Jeremy Stephens defeats Dennis Bermudez in back-and-forth affair
LAS VEGAS — After missing weight on Friday and facing two losses in a row, Jeremy Stephens needed to fight like his career was on the line at UFC 189.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Stephens put away Dennis Bermudez with a wicked flying knee seconds after the bell sounded in the third and final frame, and in the process, brought the entire crowd inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena to a roaring cheer.
“It was an awesome fight!” screamed a blood-covered Stephens. “I trained hard and I had a great mentality going in. Dennis is a great opponent, I certainly couldn’t have done that myself. We were two warriors going at it and I won the battle.”
A battle it was.
Rounds one and two were a truly back-and-forth affair. By the end of the first round, both fighters were sliced up and showing signs of an early battle. Stephens, in fact, was leaking blood over his right eye after Bermudez caught him clean near the end of the round.
Each fighter traded power hooks and threw with disregard — which turned out to be a risky proposition for the wrestling-based Bermudez.
Stephens is a UFC veteran who has made his career luring fighters into slugfests. Sure, he has been plagued by inconsistency at different points, but a fight like tonight showed fans, and all of Stephens’ future opponents, just how wily and resilient the Iowa native can be when his back is against the proverbial wall.
Just ask current UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos.
At UFC 91, Stephens squared off against the future champ on the preliminary portion of the pay-per-view card. After two hard back-and-forth rounds, Stephens unleashed a hellish lunging uppercut that absolutely floored the Brazilian.
It was one of the greatest knockouts in company history and can still be seen in numerous highlights reels to this day.
On that fall night in Las Vegas, Stephens was coming off a disheartening loss to Spencer Fisher the fight prior and was adamant about taking back control of his career.
Now, with the win over top-10 ranked Bermudez, Stephens may not be in line for a title anytime soon, but it certainly staves off any premature talk about Stephens’ job security — or lack thereof.
“I’m happy with wherever that fight puts me in the rankings, it’s not my job to rank myself,” Stephens said. “I want to fight someone ahead of me that’s going to put me in a position to move up.”
Normally, critics would shun that type of stale, robotic response from a fighter who just won a fight. Then again, given the type of fights Stephens puts on, it really doesn’t matter what you say after your fight.
Because the action speaks for itself.
