win over Chad Robichaux took home “Best Performance of the Night”.

Let’s begin this as we always do: by putting the situation into context.

The first official fight on Chad Robichaux’s professional record took place all the way back in 1999. From 1999-2002 Robichaux competed seven times, then took a break for over two years and fought again in 2004. He then took another hiatus, this time spanning a little over four years. But despite the long periods of inactivity, one thing remained unchanged: Chad Robichaux was unbeaten and was submitting people left and right. Heading into his non-title bout with Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zach Makovsky, Robichaux had eleven straight wins with ten submissions.

Zach Makovsky, on the other hand, had just gotten through a supremely hectic 2010 that saw him compete six times. That very active schedule had its benefits, though: Zach Makovsky ended 2010 with gold around his waist and with a six-fight winning-streak.

Although this fight would be contested as a non-title fight, Chad Robichaux had both the record and the notoriety (his last fight was in Strikeforce) to be a worthy challenge and was seen by many as a big threat to the newly-crowned champion.

At least… that’s how it should have went. The reality of the situation was very different.

When the fight started, it looked as if both men were evenly-matched. As the fight progressed, it became increasingly evident that Zach Makovsky had the perfect gameplan to beat Chad Robichaux. By utilizing intense clinch work and frequent takedowns, Makovsky was able to continuously keep Robichaux guessing. This unpredictability led to Makovsky getting in some big, big slams on his opponent several times throughout the fight.

But most importantly, Makovsky always found a way to maintain top control and avoid Chad’s guard. Robichaux had half of his ten submission wins come by armbar, which says all there needs to be said about Chad Robichaux’s technique when in guard. But Makovsky never let Chad get in guard for more than a few seconds, and he avoided several submission attempts while powering through several others.

At one point, Robichaux was so frustrated about not being able to implement his game that he started blindly charging forward and swinging for the fences. Makovsky responded by grabbing Chad, lifting him up, and brutally slamming him to the canvas. In the end, Chad Robichaux found himself unable to escape Mount and would end up being TKO’d in the third round.

There’s impressive, and then there’s what Zach Makovsky did to Chad Robichaux. As skilled as Chad was, Zach made it look like the two didn’t belong in the same ring together. Chad’s growing frustration from round to round proves just how thorough Makovsky’s domination was. For three straight rounds, Zach Makovsky fought a talented, tough, battle-hardened veteran and made it look easy. Although Makovsky faced some stiff competition from Daniel Straus and Patricio Freire, there’s no doubt in my mind that he deserves “Best Performance of the Night”.

And what about you, fans and friends? Who took home your unofficial end-of-night accolades?