Despite His Controversial Performance, Maiquel Falcao Remains a UFC Fighter

For the first two rounds of his recent three-round fight at ufc 123: “Rampage vs. Machida”, new UFC signee Maiquel Falcao seemed to be bursting onto the main stage and firmly putting the division on notice. Then he realized that he most likely had done more than enough to win both the first and the second round… and his fight with Gerald Harris ground to a halt. The flashes of brilliance were gone, in its place was a performance Kalib Starnes would be proud of. But despite his controversial performance, UFC President Dana White recently confirmed that Falcao will remain a UFC employee.

Speaking to MMA Weekly, White had this to say: “I wasn’t very ****ing happy about [his third round performance], I thought it sucked… I told him “this isn’t the Ultimate Staring Competition.” …I’ll take a guy who loses a dogfight any day of the week over a guy who stares at a somebody for five ****ing minutes… I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt because this is his first UFC fight… Nobody wants to see that ****.”

I wholeheartedly agree with Dana White both in regards to Falcao’s performance and that he deserves a second chance. When Falcao let his hands go he landed with shocking accuracy, and had Gerald Harris in major amounts of trouble several times throughout both the first and second round. Like White, I also think that the pressure to get his first UFC win ultimately got inside Falcao’s head and convinced him to play it safe after knowing he had done enough to win the first two rounds. We’re all human, if I was an MMA fighter with a long career and had finally made it to the UFC, I honestly can’t say with certainty that the idea would never pop into my head to play it safe in order to get a win under my belt and make sure I remain employed in the biggest MMA promotion in the world.

But the thing of it is, though: great fighters rise to the occasion, overcome that fear, and go for broke from the get-go. That’s the reason people are still buzzing about BJ Penn demolishing Matt Hughes in twenty-one seconds. If you can laugh in the face of all the pressure and score a dominating win, not only is that the quickest way to remain a UFC employee at the very least, it’s also the quickest way to assert yourself in any of the UFC’s increasingly-crowded divisions. Falcao fought like a man possessed and gave us two good rounds of action, but his inability to keep the fight exciting for all three rounds will be a real hindrance as he moves forward. He deserves a second chance for sure, but Falcao painted a giant target on his back after his performance at UFC 123.

Moving forward, I think some very, very tough tests lie ahead for Maiquel Falcao. Put him against a fighter like Chris Leben or Wanderlei Silva, and let’s see what kind of heart Falcao truly has. Let’s see Falcao fight someone who’s crazy enough to go for broke each and every round, just because he can, just because he comes to fight and won’t stop until he wins or he’s finished. Falcao simultaneously gave us one of the best and the absolute worst performance/s of UFC 123, so the potential for success and failure are both quite high going into his next UFC bout. I’ll be watching with an eager eye to see how Falcao does, because either we’ve got ourselves a new major threat at Middleweight, or a fighter who shows flashes of brilliance but ultimately crumbles under pressure. Only time will tell.

And what about you, fans and friends? What did you think of Falcao’s performance, and what do you see happening with him in the future?