In A Card As Stacked As UFC 241, Be Sure To Keep Your Eyes On These Rising Talents
Last weekend marked the first time in six events that all three athletes featured in the On the Rise series had their hands raised inside the Octagon. I don’t lead off with that as a pat on the back for identifying winners (though who doesn’t like identifying winners), but as a means of highlighting how difficult it is to compete at the UFC level.
One of the most appealing elements about mixed martial arts when I first started falling in love with the sport was that losing a fight wasn’t the same kind of death knell it often seemed to be in boxing — they were opportunities to learn, grow, regroup and come back stronger - and we’ve seen time and again that competitors can struggle at different points in their career and still manage to emerge successful down the line.