MMA Generations: (2018-Beyound)

McDojoDelux · March 12, 2021

UFC on FOX: Lee vs. Iaquinta II

Date: December Week 3 (2018) Saturday

Event posts will be a mixture of both fight play-by-plays as well as quick bullet points to summarize the event as a whole, only key fights like the fight of the night or fights, the performance of the night as well as fights that have a lot of significance like the main event, co-main, or key bout on the main-card or prelims will be covered. These play by plays are romanticized for dramatic effect but the results are the same, if the play-by-plays are too long or you don’t feel like reading them I’ll have a more brief summary of what happened plus the full card results at the bottom.

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Key Fight Play-ByPlays:

Possibly the most competitive fight on the card Rob Font and Sergio Pettis is rightfully ranked a pick em’ fight. Font’s technical boxing combined with Pettis' creative taekwondo style promises some fireworks on the feet, but let us not forget Font is also an excellent wrestler. Sergio much like his brother Anthony are no slouches on the ground and can easily submit their opponents if they get sloppy on the ground.

Round 1

Pettis feints and fakes a few jabs to get into close range, and leads off with a nice body kick that causes a huge slap sound. Continuing to feint with some fake jabs, Pettis slips the overhand from Font buckling him with a leg kick counter. Continuing to utilize kicks Pettis lands two quick ones to the legs then fakes a leg kick for a spinning back kick to the body, but Font dodges it by moving to the right then blasts Pettis with an uppercut followed by a jab then slipped a counter right hook from Pettis to only land a counter right hook of his own. Pettis backs up to the cage, he mistakenly bites on a fake straight from Font who goes for a level-change grabbing the legs. After some brief grapple exchanges Rob Font is able to lift up Pettis for a takedown, Font smothers Pettis from half-guard landing a few punches to the body than a quick elbow to the head that opens a small cut on the left side of the forehead of Sergio Pettis. After a couple of minutes of passing guard plus a failed armbar from Pettis, Rob Font is able to grab the full-mount but Pettis is able to excellently cover up on the bottom but Front keeps smothering him from the top to prevent Pettis from firing any strikes from the bottom or attempt any more submissions as well.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Font

Sherdog: 10-9 Font

Blurcat: 10-9 Font

Round 2

Font starts walking down Pettis who tries to set-up a counter uppercut as Font feints going for some takedowns, instead Font fakes the takedown then hits a plus counter one-two while Pettis goes for the uppercut briefly clinching with each other Pettis lands a knee to the body but as the two disengage from the clinch Font times a perfect elbow to the forehead of Pettis which reopens the same cut from round 1 in fact it made it even larger. Font wants to keep the pressure on but Pettis fakes the flying knee allowing him to hit a clean front kick to the face that landed right under the chin!!! Rob Font covers up high so Pettis goes to the body with 3 straight hooks than a straight as well. Font tries to respond with a pull counter straight but misses then gets clipped with an uppercut right under the chin. Pettis fires off 3 straight punches landing 1 of them but then finds a home with a roundhouse kick to the body which pushes Font to the cage. Pettis rips the body again by faking the uppercut up top going with 2 hooks to the body however, also gets blasted with an overhand on the chin as Pettis pulls back!!! Pettis lands two leg kicks but fails to read Font’s feints who fakes coming in a lead straight instead of taking down his opponent with a double-leg takedown. Font tries to transition to full-guard but a brilliant sprawl sees Pettis on top in the north-south position but in another sprawl, Font regains the top position in side-control!!! Font fires off some elbows to the body plus head near the end of the round.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 20-18 Font

Sherdog: 20-18 Font

Blurcat: 19-19

Round 3

Pettis still looks to land the uppercut constantly throwing them at the end of straight punch combinations but Font’s superior footwork keeps Pettis swinging in mid-air, after Pettis once again misses on yet another uppercut Rob Font lands a flush counter right hook after ducking under the punch then coming up with the punch. Font follows up with a left hand then straight to the body, Pettis is able to start finding success striking again by implementing kicks into his attacks. After two calf kicks land for Pettis he fakes going of the heel kick to the head allowing Pettis to land a flurry of 4 hooks to the body then going upstairs to the head with an uppercut, while inclose Font grabs ahold of Pettis scoring on two elbows to the forehead then lands a great right hook as the two separate!!! Font continues up with the attack coming forward with a straight but he also takes a lead knee to the body then is clipped on the chin by a quick elbow!!! Following up that elbow he lands a spinning back fist to the forehead while Font misses a counter right. The two stand in the middle starting to trade shots, Font lands a one-two then Pettis responds with a sharp front kick to the body. Pettis fires off a superman jab that just misses but is able to hit a follow-up spinning back kick, Pettis launches a head kick that Font pulls back his head then hits a flush straight then left hook. Pettis launches a flurry of hooks in response starting with 4 to the body with 2 landings then 3 to the head all of them blocked. After the flurry Font is able to land a nice jab but is hit with a hard slapping roundhouse kick to the body which stuns him briefly!!! The two just feints near the end of the fight as neither of them want to commit to anymore strikes as both parties raise their hands in victory, it’s gonna be a very interesting decision.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 29-28 Font

Sherdog: 30-27 Font

Blurcat: 29-28 Pettis

“Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds we go to the judges' scorecards for a decision, all three judges score this contest 29-28 to the winner by unanimous decision…..

Sergio Pettis!!!”

Official Result:

Sergio Pettis def. Rob Font via UD (29-28x3)

A rising contender on a winning streak in Dan Hooker faces a long contender who is now on a losing streak in Barboza. We’ve seen these types of fights many times before, as Dan Hooker labeled it “it’s old guard versus new guard”. Both men are dynamic kickboxers with some of the more impressive kick or knee knockouts in UFC history, the creative seen on both Barboza and Hooker promises some fireworks. But we have seen match-ups in the past be exciting on paper only to not deliver so we’ll see how well this fight lives up to expectations.

Round 1

Barboza starts off the fight with an array of leg kicks that are well off the mark, on one of those leg kicks he leaves his chin entirely exposed allowing a counter looping right hook to land flush causing the Brazilian to back up to the cage. Hooker unloads with a flurry of 4 follow-up hooks but some excellent head movements got some “oohs” from the crowd as Barboza is finally able to land a signature stinging leg kick that made a cracking sound as it landed. The two aren’t able to land consistently as they jab away at each other unable to find the distance, Barboza is unable to land an ill-advised spinning back kick to the body allowing Hooker to grab a hold of him then drive him to the cage. Grabbing the collar tie Hooker blasts Barboza with 3 straight bus driver uppercuts to the head then a knee to the body before unloading with a flurry of 8 hooks with 6 of them landing!!! Barboza is able to circle out landing another quick leg kick as he does so, while the two engage distance another missed kick from Barboza allows Hooker to counter with a flush head kick to the dome of the Brazilian!!! Trying to end the fight with a knee ‘The Hangman’ looks to grab the muay-thai clinch to end with but runs into a double jab, straight right, then right hook the body combination from Edson Barboza. Looking to end the fight Barboza launches a huge head kick that is parried by Dan Hooker who scores with two hooks to the body then followed it up with a front kick as well. Barboza fakes another head kick putting Hooker’s guard up high then hits a massive spinning back kick to the rib cage that leaves a horrible red mark!!! Hooker misses on a few jabs allowing Barboza to counter with a solid right hand then briefly grabs Hooker to land two knees to the body. As the disengage Hooker lands a clean jab on the chin followed up by a solid pull then counter right hand, Hooker then lands a one-two jumps backward to avoid a body shot from Barobza then jumps right back into land a question mark kick to the forehead for Barboza which puts him on rubbery legs as the round ends.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Hooker

Sherdog: 10-9 Hooker

Blurcat: 10-9 Hooker

Round 2

Barboza starts the round by again missing on leg kicks occasionally getting counter by a few looping punches from Hooker who then misses on a body kick of his own allowing Barboza to connect on a straight to the body then left hook to the forehead. Barboza’s head movements are starting to take over this fight slipping a right loop right hook followed up by an overhand that also missed as Barboza again went to the body with a sharp front kick then spinning back to the body. Barboza lands two straight-pull counters then follows up on the 2nd one with a looping elbow that opens a cut on the right side of the nose of Dan Hooker. ‘The Hangman’ comes up short on a one-two as Barboza moves in for two quick calf kicks, Hooker starts to limp switching stances. While missing a straight Hooker is countered by a jab, right hook to the body followed up with a sidekick to the body. Hooker misses another jab but finally hits a few short punches by briefly grabbing hold of Barboza, the Brazilian dodges a right hand going to the body with a spinning back fist. Hooker lands a jab but leaves his hands a little too low as Barboza hits a hard question mark kick to the head!!! The two exchange hooks but then Barboza hits with the same icon wheel kick to the forehead of Hooker that he hit against Terry Emit at UFC 142!!! Hooker is floored landing head first to the canvas but does so at the exact same time the horn sounds for the end of the round!!! In a confusion of if the fight is over or not referee Mark Smith decides to let the fight play out, a very interesting and probably controversial decision as that was a definite 10-8 round for the Brazilian will see how ‘The Hangman’ can respond from practically getting knocked out.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 19-18 Barboza

Sherdog: 19-18 Barboza

Blurcat: 19-18 Barboza

Round 3

Hooker starts moving around more this round as he was more of a plotter in the first 2 rounds, doing this slips the left-cross from Barboza responding with a jew back then roundhouse kick to the body. Hooker dashed straight at Barboza and landed a fly knee!!! But it only particularly landed as Barboza is able to shake it off responding with another leg kick which has Hooker limping now. The damage to his legs plus his gas tank starts to make him a plotter again as the final round continues. Barboza lands two leg kicks followed by a ducking jab he nearly runs into a lethal knee by Hooker similar to the New Zealander flying knee knockout of Ross Pearson, instead Barboza slips right hammers another leg lethal quick but leaves himself open for a straight right directly to the chin. Then with his left-hand grabs a collar tie to bashed a knee straight into Barboza’s face!!! Barboza might have been briefly hurt as he backs up the cage but with Hooker’s legs basically gone he can’t move in to follow up and finish the fight. The last-minute of the fight is spent with the two mostly missing on strikes as neither can find the range as both look really gassed out there.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 28-28 draw

Sherdog: 29-27 Barboza

Blurcat: 28-28 draw

“Ladies and gentlemen after 3 rounds we go to the judge’s scorecards for a decision, the judges score this contest 29-27, 28-28, and 29-27 to the winner by majority decision.

Edson Barboza”

Official Result:

Edson Barboza def. Dan Hooker via MD (29-27x2, 28-28)

Lightweight has quickly become the most competitive division the UFC has to offer and tonight's main-event is yet another very interesting and competitive Lightweight clash. ‘Raging’ Al looks to make it 2-0 against ‘The Motown Phenom' Kevin Lee, both fighters right now are on the outside looking in when it comes to the Lightweight title-hunt but with a winning one is put straight into contention while for the loser it is a long way down the ladder in a division where you could quickly find yourself off the rankings with only a couple of losses even if their close fights.

Round 1

Iaquinta offers a touching of the gloves with just one hand but there was no touching on the gloves completely ignored by Kevin Lee, it seems their war of words on Twitter has gotten to ‘The Motown Phenom’ who has promised to make quick work of Iaquinta will see if he can make good on those intentions here tonight. Lee steps in with a quick jab to the body followed by a quick head kick which is blocked, having Iaquinta on the back foot at a weird angle Lee manages to grab a hold of ‘Raging’ Al putting him up against the cage. After some brief dirty boxing to the body from Lee he is able to grab underhooks looking for a double-leg, intentionally its stuff by Iaquinta but after a sweep from Lee puts his opponent on one foot he is able to quickly scoop up Iaquinta for a slam takedown putting him under side-control. Lee fires off a couple of knees to the body then attempts a kimura submission but is blocked, as Lee takes some time to rest in Al’s guard he is hit by some elbow strikes while Iaquinta is on his back very similar to how Tony Ferguson was able to do minus the rubber-guard. Lee tries to respond with ground n’ pound with a few right hands to the body but Al Iaquinta is able to create separation by pushing ‘The Motown Phenom’ with his two feet to get the fight back standing. Lee lands a nice roundhouse kick to the body, Iaquinta misses a counter uppercut as Kevin Lee slips backward then parries Al’s jab but then ‘Raging’ Al rocks Kevin Lee with a humongous straight right to the chin as he fakes a level-change to bring his opponent’s hands down!!! Unfortunately, Iaquinta tripped over himself with some sloppy footwork allowing Lee to take the back with a body lock around the hips but he would stall until the end of the round.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Lee

Sherdog: 10-9 Lee

Blurcat: 10-9 Lee

Round 2

‘Raging’ Al starts the round throwing punches in bunches while moving in he throws 3straight punches starting with a double-jab then straight right all 3 punches land then moves out with right-hook going backwards which is blocked but is particularly able to land a looping uppercut followed by a leg kick while on the outside. It seems whenever Iaquinta starts throwing combinations with the punches Kevin Lee just shells up not wanting to get clipped again by a clean bomb from Iaquinta, but once the fight is at a long-range Lee opens up with some push kicks to the body. Iaquinta fakes going with a combination upstairs causing Lee to freeze as he puts up his guard only to throw a rapid-fire 4 looping punches to the body forcing Lee up against the cage in which he ties up with ‘The Motown Phenom’. While Lee is up against the cage Iaquinta makes a sudden burst of energy by going low trying to grab then scoop both legs from Lee out from under him and it works as Lee pulls guard up near the cage. While in half-guard Al Iaquinta keeps Lee guessing with ground n’ pound transitioning from the body to the head, Iaquinta is able to grab side-control seeming content in the position throwing knees to the body with a few elbows to head.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 19-19

Sherdog: 19-19

Blurcat: 19-19

Round 3

Al Iaquinta starts the round out with a jab followed by a straight right then two hooks one to the head one to the body all punches land, this again caused Lee to move all the way back against the cage of the octagon. So Iaquinta like the 2nd round decides to clinch with Lee up against the cage unlike last time Kevin Lee shows a lot more resistance stuffing a double-leg takedown even switching the position around a couple of times as the two exchanged turning each other around but eventually Lee’s bigger frame and overall strength stars showing as he is able to trap Iaquinta against the cage for an extended period of time throwing knees to the legs, foot stops, short punches to the body. But his most effective strikes during this time were 2 clean elbows which opened up 2 small cuts under the left eye of ‘Raging’ Al who is then lifted into the air as Lee quickly grabbed a strong body lock to carry Iaquinta to the middle of the octagon for a terrific slam!!! Lee tries numerous times to grab full-mount but Al Iaquinta shows excellent transition defense to prevent Lee from ever getting a dominant position leaving him in half-guard for the rest of the round.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 29-28 Lee

Sherdog: 29-28 Lee

Blurcat: 29-28 Lee

Round 4

It seems Kevin Lee used a lot of energy that round trying to outwrestle ‘Raging’ Al as he takes a lot of huge gaps for air in the corner and still does to start this round. Iaquinta sees this mouth breathing starts out attacking the body with a leg straight followed by a flurry of 4 hooks all punches land. Lee backs up but circles around instead of backing up directly to the cage, from a longer distance Iaquinta is able to land a looping jab that looks similar to a superman jab but Lee retaliates with a stinging roundhouse kick to the body. Iaquinta surprises everyone by shooting for a takedown at such a long distance surprising more people by grabbing a deep single-leg as Lee shows little resistance while being taken down. Iaquinta is able to transition pretty frequently between half-guard, to full-guard, to side-control but just can’t seem to secure full-mount. After some time in side-control with Iaquinta landing some knees to the body, Lee senses Iaquinta trying to take his back and in a perfect scramble, it's now Kevin Lee who has the back of Iaquinta!!! With a minute and a half left Lee attempts a rear-naked choke without any hooks in but he isn’t able to get the submission under the chin, ‘Raging’ Al works for separation and is able to get to his feet but Lee still has his back with a deep body lock. Lee throws some right hands to the body with a couple of knees to the back of the legs, Iaquinta is able to break free of the body lock but can’t get enough separation as Lee ties up with him again to put him up against the cage then slams his best strike of the fight by hitting a looping elbow that was very similar to a bus driver uppercut!!!

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 39-37 Lee

Sherdog: 38-38

Blurcat: 39-37 Lee

Round 5

Last round and ‘The Motown Phenom’ is out for blood starting on the attack backing down Iaquinta who seemed like he was about to shoot for a takedown but Lee took the initiative peppering Iaquinta with 4 straight jabs then landed a hard cross!!! Despite a great combination, Lee looks like he is out of gas he probably spent the last of it on that combination right there as ‘Raging’ Al is starting to back down Kevin Lee. Big combinations from Iaquinta now flurrying with 7 hooks landing 4 of them all to the head, Lee is still freezing up not moving with his feet at all just covering up via a very traditional boxing guard!!! A huge uppercut nearly puts Lee down!!! As Lee is slouching against the cage Iaquinta is throwing some rapid punches with his right hand while referee Keith Peterson is telling Lee to fight back ‘The Motown Phenom’ grabs a hold of Iaquinta’s leg trying for a very weak single-leg which Iaquinta stuffs then takes the back of Kevin Lee!!! Iaquinta unloads with several right hands that clearly hurt Lee who tries to cover up, but suddenly the ground n’ pound stops as Iaquinta is wincing in pain shaking his right hand he might have broken it while going for some the finish because of this injury it allows Lee enough time to recover!!! The fight comes to a stand-still a bit. Iaquinta still has Lee’s back but is only firing off punches with his left hand now while Lee is all defensive just covering up not making any attempts to get back up he might not even have the stamina to do so in all honesty. With a minute left in the round, Iaquinta gets both hooks in and sinks in a rear-naked choke!!! It’s under the chin and was very close but Lee barely escapes only to be put right back into the RNC only a few seconds after escaping!!! With such little time left in the round, Lee opts to just survive the finale seconds instead of escaping a move which nearly had him finished, only nearly though as the round ends with Al Iaquinta living up to his ‘Raging’ nickname screaming out “same Al” as the fight ends taunting Kevin Lee who in an interview with the Fox desk after the weigh-in said Iaquinta was the same fighter he fought at UFC 169 with no improvements to his game whatsoever. Despite being dominated in the round Lee seems pretty confident raising his hands he probably thinks he won rounds 1, 3, and 4. But even if the judges do have him up could we possibly see a draw as this could have been a 10-8 round? Will see as Bruce Buffer has the decision.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 48-47 Lee

Sherdog: 48-46 Iaquinta

Blurcat: 47-47 draw

“Ladies and gentle after 5 rounds we go the judge’s scorecards for a decision, all 3 judges score this contest 48-47 to the winner by unanimous decision,

‘Raging’ Al Iaquinta”

Official Result:

Al Iaquinta def. Kevin Lee via UD (48-47x3)

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Critical Rating: 70% / Commercial Rating: 75%

Attendance: 8,846 ( $838,284 )

Venue: Fiserv Forum ( Milwaukee, Wisconsin )

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Main-Event

Al Iaquinta def. Kevin Lee via UD (48-47x3)

[Fight Rating: Good]

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Co-Main

Edson Barboza def. Dan Hooker via MD (29-27x2, 28-28)

[Fight Rating: Good]

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Main-Card

Sergio Pettis def. Rob Font via UD (29-28x3)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Charles Oliveria def. Jim Miller via SUB [Kimura] R2 (4:43)

[Fight Rating: Average]

Jack Hermansson def. Gerald Meerschaert via UD (30-27x2, 29-28)

[Fight Rating: Decent]

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Preliminary-Card

Bobby Green def. Drakkar Klose via SUB [Guillotine] R1 (3:50)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Dan Ige def. Enrique Barzola via UD (29-27x3)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Sergio Moraes def. Zak Ottow via SUB [Americana] R1 (3:22)

[Fight Rating: Good]

Ariane Lipski def. Emily Whitmire via KO [Knee] R2 (1:28)

[Fight Rating: Great]

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Early-Preliminary Card

Ramazan Emeev def. Abu Azaitar via TKO [Punches] R1 (0:49)

[Fight Rating: Good]

Sam Alvey def. Nikita Krylov via KO [Punch] R1 (4:33)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Gina Mazany def. Ashlee Evans-Smith via SUB [Armbar] R1 (2:00)

[Fight Rating: Great]

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Fight of The Night:

Sergio Pettis vs. Rob Font

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Performance of The Night:

Charles Oliveria, Bobby Green, Sam Alvey

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Predictions:

vladjarca - (11/12) so close

Majster_93 - (10/12)

rodrigoviolim - (8/12)

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“Same Al!” was the saying of the night as Al Iaquinta defeated Kevin Lee in a very competitive fight on the last ever UFC on Fox show. The saying also turned into a new MMA meme as the saying itself plus a gif of Iaquinta screaming it during the fight has spread around MMA Twitter. Going back to a more serious tone Iaquinta now finds himself near the upper talent of the Lightweight division calling out two fighters in particular Justin Gaethje explaining a fight between them is a “fight of the century type sh**” and Paul Felder as originally the two was supposed to fight at UFC 223 but in one of the craziest lead-ups to a card in MMA history, Iaquinta found himself as the main-event fight versus Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC Lightweight championship. But we will have to see after some scans what's up with Iaquinta's right hand which was probably broken during the fight, if so it might be a while since we see ‘Raging’ Al again in the octagon. For Kevin Lee his gas tank ultimately failed him once again as skills wise he probably is the better fighter than Iaquinta, in fact just a pure conversation of skills alone Kevin Lee is one the best Lightweights in the division but the same factors showed their heads again to yet again stumble up ‘The Motown Phenom’ being his cardio and consistency. Plus many questioned his decision to just shell up whenever Iaquinta started throwing punches as Al was very open to the counter jab which Lee never really exploited instead choosing just to freeze up against the cage of the octagon for the most part. Lee wouldn’t have a post-fight interview with Jon Anik or attend the post-fight press conference either as we are yet to hear from ‘The Motown Phenom’ who left with a bitter face shaking his head while the decision was read and gave Al Iaquinta the nod tonight.

Edson Barboza proved that while he might be the old guard he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon as Barboza would put on one of the better rounds of his career during the 2nd round of his Majority Decision win over Dan Hooker his overall movement was at an all-time best for him, his leg kicks are still in prime form. Hooker performed well himself in fact most pundits and fans across the world scored the fight a draw as he showed he was the more technical fighter plus a bit more creative. But after such a bad beating in the 2nd round practically being knocked out in the last second the fact that most people thought he won the 3rd round has won over a lot of fans despite Barboza getting the win. Sergio Pettis won a very thrilling and close fight against Rob Font, with such a close fight in MMA it has already been labeled a robbery by some. However, judging aside Font showed some serious boxing skill but failed to adjust to the Taekwondo style of Sergio Pettis although both fighters left a lot to be desired in terms of defense, Pettis walked away with the unanimous decision victory plus undoubtedly a ranking next to his name next time the rankings are updated. To the shock of many, he would announce he will be competing in both the Flyweight and Bantamweight division saying,

“I wanna be a pound-for-pound best fighter in the world to do that you gotta prove you can fight at multiple weight classes, we’ve never seen someone in the UFC consistently get wins in two weight classes and be ranked in both weight classes at the same time. To me, that's what pound-for-pound means that's what Anthony [Pettis] did at 145 and 155. It’s wanna I’m gonna do now at 125 and 135”.

- Sergio Pettis

It was an up and down night for prospects with some getting much-needed wins to further their careers while others came to a brutal end halt. Starting off with the victors Charles Oliveria dominated Jim Miller with his pressure grappling style of fighting to finish him in the 2nd round with a slick kimura while the two were sprawling on the ground, Jack Hermansson would outclass Gerald Meerschaert after a slow first round that was mainly a boxing fight to incorporate his superior submission grappling in rounds 2 and 3 that had Meershaert at the end of some pretty close submission attempts. Dan Ige would show the heart of a champion in a great fight which saw Ige push the pace with body strikes to win round 1 with his pure aggression but in round 2 Barloza incorporated more dirty boxing which had Ige in trouble multiple times as Ige started to gas. It seemed the fight was in favor of the fresher Barloza but when went to go for more dirty boxing at the start of round 3 he'd be dropped by a flying knee and nearly finished, with a minute left in the fight Ige would drop him again with a spinning back fists to secure a 10-8 round and the decision. As for the losers, Drakkar Klose defensive wrestling was badly exposed tonight as the veteran Bobby Green went a perfect 3 for 3 on takedowns before eventually getting a guillotine finish proving a lot of offs makers wrong being the biggest betting underdog win of the night at (+300), another veteran that would put away an upcoming prospect was Sam Alvery with a brutal knock out over Nikkita Krylov in a late comeback of the year candidate. Krylov immediately hurt Alvey to start the fight with a switch head kick counter after Alvey missed an opening 4 punch combination, the Russian then put Alvey down after dragging him into the muay-thai clinch to drop him with a brutal knee to the head to open a cut on the forehead of Alvey. Ground n’ pound nearly finished him off but when that didn’t work Krylov nearly pulled off a guillotine submission. Did I mention Sam Alvey won this fight? Eventually, Alvey would get his wits about him and the superior grappler was able to get back to his feet after threatening to sweep Krylov, the Russian seemed to discredit Alvey’s punching power leaving himself open for counters which coasted him the fight as when Krylov missed a fight-ending overhand followed by an even bigger uppercut which also missed Alvey set his feet to clock back on a thunderous right hook that put the Russians lights out. It’s not all bad news for Russian MMA as Ramazan Emeev took only 49 seconds to TKO Azaitar with a powerful straight right to extend his record to (19-3) and (4-0) within the UFC, finally, former KSW Women's Flyweight champion Ariane Lipski got a performance of the night knockout in her UFC debut showing some powerful muay-thai striking for the Women’s Flyweight division she might just be the most powerful striker in the division and if she can develop some better technique it probably isn't too long before she is challenging for the title.

McDojoDelux · March 13, 2021

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December Week 4 (2018) UFC Rankings

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McDojoDelux · March 13, 2021

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December Week 4 (2018) Recap

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UFC 232: Jones vs. Gustafsson II (Preview)

Main-Event

Light-Heavyweight: Jon Jones (#1, #3P4P, 22-1-1NC) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (#2, 18-4)

*For Vacant Light-Heavyweight Championship*

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Co-Main

W-Featherweight: [C] Cristiane Justino (#13P4P, 20-1-1NC) vs. Cat Zingano (10-3)

*Cyborg's 4th attempted title-defense*

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Main-Card

Welterweight: Carlos Condit (#13, 30-12) vs. Michael Chiesa (14-4)

Light-Heavyweight: Corey Anderson (#6, 11-4) vs. Ilir Latifi (#4, 14-5-1NC)

Featherweight: Chad Mendes (#5, 18-4) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (#11, 18-1)

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Preliminary-Card [FS1]

Heavyweight: Justin Willis (#14, 7-1) vs. Andrei Arlovski (#15, 27-17-1NC)

Bantamweight: Petr Yan (10-1) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (25-2-1NC)

Featherweight: BJ Penn (16-12-2) vs. Ryan Hall (6-1)

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Early-Prelims [uFC Fight-Pass]

W-Flyweight: Bec Rawlings (7-8) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-8-1)

Middleweight: Alessio Di Chirico (12-2) vs. Marcelo Guimarães (9-2-1)

W-Bantamweight: Sarah Moras (5-4) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (11-4)

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<div style="margin-left:25px;">UFC wraps up 2018 with a rematch that's been 5 years in the making, back at UFC 165 (2013) then Light-Heavyweight champion Jon Jones faced challenger Alexander Gustafsson and put on one of the greatest championship fights in the history of MMA. The early rounds saw Gustaffson picking Jones apart on the feet, clearly holding the speed and boxing advantage. Jones tried countering his with creative striking mostly using kicks to slow down the Swede and keep him at bay. To the surprise of many Gustaffson would become the first fighter to ever take Jones down, taking him down twice in the fight with one takedown in round 1 and the other in round 2. Not only that Gustaffson would stuff every single takedown attempt from Jon in rounds 1 to 4, it seemed Jones’s impressive title reign at Light-Heavyweight was coming to an end but in round 4 Jones landed with a devastating spinning elbow that Guss particularly ran into near the end of the round. During the final seconds of round 4 and the majority of round 5, Gustafsson was in survival mode as he survived to the end of the fight. With rounds 1, 2, 3 so close the question was did the Swede bank all of those rounds to get the championship and to the judges no he didn’t as Jones picked up a unanimous decision in an all-time great war not only being one of the better title fights in MMA but one of the better MMA fights period. With such an amazing fight it was only to be expected a rematch would happen soon but the two fighters' paths would diverge from each other way longer than anyone would have thought. Originally the two were booked for a rematch at UFC 178 but a Gustafsson injury would lead to one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history as Daniel Cormier would step-up to fight Jones putting the rematch on the sidelines. While DC and Jones fought, Gustafsson would fight knockout artist Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson in his hometown Stockholm, Sweden and be brutally knocked out in the 1st round. But in his next fight, he faced the newly crowned Light-Heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, as Jones was suspended a year after being involved in a hit and run incident that included him hitting a pregnant lady. Once again Gustafsson would push the champion to his limits with a razor-close split decision loss to DC in another all-time classic war. Cormier has gone to call the fight “something that changed the way I fight and changed the man I am today”. Now the Swede rides a two-fight winning streak with a decision win over contender Jan Blachowicz and a 5th round TKO over Glover Teixeira the TKO of Glover was undoubtedly the greatest performance of his career his movement, boxing technique, and the overall game as at an all-time high now he is yet again on the doorstep of becoming a UFC champion he told reporters in a press conference leading up to the bout, </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

“This is undoubtedly my last chance at a UFC championship, I know what's at stake if I lose against Jon [Jones] and the third time the charm right? I don’t care what he does, he can do his steroids, all his partying, it doesn't matter to me. I’m 100% focused on winning tonight something I don’t think he has been focused on for a very long time". </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

- Alexander Gustafsson </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

I feel we all know Jones' path so I won’t spend too much time on it but after a UD victory over Daniel Cormier at UFC 182, Jones would be stripped and suspended a year after being involved in the previously mentioned hit and run incident. In his return, he snatched up an interim belt and was scheduled for a rematch against Cormier at UFC 200 who again as mentioned before won the strap in Jones’s absence. He would infamously test positive for a reported ‘trace amount of steroids’ before the event, suspended for a year again he would return at UFC 214 to finally put an end to the Cormier rivalry as in their rematch he'd win again this time by knockout in the 3rd round to not only win his title back but also his life until he tested positive again for a ‘trace amount of steroids’. He was again stripped of his championship again, his 2nd in over Cormier ruled a no contest, and suspended a year again. The leads us up to this fight where Jones just needs a good clean win with no controversy surrounding it at all until he tested positive for a ‘trace amount of steroids’ leading up to this fight too again. But USADA’s Jeff Novitzky would explain the positive test was for the same steroids that popped up back in UFC 214 he explained that USADA thinks the trace amount is still in there but not enough to enhance Jon Jones’s performance. The Nevada state athletic commission refused to sanction Jones but in a scramble instead of pulling Jones from the card the UFC moved the entire event to California to accommodate Jones as the commission there gave the green light. Many are disgusted by the special treatment and the good feeling that Jones tried to promote of him just finally getting a solid clean win is out of the picture now. If we can just go back to the fight for a second Gustafsson poses the same threats Jon faced before lightning-quick hands, technical boxing, and an all-around high-level mixed martial artist. It’s hard to know where Jones' head is at with the chaotic build-up but if he does come back at a high-level we all know who Jon ‘Bones’ Jones is one of if not the greatest MMA fighter in the history of the sport. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

With the Jones drama dominating headlines it's hard to remember that there are 10 other fights on the card but let’s get into them. It’s no secret it’s a huge let down that Women's Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes pulled out with an injury before her scheduled super-fight bout with Women's Featherweight Champion Cristiane Cyborg as that fight would undoubtedly crown the greatest female fighter ever, alas the MMA gods decided it wasn’t meant to be instead Cat Zingano will step up in her Featherweight debut to face Cyborg for the championship. Reports have previously mentioned she was supposed to fight Megan Anderson in the prelims but she has been promoted to the co-main event. She says her training for Anderson will be a huge advantage for her,</div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

“Sure I took this fight with [Cristiane] Cyborg on short notice but I was already training for a fight on the exact same day. [Megan] Anderson is a tall striker with knockout power and [Cristiane] Cyborg is a tall striker with knockout power. The only thing against me is this five rounds instead of three, but to that I sat, when have you guys ever seen me gassed out before?”.</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

- Cat Zingano </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

To her credit, she is kind of right and Zingano is a very durable fighter who is skilled in dirty boxing plus wrestling. But Cyborg and Anderson’s power scale isn’t comparable, plus Cyborg is much more well-rounded than Megan Anderson being a high-level muay-thai, kickboxer, and black-belt in BJJ. Carlos Condit looks to end the worst losing streak of his career currently on a 4-fight skid it’s now make or break time for the longtime Welterweight contender and Jackson Wink MMA fighter as a loss here would probably have him off the rankings and cut off the UFC roster entirely. His opponent Michael Chiesa moving up to Welterweight after multiple weight misses at Lightweight, stylistically this is a very bad match-up for Condit who is notorious for his terrible takedown defense he’ll probably be looking to use his size to keep the fight standing or use his very experienced BJJ off his back to possibly submit Chiesa. With his job probably on the line maybe we’ll finally see Condit collect his first win since 2015 or will Chiesa start his Welterweight career by possibly retiring a UFC legend? To start off the main-card two key Light-Heavyweight and Featherweight fights could possibly crown the next title-challenger. Starting off with the Light-Heavyweight bout Corey ‘Overtime’ Anderson takes on Ilir Latifi training partner of Alexander Gustafsson at ‘Allstars Training Center’. Ilir is a very powerful wrestler with some good power in his hands as well, Anderson on the other is much more technical in his wrestling plus stand-up. Anderson has talked some trash in general about Allstars Training Center fighters calling the gym a "dumpster-fire" that has drawn the ire of both Latifi and Gustafsson during the lead-up. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

Chad 'Money' Mendes a longtime staple plus two-time challenger fights for the 2nd time in 2018 after completing his USADA suspension recently taking less than 3 minutes to TKO Myles Jury. Mendes now faces Australias Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski, both are huge for the division which to no one surprise means both fighters have some really heavy hands. Mendes has a better background in wrestling competing at a higher-level but Volkanovski like GSP before him has some really good MMA wrestling he also fights out of City Kickboxing a very technical kickboxing gym that has refined Volkanovski stand-up. Mendes has refined his striking as well starting to incorporate more body punches so keep an eye out on this one it very well could win the fight of the night honnors. Some notable prospects on the card are the Russian boxing and muay-thai specialist Petr Yan and BJJ supreme black-belt Ryan Hall. Both are taking on veterans in former two divisional weigh champion BJ Penn and Douglas Silva de Andrade a longtime muay-thai champion. Finally, we’ll see the finale fight on FS1 before the UFC official moves all its broadcasting rights to ESPN with the new ESPN deal that kicks into effect after the prelims for UFC 232 are over. The first-ever UFC on Fox was headlined by a Heavyweight fight and the last UFC on Fox (to be more specific FS1) will be a Heavyweight fight. The former Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski will face up and comer Justin Willis who was supposed to face Mark Hunt earlier this month but Hunt would instead face JDS after Tuivasa pulled out of the main-evet fight with JDS via a stomach injury. Arlovski looks to prove that experience trumps everything as he said he was the better fighter in every aspect of MMA than Willis who in his words “is a fat sloppy striker”. Willis has made his intentions clear to the press he wants to knockout Arlovksi cold, </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

“He’s the worst champion the UFC has ever had [Andrei Arlovski], his biggest skill is luck and that’s it. He has declined over the years fighters have just realized he sucks that’s it”.</div><div style="margin-left:25px;">

- Justin Willis </div>

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vladjarca · March 13, 2021

GAH DAM IT THAT 11/12

Loving this dynasty so far bruh, it's damn awesome!

Main-Event

Light-Heavyweight: Jon Jones (#1, #3P4P, 22-1-1NC) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (#2, 18-4)

*For Vacant Light-Heavyweight Championship*

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Co-Main

W-Featherweight: [C] Cristiane Justino (#13P4P, 20-1-1NC) vs. Cat Zingano (10-3)

*Cyborg's 4th attempted title-defense*

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Main-Card

Welterweight: Carlos Condit (#13, 30-12) vs. Michael Chiesa (14-4)

Light-Heavyweight: Corey Anderson (#6, 11-4) vs. Ilir Latifi (#4, 14-5-1NC)

Featherweight: Chad Mendes (#5, 18-4) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (#11, 18-1)

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Preliminary-Card [FS1]

Heavyweight: Justin Willis (#14, 7-1) vs. Andrei Arlovski (#15, 27-17-1NC)

Bantamweight: Petr Yan (10-1) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (25-2-1NC)

Featherweight: BJ Penn (16-12-2) vs. Ryan Hall (6-1)

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Early-Prelims [uFC Fight-Pass]

W-Flyweight: Bec Rawlings (7-8) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-8-1)

Middleweight: Alessio Di Chirico (12-2) vs. Marcelo Guimarães (9-2-1)

W-Bantamweight: Sarah Moras (5-4) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (11-4)

Majster_93 · March 13, 2021

Main-Event

Light-Heavyweight: Jon Jones (#1, #3P4P, 22-1-1NC) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (#2, 18-4)

*For Vacant Light-Heavyweight Championship*

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Co-Main

W-Featherweight: [C] Cristiane Justino (#13P4P, 20-1-1NC) vs. Cat Zingano (10-3)

*Cyborg's 4th attempted title-defense*

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Main-Card

Welterweight: Carlos Condit (#13, 30-12) vs. Michael Chiesa (14-4)

Light-Heavyweight: Corey Anderson (#6, 11-4) vs. Ilir Latifi (#4, 14-5-1NC)

Featherweight: Chad Mendes (#5, 18-4) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (#11, 18-1)

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Preliminary-Card [FS1]

Heavyweight: Justin Willis (#14, 7-1) vs. Andrei Arlovski (#15, 27-17-1NC)

Bantamweight: Petr Yan (10-1) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (25-2-1NC)

Featherweight: BJ Penn (16-12-2) vs. Ryan Hall (6-1)

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Early-Prelims [uFC Fight-Pass]

W-Flyweight: Bec Rawlings (7-8) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-8-1)

Middleweight: Alessio Di Chirico (12-2) vs. Marcelo Guimarães (9-2-1)

W-Bantamweight: Sarah Moras (5-4) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (11-4)

CageRage · March 13, 2021

Main-Event

Light-Heavyweight: Jon Jones (#1, #3P4P, 22-1-1NC) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (#2, 18-4)

*For Vacant Light-Heavyweight Championship*

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Co-Main

W-Featherweight: [C] Cristiane Justino (#13P4P, 20-1-1NC) vs. Cat Zingano (10-3)

*Cyborg's 4th attempted title-defense*

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Main-Card

Welterweight: Carlos Condit (#13, 30-12) vs. Michael Chiesa (14-4)

Light-Heavyweight: Corey Anderson (#6, 11-4) vs. Ilir Latifi (#4, 14-5-1NC)

Featherweight: Chad Mendes (#5, 18-4) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (#11, 18-1)

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Preliminary-Card [FS1]

Heavyweight: Justin Willis (#14, 7-1) vs. Andrei Arlovski (#15, 27-17-1NC)

Bantamweight: Petr Yan (10-1) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (25-2-1NC)

Featherweight: BJ Penn (16-12-2) vs. Ryan Hall (6-1)

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Early-Prelims [uFC Fight-Pass]

W-Flyweight: Bec Rawlings (7-8) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-8-1)

Middleweight: Alessio Di Chirico (12-2) vs. Marcelo Guimarães (9-2-1)

W-Bantamweight: Sarah Moras (5-4) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (11-4)

rodrigoviolim · March 13, 2021

Main-Event

Light-Heavyweight: Jon Jones (#1, #3P4P, 22-1-1NC) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (#2, 18-4)

*For Vacant Light-Heavyweight Championship*

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Co-Main

W-Featherweight: [C] Cristiane Justino (#13P4P, 20-1-1NC) vs. Cat Zingano (10-3)

*Cyborg's 4th attempted title-defense*

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Main-Card

Welterweight: Carlos Condit (#13, 30-12) vs. Michael Chiesa (14-4)

Light-Heavyweight: Corey Anderson (#6, 11-4) vs. Ilir Latifi (#4, 14-5-1NC)

Featherweight: Chad Mendes (#5, 18-4) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (#11, 18-1)

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Preliminary-Card [FS1]

Heavyweight: Justin Willis (#14, 7-1) vs. Andrei Arlovski (#15, 27-17-1NC)

Bantamweight: Petr Yan (10-1) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (25-2-1NC)

Featherweight: BJ Penn (16-12-2) vs. Ryan Hall (6-1)

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Early-Prelims [uFC Fight-Pass]

W-Flyweight: Bec Rawlings (7-8) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-8-1)

Middleweight: Alessio Di Chirico (12-2) vs. Marcelo Guimarães (9-2-1)

W-Bantamweight: Sarah Moras (5-4) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (11-4)

McDojoDelux · March 14, 2021

UFC 232: Jones v. Gustafsson II

Date: December Week 4 (2018) Saturday

Event posts will be a mixture of both fight play-by-plays as well as quick bullet points to summarize the event as a whole, only key fights like the fight of the night or fights, the performance of the night as well as fights that have a lot of significance like the main event, co-main, or key bout on the main-card or prelims will be covered. These play by plays are romanticized for dramatic effect but the results are the legitmate, if the play-by-plays are too long or you don’t feel like reading them I’ll have a more brief summary of what happened plus the full card results at the bottom.

--------------------------------------------------------------Key Fights Play-By-Plays:

This is the last UFC fight that will air on Fox Sports 1 it’s been a long and very successful broadcasting partnership but it finally ends tonight. Former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski will look to shut up the loud moth Justin Willis who has labeled Arlovksi “the worst champion in UFC history”. Andrei responded with “after I knock him out, the people will know that this man is the worst fighter in the history of the UFC”.

Round 1

As they are introduced by Bruce Buffer the size advantage for Willis is outstanding he probably has 30+ pounds on Arlovski, there's also a roar for when the former champion is introduced it’s clear who they want to win this fight despite it being held in Justin Willis hometown of California. The two jabs at a distance for a while until Willis decides to go full berserk mode charing down Arlovski with a huge one-two followed up by a vicious overhand all of the punches miss as the former champion saw them coming and circled to the left but Willis is keeping up a high pace. After Justin Willis misses another one-two Arlovksi instead of circling out uses a pull counter landing a beautiful counter overhand that stung Willis who looks punch drunk!!! Willis recovers quickly though and looks to respond with more heavy punches with some heat on them. It's clear he wants to knock out his opponent in the 1st round for sure. But Arlovski used some excellent head moment to duck the left-hook then Willis then slipped away from his follow up straight then one-two. Arlovski counters Willis with a couple of jabs then lands a clean right hand, Willis is off the mark with another overhand but lands a roundhouse kick to the body. But his guard down Willis is blasted by a brutal combination from Arlovski starting off with a clean jab then hitting a hard right-hook then finishing the combination with a switch kick to the head which saw Arlovski’s shin go straight to the forehead of Willis who's hurt again!!! Willis backs up to the cage and does an excellent job covering up blocking a lead uppercut then a flurry of hooks, Arlovksi grabs a hold of Willis clearly to take a breather the two pretty much stall until referee Mike Beltran separates the two for inactivity. A missed leg kick from Arlovski allows Willis to connect on his first head strike of the fight by landing a counter jab then he follows it with a right hook to the body as he backs down Arlovski. Old habits die hard as Willis starts swinging widely with a flurry of hooks that Arlovski all ducks circling away from the octagon as Willis follows him as the former champion cracks his opponent with an uppercut as Willis was chasing after him that leaves him hurt again covering up against the cage!!! Expecting a flurry of hooks like last time Willis is nearly dropped when stuns him again with a lead knee to the body!!! With his guard now down Arlovski lands a devastating head kick which has Willis completely punch drunk again!!! Now Arlovski flurries with hooks and hits everything single one of them until referee Mike Beltran pulls Arlovski off. Willis who was slouching on the cage for the entire sequence finally falls face-first he’s been knocked out cold, Andrei Arlovski turning back the clock in the final UFC fight on FS1 can you believe it, ladies and gentlemen. Arlovski takes it all in by sitting atop the UFC cage playing to the crowd he clearly enjoyed this victory.

Official Result:

Andrei Arlovski def. Justin Willis via KO [Head Kick & Punches] R1 (3:38)

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Moving on from a fight that had a lot of animosities we now have one where it’s been a build-up filled with nothing but respect. Both Mendes and Volkanovski know the opportunity that will be presented to them if either fighter is able to claim victory, the question is will we see a new face at the top of the Featherweight rankings or will Mendes once again finds himself only one fight away from a title shot.

Round 1

Mendes looked to shoot for the takedown but Volkanovski is too quick using slick foot movement to jump backward out of range for Chad ‘Money’ Mendes to shoot for it then jumps back in to nail a straight right. After landing the punch Volkanovski now shoots for a single-leg takedown, Mendes hops on one foot doing well to prevent the takedown as Volkanovski settles for driving him against the cage. Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski now shows his much higher strength advantage easily smoother Mendes against the cage with some dirty boxing as the California native seems all but helpless to continually eat bus driver uppercuts plus some knees to the body from Volkanovski. It’s not until Volkanovski voluntary lets go of the position changing tactics as the two meet up in the middle of the octagon to strike, two quick hooks from Mendes are slipped by Volkanovski who lands a solid calf quick then follows it up with a grazing lead elbow that opens a small cut on Mendes check!!! Mendes misses the set-up jab but gets Volkanovski to bite on a fake level change which allows him to hit a straight-right to the forehead, but he can’t follow up as Volkanovski against ties up with him easily driving him against the cage but instead of doing the routine dirty boxing he lets go and unleashed with a flurry of 4 hooks which all land to the head. But as Volkanovski landed his last hook of the flurry Mendes ducked down looking like he was going for the takedown only to go upstairs with a lightning-fast overhand right that landed directly on the chin of Volkanovski who goes down hard!!! Mendes follows up and lands two hammer fists but the round ends before he can continue the ground n’ pound!!! Some fans think the fight is over but as Mendes and Volkanovski make their way back to their corners everyone realizes the fight is still ongoing in fact Volkanovski walks back to his corner still a little wobbly if a few seconds were left Mendes possibly could have won already but we head to round two.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Mendes

Blurcat: 10-9 Volkanovski

Sherdog: 10-9 Mendes

Round 2

The two come together to start wrestling. It turns out to be a big mistake from Chad ‘Money’ Mendes as Volkanovski uses his strength advantage again now Chad finds himself in the muay-thai clinch!!! It doesn't take long for Volkanovski to land a devastating knee to head which puts Mendes lights out!!!

Official Result:

Alexander Volkanovski def. Chad Mendes via KO [Knee] R2 (0:47)

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Like mentioned before this could be a make-or-break fight for the longtime UFC Welterweight who once claimed interim gold in Carlos Condit on a rough 5-fight skid this very well could be his last chance to prove he still belongs in the UFC. Chiesa meanwhile looks to finally realize some of the championship potential he has at a new weight class after failing to become a top contender at Lightweight mainly due to his many botched weight cuts. Will see if he is able to keep up the same pressure grappling style of fighting against much bigger and longer opponents.

Round 1

Chiesa wastes no time with some excellent movement Michael ‘The Maverick’ Chiesa slips and dodges all punches from Condit on his way into clinching with him, with great timing Chiesa easily gets a single-leg takedown. Chiesa fires some elbows from half-guard but in a scramble, Condit grabs the armbar but can’t lock it in leading to Chiesa getting full-guard transitioning from that position to full-mount at times. The next couple of minutes came to a standstill with Chiesa not doing much on top playing it really safe which led to the fight being stood up by referee Keith Peterson stands the two up. With so little time left in the round ‘The Natural Born Killer’ Carlos Condit is putting his foot down landing a beautiful double jab, straight right, then side kick to the leg combination. Chiesa is able to land a sneaky right-hook after the combination ends then shoots for a double-leg but this time around Condit stuff the takedown then hits a roundhouse kick to the body.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Chiesa

Blurcat: 10-9 Chiesa

Sherdog: 10-9 Chiesa

Round 2

Condit is pouring on the pressure this round exposing Chiesa below-average long distance striking starting the round with a spinning back kick to the body a three flurry of hooks all land then a nice straight-right followed by a left hook then brief bus driver uppercut. Chiesa from a long way out dives for a double-leg that doesn't come close as Condit backs away from the takedown attempt. As Chiesa attempts a jab to the body Condit then lands another beautiful combination starting with a one-two, uppercut, then he floors Chiesa with a straight right!!! Condit grabs full-mount and starts pounding’ out Chiesa but instead of keeping on the pressure with punches, he goes for an arm triangle submission!!! But Chiesa defends well and there's no danger at all, Condit gets back up immediately wanting no part of Chiesa on the mat. After a few feints from each other Condit tries the spinning back fists but misses blady allowing Chiesa to take his back!!! Instead of going for a backpack position Chiesa instead decides to go for a standing rear-naked choke which he gets under the chin!!! Condit tries his best to break out of it but is left with no option but to tap!!!

Official Result:

Michael Chiesa def. Carlos Condit via SUB [RNC] R2 (3:30)

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One of the most iconic moments in UFC history was when Micheal Bisping on 2 weeks notice knocked out Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in the 1st round, ‘The Count’ came into the bout as the (+400) underdog seeing as how he lost to Rockhold only 15 months ago it seemed a logical conclusion that the champion would once again dominate the challenger. Cat Zingano currently is a (+700) underdog against the (-1000) favorite Cris Cyborg. Zingano and her coaches have referenced Bisping incredible victory as a source of inspiration and to ‘The Cats’ credit she isn’t coming off the couch as she was booked to fight on the prelims on this same exact card but as mentioned many times before when Amdana Nunes announced she couldn’t make the walk due to injury Zingano immediately stepped up to plate. The last time Zingano challenged for UFC gold she lost in a record 14 second submission loss to Ronda Rousey at UFC 184. Ever since the loss Zingano has been dying for another opportunity to prove herself at a championship level she finally finds herself once again as the challenger here tonight.

Round 1

The two touch gloves as Referee Marc Goddard lays down the rules of the octagon, Zingano backs down Cyborg looking for the takedown but can’t close the distance as the champion feints constantly which keeps a cautious Zingano at a distance not wanting to get caught early by Cyborg who lands a set-up jab then overhand which Zingano ducks but a body kick to the ribs are able to land. Zingano is briefly able to tie up with Cyborg to land a knee to the body then a short jab as the two separate, Zingano continues to utilize some nice head movement as a one-two then overhand chrome Cyborg is again all slipped by the Brazilian is finding a home for the roundhouse kick to the body as she lands two consecutively. The two clinch with each other while Zingano fires off a few punches to the body it’s Cris Cyborg who is able to outwrestle her in the clinch. Cyborg gets a double-leg takedown with some solid ground n’ pound to the body. Zingano is successfully able to push off Cyborg however, as the Brazilian tried to get into a stick-guard position to rain down punches but was pushed off by Zingano who used her two feet to do so. Cyborg gets in close unleashing with some hooks that Zingano ducks then clips the champion with a straight-right twice in a row, the champion responds with a spinning back kick to the body. By the finale 10 seconds of the round Cyborg gets Zingano to bite on a fake jab then an uppercut combination finally cracking Zingano with two clean hooks then an overhand on the button to drop Zingano right as the round ends!!!

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Cyborg

Blurcat: 10-9 Cyborg

Sherdog: 10-9 Cyborg

Round 2

Zingano’s fantastic defense is starting to crumble as Cyborg is able to consistently start landing to the head of the challenger starting the round with one-two then right-cross followed by a straight that all land clean!!! As Zingano backs up to the cage possibly hurt, Cyborg hits a devastating kick to the ribs followed by a spinning elbow then lands right on the forehead opening a big cut over the right eye of Zingano!!! Cyborg lands a left then a right as Zingano covers up against the cage!!! The champion got too aggressive as she missed badly on a left-hook allowing Zigano to take her back then get nice judo thrown takedown!!! Zingano takes her time occasionally throwing a few body shots from full-guard. Eventually while in side-control we see a bit more activity from the challenger who starts unloading with knees to the body but while throwing those knees Cyborg times an excellent scramble which sees her take Zingano’s back and attempt a few rear-naked choke attempts without the hooks in as the round ends.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 20-18 Cyborg

Blurcat: 20-18 Cyborg

Sherdog: 20-18 Cyborg

Round 3

Zingano comes out the aggressor this round and Cyborg gladly doesn't back down as the two trade, ‘Cat’ Zingano ducks under a right-hook to land a jab to the body then a grazing right hook to the chin. But Cyborg responds with some heavy hands landing a slapping kick to the ribs then a switch kick to the body followed up with one-two. Cyborg is starting to slow down a little but thanks to her bodywork Zingano is starting to fade too, still though ‘The Cat’ is able to land a clean jab then right hook only for Cyborg to respond with a left-hook. The damage is starting to pile up on Zingano's face as her left eye is starting to close plus her nose is bleeding as well as the cut on her forehead reopening she is bleeding a lot of blood. Cyborg keeps up the pace landing one-two, then a double jab finishing the combo with a roundhouse kick to the body. Zingano is starting to back-up now as Cyborg lands another jab then a switch kick to the ribs, Zingano responds with a push kick to the body of her own but Cyborg is still right on her looking for the finish. Cyborg keeps lighting Zingano up with jabs, kicks to the body, with some straights put Zingano stands strong able to fire back with a few jabs as well as catching Cyborg clean with a few hooks of her own whenever Cyborg starts to go into a warlike mode to keep from unloading at an intense pace. Despite showing a lot of heart Zingano is still getting clipped clean pretty consistently as Cyborg's excellent movement doesn't allow Zingano a chance to circle out.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 30-27 Cyborg

Blurcat: 30-27 Cyborg

Sherdog: 30-27 Cyborg

Round 4

Cyborg comes out again the aggressor with Zingano meeting her in the middle as the two trade shots again. Cyborg starts use off with a lead right-hook then an uppercut which nearly takes Zingano off her feet but she stays stable, Zingano tries to counter with a one-two then straight-right but all miss as Cyborg does a pull and counter coming over the top with an overhand that landed right behind the ear. Cyborg grabs a hold of Zingano landing a quick two knees to the body in the clinch then as the two separate tries to hit a fight-ending head kick but Zingano ducks it fakes the level change to get Cyborgs hands low then blasts the Brazilian with a lead uppercut. Zingano then grabs a hold of Cyborg driving her against the cage, Cyborg tries to cage walk to get free but Zingano does an excellent job keeping her up against the cage hitting Cyborg constantly with knees to the body and one notable one to the head. Zingano follows up that knee to the head with punches to the body plus a few foot stomps then uses a sharp leg sweep to take Cyborg down for the 2nd time tonight!!! Not much happens on top as both fighters are taking a breather until the round ends.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 39-37 Cyborg

Blurcat: 40-36 Cyborg

Sherdog: 40-36 Cyborg

Round 5

Cyborg is completely out of gas, despite turning Zingano into a pizza face her grit, durability, and determination have her taking advantage early getting the collar tie while clinching with Cyborg. Unloading with a flurry of bus driver uppercuts mostly landing to the body the transitioning to the head, Cyborg seems all but helpless as she is pushed back to the cage easily then Zingano gets control of both of the champ’s legs then easily thrones him down for the takedown. While in side-control Zingano catches his breath a little but does well by landing a few razor-sharp elbows that open a small cut under the right eye of Cyborg!!! Zingano fails on her 1st armbar attempt but her 2nd armbar gets in fairly deep to the point where Cyborg uses a lot of energy to escape from it!!! It looks like Zingano was gonna try for another armbar late in the fight but referee Mark Goddard decides to stand the fighters up much to the dismay of the crowd and Joe Rogan in particular who can’t believe the decision from Goddard. Zingano was stalemating a bit in full-mount but only 20 seconds ago she had Cyborg in a deep armbar attempt plus she was in full-mount for crying out loud. 45 seconds left on the clock the two come together to start swinging as Zingano knows she can’t get off a submission attempt in time!!! A sloppy overhand from Zingano is countered by Cyborg with a jab then spinning back kick to the ribs she then follows it up with a 5 punch combination starting with 3 straight punches with only 1 landing then two hooks that both landed. Zingano doesn't connect with the left hand but does land a solid right hand as the horn sounds signaling the end of the fight. The two embrace as Cyborg continuously thanks Zingano for stepping up to the challenge while Zingano herself thanks Cyborg for giving her this opportunity. While not a blowout this fight certainly has a clear winner so here’s Bruce Buffer.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 48-47 Cyborg

Blurcat: 49-46 Cyborg

Sherdog: 49-46 Cyborg

“Ladies and gentlemen after 5 rounds we go to the judges’ scorecards for the decision, the judges score this contest 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47 to the winner by unanimous decision

And….

Still! The undisputed UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion of the world Cristiane Cyborg”

Offical Result:

Cristiane Justino def. Cat Zingano via UD (48-47x2, 49-46)

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The last fight of 2018 for the UFC and at last the much-anticipated rematch of one of the greatest fights of all time. Jones' recent USADA struggles over the years as well as others outside the octagon antics have added more fuel to this fire than originally anticipated, if both fighters are focused then there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to replicate one of the greatest fights of all time. Will Jones finally reclaim his title to bring back order in his life? Or is 3rd time the charm for the Swede? We all find out tonight.

Round 1

Gustafsson comes out throwing combinations to start the fight starting with a straight then one-two he then flurries for 4 hooks. He is only able to land 2 hooks out of the total 7 strikes he threw but Gus has already shown some improvements from the 1st fight as he said he needed to throw more rather than just be a plotting sniper. His success is short-lived as after blocking a lead elbow to the head Gustaffson is drilled by an impressive spinning back kick right to the liver by Jon Jones. Gustafsson throws the one-two up top but Jon slips them both returning fire with a right hook to the body followed by an oblique kick. Jones keeps up a mummy guard mostly to parry any of Gustafsson’s jabs which works as ‘Bones’ does not allow the Swede to establish distance as he circles around looking for the right time to wrestle. While he circles he sometimes offers a few kicks to the body and leg, Jones comes in and clinches but a wild flurry of hooks lands to the body and head Jon forcing him to back off but Jones responds with another spinning back kick to the body. Gustafsson jab is parried but he excellent pulls slipping out of the way of a straight from Jones then lands a very solid right hook counter to the chin of the former champion. Gustafsson throws another combination starting with a jab then a flurry of 4 hooks all are slipped by Jones who then checks a leg kick from Gus, ‘Bones’ retaliates with a trio of jabs then pushes kick to the body. Gustafsson jab is parried but his straight right to the body lands but he is particularly grazed by a lead knee to the head while doing so!!! A cut on the right side of Gustaffons right eye is bleeding badly here in the 1st!! Jone’s is starting to talk some trash as he lands 5 leg kicks to the lead leg of Gustafsson turning it red!!! As the round enters its closing minute Gustafsson feints rushing in on Jon to throw a combination that backs up Jones to the cage then feints on another combination which has Jones widely using some erratic head movement but Gustafsson times an amazing crunching right-hook that Jones practically moves into then follows it up with a clean straight to the forehead of Jones!!! Jon brings his guard up high allowing two brutal hooks to the body to land which buckles Jone’s before he can’t keep upright and falls!!! Jon Jones has just been knocked down for the first time in his career!!! Gustafsson follows up by grabbing the back as Jones covers up!!! Big rapid elbows from Gustafsson at a very high pace, while they mostly aren’t landing Jones is moving at all only covering. Gustafsson’s onslaught isn’t ending as he keeps throwing some elbows some slightly graze the side of Jone’s head but Jon still isn’t moving while he is covering up well like mentioned before he isn’t attempting to move at all he’s sort of curling up into a ball!!! That’s it referee Mike Beltron calls it off!!! Alexander Gustafsson finished Jon Jones in round 1!!! Jon Jones immediately protests the stoppage saying he was intelligently defending himself by covering up, but Mike Beltran explains to Jon he wasn’t really fighting back just curling up into a ball doing nothing as he hadn’t moved for 10 seconds. The stoppage can be debated but Alexander Gustafsson has officially handed Jon Jones the first legitimate loss of his career and is the new Light-Heavyweight champion becoming the first Light-Heavyweight champion from Sweden as well as the first champ not named Jon Jones or Daniel Cormier since 2010.

Official Result:

Alexander Gustafsson def. Jon Jones via TKO [body Punches & Elbows] R1 (4:26)

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Critical Rating: 75% / Commercial Rating: 98%

Attendance: 17,466 ( $3,413,976 )

Venue: The Forum ( Los Angeles, California )

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Main-Event

Alexander Gustafsson def. Jon Jones via TKO [body Punches & Elbows] R1 (4:26) to UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship

[Fight Rating: Great]

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Co-Main

Cristiane Justino def. Cat Zingano via UD (48-47x2, 49-46) to retain UFC W-Featherweight Championship

[Fight Rating: Decent]

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Main-Card

Michael Chiesa def. Carlos Condit via SUB [RNC] R2 (3:30)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Corey Anderson def. Ilir Latifi via UD (30-27x3)

[Fight Rating: Decnet]

Alexander Volkanovski def. Chad Mendes via KO [Knee] R2 (0:47)

[Fight Rating: Great]

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Preliminary-Card

Andrei Arlovski def. Justin Willis via KO [Head Kick & Punches] R1 (3:38)

[Fight Rating: Good]

Petr Yan def. Douglas Silva de Andrade via KO [Punch] R3 (3:52)

[Fight Rating: Good]

Ryan Hall def. BJ Penn via UD (30-26x3)

[Fight Rating: Great]

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Early-Prelims

Bec Rawlings def. Kalindra Faria via TKO [Punches] R1 (4:25)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Alessio Di Chirico def. Marcelo Guimaraes via TKO [Punches] R3 (2:45)

[Fight Rating: Good]

Sarah Moras def. Yana Kunitskaya via UD (30-26x3)

[Fight Rating: Decent]

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Fight of The Night:

Chad Mendes vs. Alexander Volkanovski

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Performance of The Night:

Alexander Gustafsson, Michael Chiesa, Andrei Arlovski

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Predictions:

vladjarca - (8/11)

Majster_93 - (7/11)

CageRage - (8/11)

rodrigoviolim - (7/11)

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“Oh my god, ladies and gentlemen… Just when you think you have seen it all when you think nothing can surprise you anymore this sport pulls out something like this, and all you can really say is. Holy s***. Sorry for my language everyone but holy s***”

- Joe Rogan

Holy s*** indeed Joe Rogan. Alexander Gustafsson said it all week leading up to the fight and proved that 3rd time really is the charm as he is now the UFC Light-Heavyweight champion of the world with a TKO victory in round 1 over what many consider to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time. The fight started off extremely well with the two looking like it would be a replicated fight of the year bout as both showed improvements in the brief 4 minutes and 26 seconds they fought each other the 2nd time. Gustafsson had excellent timing knowing when and when not to throw combinations to preserve his energy plus his accuracy got better as the round went on leading to the finishing sequence. For Jon’s, he once again used his dynamic kicking game that definitely did work as the Swede was limping after the fight he also did a brilliant job parrying Gustafsson’s jab as Gus never really was able to set it up throughout the fight. However, ultimately he would overdo it with his head movement as he probably should have mixed in that movement with just covering up as he ran straight into a hook then put up his guard at the wrong time for Gus to land the fight-ending body shots that led to the fight-ending ground’ pound. Gustafsson barely was able to hold in his tears of happiness as he smiled all the way through the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, the newly crowned Light-Heavyweight champion who would call out two opponents that had beaten him before for a potential rematch.

“Oh, Joe [Rogan] it’s an amazing feeling I’ve worked so hard for this. I’ve failed twice already to claim this title but now it’s mine after all the hours in the gym, all the times I wanted to quit, I finally did it… Not only is this amazing but to win against him [Jon Jones] who I consider the greatest fighter of all time this is a dream. I have nothing but love for Jon. I know things got heated between us but I know he is a good person and an amazing fighter. As for my next fight, a trilogy is fine by me but I also want to take this time to call out some other people. Anthony Johnson, I heard you’re coming back, I always wanted to avenge that loss so in the same arena you knocked me out let’s do a rematch why not? And I think this victory makes me the pound for pound number one fighter Joe Rogan, but there's this guy they call ‘champ-champ’ he isn’t ‘champ-champ’ no more. He also holds a win over me Daniel Cormier if you want to come back down to 205 or I can come up and take your Heavyweight belt let’s do it, a fighter for the number one pound-for-pound fighter. The fans want a real fight not a circus show like you’re trying to do with Lesnar that is not what the fans want”.

- Alexander Gustafsson

Despite the amazing victory for Alex a large majority of fans are criticizing referee Mike Beltran for the stoppage as Jon Jones was covering well and none of the follow-up ground n’ pound never really landed clean it was grazing at best but nothing brutal. Beltran justified his decision to Jones who protested in the cage by explaining that Jon had given up his back to Gus who was raining down elbows and while Jones was covering up well he was barely moving, 15 seconds before the stoppage Jones didn’t move at all which to Beltran signaled that while Jon wasn’t finished physically he was finished mentally as he called off the fight. Both Jon Jones and his manager Malki Kawa heavily disagree with the stoppage with Malki saying they would challenge the result in an attempt to turn it over to a no contest. In total if you were to put into a percentage are 60% of fans, pundits, and fighters are okay with the stoppage while 40% have a problem with it.

“You watch the fight and in the sequence where he [Alexander Gustafsson] knocked me down then came him with some wild elbows all of them are blocked. Every single one of them is blocked. None of them landed clean. Maybe two grazed me, I’m not trying to be a sore loser congrats to Gustafsson he worked hard for this but I worked hard to get back here too. I just feel robbed of my opportunity by the referee. I don’t mind the loss because losing happens, I want some more clarity like I clearly lost when I feel there is a lot of controversy around the stoppage. But like I’ve done many times before I’ll deal with it and I’ll be back”.

- Jon Jones (via post-fight press conference)

The main event stole the show as expected. The rest of the card was solid so let’s go over it. Cris Cyborg got the unanimous decision win over a game Cat Zingano who took all of Cyborg’s best shots in the early rounds to nearly get the win late as Cyborg was completely gassed in the final round Cat Zingano was on top on Cyborg in full-mount and attempt two close armbar attempts with a minute left it’s not unreasonable to think Zingano could have gotten the submission off but in another very controversial decision by the referee Mark Goddard stood the two fighters up in the last 45 seconds of the fight as for 20 seconds not much had happened but still Zingano had gotten off two close armbars and was in full-mount. Unlike the Jones stoppage which has fans divided this move has been unanimously criticized. Joe Rogan has gone to call it “the worst decision I’ve seen a referee make in a long time”. Entertainment wise it was an okay fight as Cyborg successfully made her 4th title-defense and Cat Zingano got to avenge her embarrassing Championship loss to Ronda Rousey in a gutsy loss to Cris Cyborg that many will be talking about for a long time. In a heartbreak for longtime UFC fans, Carlos Condit has lost his 5th fight in a row after coming so close to finally breaking it. Round 1 saw Chiesa expose Condit’s terrible takedown defense but in Round 2 with Condit putting on the pressure he would rock Chiesa with combinations then drop him with a straight nearly finishing him off with ground n’ pound but in what Condit has admitted was an “in the moment mistake” stopped the ground n’ pound to try and submit Chiesa in a triangle choke. The submission didn’t even come close and the wasted attempt gave Chiesa all the time he needed to recover, eventually, the fight found its way back to its feet then Condit would make another mistake going for an ill-advised spinning elbow that gave Chiesa his back as he dodged it then he submitted Condit with an impressive standing rear-naked choke. Rumors about Condit possibly being cut with another loss was a dark cloud over the entire lead-up for Carlos Condit and while the UFC has not made a statement on the future for ‘The Natural Born Killer’ in the UFC is unclear.

Corey ‘Overtime’ Anderson outclassed Ilir Latifi to win (30-27) on all three judges' scorecards simply put Anderson froze up Latifi keeping him at a distance with long-range strike and leg kick. Even when the two wrestled Latifi failed to use his superior strength as he went 0 for 3 on takedowns compared to Andersons 2 for 5. Nothing else to say besides total one-sided domination the only thing missing were knockdowns and 10-8 rounds besides that total masterclass, the question arises where does Anderson fit into the title picture? Chael Sonnen on his ever-popular Youtube channel released a video explaining the situation with Anderson possibly challenging for the 205 titles.

“[Corey] Anderson leading up to UFC 232 talked so much smack about Allstar gym, so much smack to the point where it was an all-out war between Corey Anderson and everyone at Allstars gym. So he goes out there to dominate Latifi, a member of the Allstar gym, and wouldn’t you know it he’s best friends as well as a fellow training of the newly crowned Champion Alexander Gustafsson. The marketing for Gus in UFC 232 was overcoming obstacles, this was his 3rd and probably last chance at a title shot, his 2nd fight against Jon Jones a chance for him to prove who really is the better fighter after such a close fight the first time around. He overcame all those obstacles only for a new one in Corey Anderson to emerge. Corey Anderson did every insult under the sun against every fighter, coach, and anyone associated with that gym he insulted everyone Gustafsson trained with and cared for. He went out there and proved to viewers 'hey I’m right' with his win over Latifi. He dominated one of Allstar’s best fighters; he is also one of Gustafsson’s best friends. Now the story that's laid with the Jon Jones trilogy and possibly a rematch with Cormier at Heavyweight is all fine, but for a complex yet easy-to-market fight I think Corey Anderson should be the next challenger for the belt”.

- Chael Sonnen

Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski survived a scary opening round from Chad Mendes to get a knockout finished early in the 2nd. For the majority of round 1, Volkanovski proved to be the better fighter with dynamic movement, fundamentally better striking and countered Mendes wrestling with his overall strength showing how much stronger he is despite the two having a similar frame. Mendes did okay in the first feinting with level changes to get a few one punch straights but his biggest moment came when he faked a takedown late in the round going upstairs with a thunderous overhand that put Volkanovski down hard Mendes threw two hammer fists that both landed before the horn if only there were 2 or 3 seconds left Chad ‘Money’ Mendes would have undoubtedly won the fight. Thinking Volkanovski was still rocked Mendes decided to wrestle with the Australian a mistake that cost him the fight as Alex still held the overwhelming strength advantage and put Mendes into a muay-thai clinch to land a devastating knee to the head which put the California natives lights out early into the 2nd round.

The prelims were also pretty fun Ryan Hall and Petr Yan both proved they are ready for a step up in competition with dominant victories. The opening bout of the night also saw #13 Women’s Bantamweight Sarah Moras ragdoll #10 Yana Kunitskaya. But undoubtedly the biggest story of the night was former Heavyweight Champion now a veteran of the sport Andrei Arlovski basically run straight through Justin Willis after the two had some choice words for each other, Willis famous comments of Arlovski being the “worst champion in UFC history” have come back to bite him royally as all of his bad intentions failed to even get started throughout the fight. Arlovski looked great, his movement for being an older fighter especially Heavyweight was impressive he rocked Willis 3 times on the feet even connecting on two brutal head kicks. The finishing sequence saw vintage Arlovski as he knocked out Willis in the first with a brutal furry of hooks that had Justin Willis knocked out slouching against the cage before he planted face-first into the canvas. Arlovski would also be the only fighter that trains with Jackson Wink MMA as the team went 1-2 on the night.

McDojoDelux · March 15, 2021

<div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="Wbm3irk.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/Wbm3irk.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

January Week 1 (2019) UFC Rankings

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rodrigoviolim · March 15, 2021

Controversial this main event, I think that if it was so controversial there could be a triology I think it would be the most logical.

Cyborg was undoubtedly the favorite, not surprising her victory.

Now I thought that Arlovski, even with his experience, would be defeated by Willis. What a victory for "Pitbull"

McDojoDelux · March 15, 2021

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="rodrigoviolim" data-cite="rodrigoviolim" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="52737" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Controversial this main event, I think that if it was so controversial there could be a triology I think it would be the most logical. Cyborg was undoubtedly the favorite, not surprising her victory. Now I thought that Arlovski, even with his experience, would be defeated by Willis. What a victory for "Pitbull"</div></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center;"><div style="margin-left:25px;">A trilogy probably is the best route, even with the controversial stoppage which I don't have a strong opinion on. Jon is still one of the greatest MMA fighters ever and probably deserves an immediate rematch for that reason alone despite him being finished in the 1st it was still a pretty competitive 1 round fight. Especially since there is no other clear contender at the moment in the Light-Heavyweight division although Corey Anderson is calling for his title-shot. As long as there are no positive post-fight drug test results a trilogy fight could be set-up for June or July. </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> </div><div style="margin-left:25px;"> Even with Gustafsson finishing Jones I was way more shocked that Arlovski was able to just run straight through Willis. Thought Willis would land just one clean shot to end it quickly but instead Arlovski put on a masterclass.</div></div>

vladjarca · March 15, 2021

Man, that Chael Sonnen quote was SO on point, I absolutely love it <img alt="

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McDojoDelux · March 16, 2021

Man, that Chael Sonnen quote was SO on point, I absolutely love it

Thank you very much, with this thread having a huge emphasis on trash talk I've been trying to get every fighter and or MMA pundit to actually sound like their real-life selfs. Plus I'm subscribed to Sonnen's Youtube channel and watched plenty of compilation videos of his best trash talk so I had some pretty good reference

McDojoDelux · March 16, 2021

MMA End of the Year Awards (2018)

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Male Fighter of the Year: Daniel Cormier

Runner-ups: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Gegard Mousasi, Aung La Nsang, Alexander Gustafsson

Last year was a rough one for Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier in 2017 he famously went through the whole debacle with Jon Jones at UFC 214 suffering his first knockout loss and losing his championship he summed up what most fans feelings were at the time of his biggest televised failure, “when you lose both fights there is no rivalry”. But when Jon failed his post-fight drug test Cormier’s 2nd loss to Jones was overturned to a no-contest and he was reinstated as Champion. But his chin had finally been cracked and major holes in his game had been exposed by Jones once again with the dark cold of Jon Jones over Cormier's head some speculate he could very well already be mentally checked out from the sport; he still to this day considers the 2nd Jon Jones fight a loss on his record. You’d be forgiven to think Cormier was on the decline and on his way out of the sport to start his 2018 he’d get a pretty one-sided 2nd round TKO win over the dangerous kickboxing knockout artist Volkan Oezdemir to defend his Light-Heavyweight title, in his 2nd fight of 2018 he would not only get the most iconic win of his career but in UFC history becoming the 2nd ever double-champion in UFC history by knocking out Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic in the 1st round who many consider the greatest UFC Heavyweight in the company's history, he finished the year with another one-sided victory defending his newly gained Heavyweight Championship with a 2nd round submission [rear-naked choke] of Derrick Lewis a bout the two both took on short-notice to save UFC 230 for the UFC's yearly Madison Square Garden appearance in November. This made him the first UFC double champ to defend either one of his belts since the previous one Connor McGregor failed to defend both his belts. Now heading into 2019 it’s most likely Cormier will fight either Brock Lesnar or will do battle once again in a rematch with Stipe Miocic.

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Female Fighter of the Year: Valentina Shevchenko

Runner-ups: Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Tatiana Suarez, Jessica Andrade

Valentina Shevchenko had a very successful 2018 in her two fights within the year she started it off with a performance of the night 2nd round submission victory against Julianna Peña in her Flyweight debut then won the vacant Flyweight championship against former Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a 5th round guillotine submission becoming the first fighter to submit Jedrzejczyk. She now looks to make her first title defense against the number 1 contender Katlyn Chookagian.

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International Fighter of the Year: Aung La Nsang

Runner-ups: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya, Gegard Mousasi

Who is Aung La Nsang I hear you ask? He is the current One Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight Champion the only double-champion in One’s Champions history he started the year winning One’s Light-Heavyweight title in just 56 seconds of the 1st round with TKO via head kick and punches then added two defenses of his Middleweight title continuing his dominance with two 2nd round TKO finishes in two one-sided fights he dominated in. An accomplished Kickboxer and BJJ artist the Burmese-born American mixed martial artist could very well be the best fighter outside the UFC.

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Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Israel Adesanya

Runner-ups: A.J. McKee, Anthony Smith, Aaron Pico, Zabit Magomedsharipov

Former Kickboxing Champion Israel Adesanya had a stellar 2018 to become the hottest prospect in the Middleweight division currently ranked 7th he started the year with a very close split decision win over fellow prospect Marvin Vettori who many pundits still think can be a future Champion one day. He’d follow it up with two back-to-back performances of the nights with a unanimous decision win against Brad Tavares in his 1st main-event then put on one of the best striking and takedown defense displays to defeat heated rival, Derek Brunson, with a 1st round knockout [knees & punches] at Madison Square Garden. Adesanya has predicted this will be the year he dethrones Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker demanding a title-fight, which he could get if he can get past Anderson Silva at UFC 234 with another performance of the night victory.

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Fight of the Year: Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje (UFC on Fox 29)

Runner-ups: Chan Sung Jung vs. Yair Rodríguez (UFC Fight Night 139), Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero 2 (UFC 225), Tony Ferguson vs. Anthony Pettis (UFC 229), Douglas Lima vs. Rory Macdonald (Bellator 192)

On paper, Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje is just the fight for fans who want a technical brawling war to satisfy our MMA needs and it delivered in fact probably over-delivered. Early on Poirier showed some crisp combinations with his hands but Gaethje wasn’t going anywhere as the only direction he knew was forward pressing the action he was able to land some solid hands of his own but from rounds 1 to 3 his best work was with his leg kicks inflicting some serious leg damage to ‘The Diamond’. As the fight entered the championship rounds it seemed advantageous to Gaethje as round 3 the insane amount of damage to Porier’s leg saw ‘The Highlight’ unload with fight-ending shots and if not for a point deduction due to eye pokes would have easily won the 3rd round. To start the 4th however, Dustin Poirier showed his heart by rocking Gaethje with a switch counter left-hand then dropping him a right straight then left-hook combo sent Justin Gaethje to the canvas again then as Poirier continued to blast his opponent with right hands Herb Dean stopped the contest at 33 seconds in round number 4.

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Knock-out of the Year: Yair Rodríguez vs. Chan Sung Jung RD5 [Elbow] (UFC Fight Night 139)

Runner-ups: Brian Ortega vs. Frankie Edgar RD1 [uppercut] (UFC 222), Lyoto Machida vs. Viktor Belfort RD1 [Front-Kick] (UFC 224), Mandel Nallo vs. Carrington Banks RD3 [Knee] (Bellator 207), Mark Hunt vs. Junior dos Santos II (UFC Fight Night 142)

All runner-ups were some good knockouts particularly Ortega’s uppercut knockout of Frankie Edgar becoming the 1st man to finish Edgar as well as Derrick Lewis epic come from behind knockout of Alexander Volkov a fight he was getting dominated in until he landed a right-hook bomb in the literal last seconds of the fight. But none of them could compare to the epic once in a lifetime knockout Yair Rodríguez pulled over the insanely durable Korean Zombie in a fight he was losing on the scorecards in the last second of the fight while the two traded leather Yair ducked under the advancing Chan Sung Jung then knocked him out cold with an elbow while coming up knocking him out with 1 second left on the clock.

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Submission of the Year: Suman Mokhtarian vs. Steven Petterson RD2 [Flying D’arce-choke] (UFC Fight Night 142)

Runner-ups: Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Brandon Davis RD2 [suloev Stretch] (UFC 228), Aljamain Sterling vs. Cody Stamann RD2 [suloev Stretch (UFC 228), Donald Cerrone vs. Mike Perry RD1 [Armbar] (UFC Fight Night 139)

Last year Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson won the submission of the year with a flying armbar over Ray Borg at UFC 216, the following year we’d get an upgraded version of that submission as Suman Mokhtarian was able to lock in a D’arce-choke in mid-air after performing a judo throw on Steven Petterson.

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Event of the Year: UFC 228

Runner-ups: UFC 229, UFC Fight Night 139: Korean Zombie vs. Rodriguez, UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje

While one of the lower selling pay-per-views of the years those who did tune in were in for a treat starting off with the early prelims veterans Jim Miller and Diego Sanchez picked up impressive wins over two rising prospects. Then two of the only Suloev Stretched Kneebar submissions happened on the card as Zabit Magomedsharipov and Aljamain Sterling got two of the most elite submission fans have ever seen. Tatiana Suarez turned from a prospect to a contender with a one-sided mauling against former Champion Carla Esparza getting a 3rd round TKO. The co-main event saw Jessica Andrade show power never before seen in the Strawweight division with a first-round knockout over Karolina Kowalkiewicz with a powerful right-hook. Finally, Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley got an exciting finish over then-undefeated Darren ‘The Gorilla’ Till after dropping him with a powerful overhand in the 2nd then submitted the Englishmen with a D’arce-choke after some brutal ground n’ pound.

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Comeback of the Year: Derrick Lewis vs. Alexander Volkov (UFC 229)

Runner-ups: Tony Ferguson (injury), Paul Craig vs. Magomed Ankalaev (UFC Fight Night 127), Claudio Silva vs. Nordine Tabel (UFC Fight Night 130)

Tony Ferguson's return from injury with a win in a fight of the year contender with Anthony Pettis is a very feel-good story but this award was a lock for ‘The Black Beast’ Derrick Lewis who pretty much lost every second of his fight against Alexander Volkov but in the last dying seconds of the fight Lewis landed a nuclear right-hook that put the Russian down then some of the most ruthless ground n’ pound in recent years put Volkov lights out.

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Upset of the Year: Henry Cejudo vs. Demetrious Johnson II (UFC 227)

Runner-ups: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jon Jones II (UFC 232), Alexander Hernandez vs. Beneil Dariush (UFC 222), Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. Gokhan Saki (UFC 226), Jodie Esquibel vs. Shana Dodson (UFC Fight Night 142)

Back in 2016 at UFC 197 then UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious finished challenger Henry Cejudo in just under 2 minutes in the 1st round via TKO [knees & punches]. Two years passed since they last fought Johnson would break the UFC record for most consecutive title-defenses with 11 and Cejudo bounced back with impressive wins over Wilson Reis and Sergio Pettis that would earn him a rematch against the at the time number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. During their rematch, however, it would be a completely different fight in a very entertaining chess match Cejduo the Olympic gold wrestler would be able to incorporate a very smart game-plan mixing his gameplan up this time being able to implement his high-pressure Olympic level wrestling and karate base striking to get a slim split decision win over Demetrious Johnson.

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McDojoDelux · March 19, 2021

January Week 1 (2019) Recap

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MMA News

-------------------------------------------------------------- UFC ‘Next Generation’ Press-Conference:

Venue: Barclays Center (America, New York City)

UFC usually schedules these big press-conference events before the summer of the year but due to the new ESPN deal and wanting to give UFC fans something to watch during the companies 3-week break from the fight scene the Barclays Center would hold a huge press-conference with many fighters taking center stage. Of course in the middle of it, all was Dana White the fighters on stage included Flyweight Champion Henry Cejudo, Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw, Lightweights Alexander Hernandez, and Paul Felder. Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley, former interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington, former interim Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson, and contender Dustin Poirier. Light-Heavyweight contenders Jan Blachowiz and Anthony Smith, Welterweights Mike Perry and Niko Price finally Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko and challenger Katlyn Chookgain here are some bits and pieces of what they all had to say during the presser.

*ever should be never also partners should be training partners*

-------------------------------------------------------------- MMA Twitter

rodrigoviolim · March 19, 2021

Soccer kicks in the cage Yeeeeeessss!!!!

About Atomweight, I think Waterson will be the biggest name until the division develops other fighters.

And I believe it will be even bigger than the Featherweight division.

Always hot conferences !!!

vladjarca · March 19, 2021

Can't wait for the next card, bruh!

McDojoDelux · March 20, 2021

January Week 2 (2019) Recap

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MMA News

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McDojoDelux · March 21, 2021

January Week 3 (2019) Recap

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MMA News

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UFC on ESPN+ 1: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw [Preview]

Main-Event [ESPN+]

Flyweight: [C] Henry Cejudo (#10P4P, 13-2) vs. [bNT-C]TJ Dillashaw (#4P4P, 16-3)

Co-Main [ESPN+]

Lightweight: Paul Felder (#10, 15-4) vs. Alexander Hernandez (#11, 10-1)

Main-Card [ESPN+]

Flyweight: Joseph Benavidez (#2, 25-5) vs. Alex Perez (#15, 21-4)

W-Flyweight: Andrea Lee (#5, 9-2) vs. Mara Romero Borella (#11, 11-5-2NC)

Light-Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (#8, 10-0) vs. Ion Cutelaba (#13, 14-3-1NC)

Preliminary-Card [ESPN 1]

Flyweight: Deiveson Figueiredo (#6, 15-0) vs. Ray Borg (#3, 11-3)

Bantamweight: Tom Duquesonoy (16-2-1NC) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-9)

W-Strawweight: Livia Renata Souza (11-2) vs. Syuri Kondo (6-1)

Early-Prelims [uFC-Fight Pass]

Light-Heavyweight: Ryan Spann (15-5) vs. Jordan Johnson (10-0)

Welterweight: Lyman Good (20-3-1NC) vs. Curtis Millender (16-3)

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The UFC is back this weekend with a historic card as they make their debut on the ESPN network and their first show on the ESPN+ subscription which they as well as the ESPN network have been marketing like crazy in preparation for this event. ‘The ESPN cure’ is a real thing to some as we head into tomorrow night's fights as a total of 8 fights have been altered with 4 fights in total being pulled. But throughout the build-up, the main-event has been solidly intact as Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw had a successful weight cut making weight easily for the first and probably last time at Flyweight. The fate of the Flyweight division is in all likelihood on the shoulders of Champion Henry Cejudo as challenger TJ Dillashaw has expressed no interest in defending the belt if he wins it and the UFC has been in talks of shutting down the Flyweight division for years now. If the Bantamweight Champion can come down scoop up the Flyweight belt then what really is the point of the division especially since the male's Flyweight division statically draws the least amount of fans on the UFC's viewership ratings. Also on the line are some possible key pound-for-pound rankings as with Jon Jones losing to Gustafsson along with Cormier and Khabib expressing possible retirements soon that number 1 pound for pound spot could be wide open very soon. Dillashaw has also called out Featherweight Champion Max Holloway to a super fight in a bid to become a champ, champ, champ. Cejudo has also expressed interest in claiming the Featherweight belt to become a champ, champ, champ as he told Submission Radio “after I beat TJ [Dillashaw] at Flyweight I then take his Bantamweight belt then I challenge and beat [Max] Holloway for the Featherweight strap. I’m not stopping at just being a champ, champ in the UFC I wanna be champ, champ, champ, champ. Olympic gold medalist, UFC Flyweight Champion, Bantamweight Champion, and Featherweight Champion".

The two have talked big leading up to the event with Dillashaw also taking spots at the former pound for pound number 1 and former Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson calling him “washed up” and a “disgrace to the sport” when Johnson held the pound for pound number 1 spot. He also called out Cejudo for his previously missed weight for a couple of Flyweight fights earlier in his career. Meanwhile, Cejudo himself has taken the role as the hero willingly on behalf of the Flyweight division, stylistic wise it’ll be interesting to see how far Cejudo striking has become as Dillashaw in recent years has come on the power powerful dynamic strikes able to put you out with punches, kicks, knees, elbows, and an array of spinning attacks. Cejudo has developed a very solid karate base style with some good kicks seen in his previous fight with Demetrious Johnson also like he has mentioned over and over in the lead-up Cejudo's an gold medalist in wrestling which should clearly show who has the superior wrestling abilities. Although Dillashaw is a comfortable (-200) favorite, Cejudo has been picked by many respectable MMA pundits like former Welterweight turned UFC commentator Dan Hardy who said on an episode of ‘Inside the Octagon’. “Cejudo’s ever karate style was able to keep up with the dynamic attacks of Demetrious Johnson who while isn’t as powerful has similar speed and reaction timing to [TJ] Dillashaw. Along with excellent wrestling that has transitioned into MMA very well I think he can win this fight”.

Paul Felder who 4 weeks ago was training for a marathon will now see himself fighting in the co-main event on the first-ever card on ESPN+ against a rising prospect in Alexander Hernandez a power puncher who is starting to improve all aspects of his game focusing on his wrestling, BJJ, and muay-thai as his original Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone while primarily a kickboxer does have some very underrated wrestling with lethal BJJ particularly with the armbar. But Cerrone would pull out 3 weeks before the event allowing ‘The Irish Dragon’ Paul Felder to step in, many have this circled as a can’t miss fight of the night contender as Felder a protegee under Duke Roufus loves to strike especially using spinning techniques. But Felder much like ‘Cowboy’ has some underrated wrestling which he could fall back on if need be. Despite Hernandez taking some shots early on at Cerrone for taking the fight the two have been respectful towards each other with Hernandez saying during media day, “I got no problem with Paul [Felder] he stepped up and took this fight probably against his best judgment. But I’m glad he took it and I’m still on the card with much respect to him”. The main-card plus prelims have seen a lot of changes due to a slew of injuries but let's get into it. Alex Perez on short notice much like Paul Felder will face a main staple of the Flyweight division Joseph Benavidez, Perez will look to use his deadly leg kicks plus dominant positional wrestling that could test the longtime Flyweight fighting off his back as Perez likes to dictate the pace of his fights. We all know what we get from Benavidez, a very solid all-round fighter, a jack of all trades who has some of the best sprawling and submission defense the UFC has ever seen. Women’s Flyweights Mara Romero Borella versus Andrea Lee in what can be seen as a classic wrestler in Borella taking on a striker in Lee who has an accomplished background in karate. Borrela isn’t that bad on her feet as the marketing of this fight will have you believe though she is durable plus has shown flashes of decent boxing but more than likely she’ll be outpointed if the fight stays standing the entire fight so this fight will be a test for Andrea Lee as we’ll see if here takedown defense, BJJ, and possibly the ability to fight off her back all be tested tomorrow night. Rounding out the main-card it’s another short notice fighter stepping up in this case it’s Dominick Reyes who took the fight on basically a week's notice after Brazilian legend Glover Teixeira pulled out due to injury. Reyes is a very high-level kickboxer fast with his hands. He has some serious one-shot knockout power with everything he throws from punches to kicks, elbows, knees, anything really Reyes has a lot of power behind. The question is how will Reye’s cardio and overall game plan look like on only a couple day’s notice? Reye’s thinks it’ll be a non-factor,

“I’m the best Light-Heavyweight in the world and that's what I’m going to prove tomorrow night, I don’t need a training camp to defeat anyone in this division. I know I’m the best and after this fight, everyone will be asking how I made this look so easy with little to no training just a week of weight-cutting".

- Dominick Reyes

His opponent Ion Cutelaba hasn’t taken too kindly to Reye’s big words in the lead-up calling him “otherworldy stupid”. Cutelaba himself is another very promising prospect for the Light-Heavyweight division being incredibly nimble for a 205’er he too poses one-punch knockout power with some accomplished boxing but the best part of his game is his strong sambo wrestling. Reye’s is yet to be tested against such a high-level wrestler how will he do especially on short notice can his takedown defense be up to snuff? Onto Dana White’s “if you don’t know, now you know” special Twitter post where he highlighted 2 fights on the prelims. White started off with the new headliner of the prelims, a big Flyweight fight between the undefeated powerhouse Brazilian Deiveson Figueiredo he has a power never before seen in the Flyweight division but to test this power the returning Ray Borg will look to outlast Figueiredo. Moving back to the Light-Heavyweight division we see another two prospects within the division who look to crack the rankings sometime soon as Ryan Spann is a very raw prospect with one punch knockout power. Spann is solid in all areas of MMA and a jack of trades with fight-ending power has proven it can make a long way in the UFC’s Light-Heavyweight division but it’s all up to how Spann develops. His opponent Jordan Johnson is a strong high-level wrestler that likes to keep up a suffocating pace much like Welterweight Kamaru Usman.

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Bellator 210 [Preview]

Main-Event [DZAN]

Heavyweight: [LHY-C] Ryan Bader (26-5) vs. Cheick Kongo (29-10-2)

For Vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship

Co-Main [DZAN]

Welterweight: Douglas Lima (30-7) vs. Gerald Harris (25-7)

Main-Card [DZAN]

Lightweight: Ryan Couture (12-6) vs. Zach Freeman (9-3)

W-Flyweight: Julianna Velasquez (7-0) vs. Colleen Schneider (10-8)

Welterweight: Andrey Koreshko (21-3) vs. Michael Page (13-0)

Not going over the prelims as there aren’t really that many notable fighters so only going over the main-card.

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Just like the UFC the number 2 MMA promotion in the world Bellator is back for their first show of 2019 on a brand broadcasting network as they will be broadcasting all their events exclusively on the DZAN subscription after signing a huge $1 billion deal. In 2019 Bellator launched a Heavyweight Grand Prix to crown a new Heavyweight Champion due to the title being vacant both Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko made it to the grand we're supposed to fight by the end of the year for the Bellator title. But a Fedor injury would put him on the sidelines for an estimated 6-months not wanting to wait Bellator called up the best Heavyweight on the roster they could find to fight Bader for the vacant strap in French Kickboxer Cheick Kongo a high-level striker and a veteran of the sport he faces Ryan Bader the Bellator Light-Heavyweight Champion looks to become the first Bellator double-champion ever since signing with the promotion Bader has taken his boxing to a whole new level showcasing one-shot knockout power he seemingly never had before with his high-pace wrestling he has quickly become one of Bellator’s better fighters. But this fight against such an experienced striker will showcase if Bader striking has developed to an elite level or will opt to wrestle instead?

Speaking of one-shot knockout power enter Welterweight Gerald Harris who has a notorious knockout highlight reel on Youtube he holds one of the most vicious knockouts in UFC history when he KO’d currently ranked UFC Middleweight David Branch at UFC 116 (July 2010). He fights the very technical and durable now-former Bellator Welterweight Douglas Lima who looks to reclaim his title after losing it in a fantastic fight against Rory McDonald, “My loss to [Rory] McDonald has lite a fire under me I have never felt before, the need to feed my family and to cement my legacy is at an all-time high. I have never felt this way before and I’m very excited to compete again”. Staying the Welterweight division another former Bellator Welterweight Champion fights on the main-card as Andrey Koreshkov a two-time opponent of Douglas Lima will face one of Bellator's biggest prospects in the undefeated Micheal ‘Venom’ Page. Many all calling this match a mistake for Bellator as Koreshkov a sambo wrestler has the ability to totally dominate Page that will deflate all of the hype ‘Venom’ Page has gathered over his years in Bellator. But just because he loves to wrestle doesn't mean Koreshkov doesn't have solid fundamental boxing especially in the clinch where he is an excellent dirty boxer. Seen as a “can crusher” for years by most higher-up MMA pundits this a chance for Michael Page to prove he is a legit fighter who can hang with the best Welterweights in the world his takedown defense and overall wrestling will be tested in this fight. The trash talk that Page has unleashed towards Koreshkov has been vicious very similar to the trash talk Connor McGregor did to Khabib Nurmagomedov he has crossed the line by fans many times mocking the Russian culture, family, friends, and has taken many potshots at every single post-Koreshkov has made on Twitter mostly counting down the days until he knocks him out. Koreshkov has remained ice-cold even face to face during a press conference with Page being loud mouth self no emotion or angered response as done by Koreshkov but he did tell reporters the press conference when they asked if the trash talk would effect,

“Yes but not the way he’ll [Michael Page] hope for. The punch is gonna be a little harder, that kick will sting a little more, that takedown will be done with a lot more strength than he expects it to be”.

- Andrey Koreshkov

To round out the main card don’t sleep on the son of MMA legend Randy Couture as Ryan Couture takes on Zach Freeman in a Lightweight bout. These two fighters are both very similar with solid all-round games who deliver on giving fans fight of the night barn burners. Bellator has pulled all the stops in their debut with DZAN and will take on the UFC head to head tonight broadcasting-wise, the UFC will undoubtedly have higher ratings but if Bellator can deliver with some solid ratings plus some solid viewership it’ll be a huge step forward for the company.

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vladjarca · March 21, 2021

Main-Event [ESPN+]

Flyweight: [C] Henry Cejudo (#10P4P, 13-2) vs. [bNT-C]TJ Dillashaw (#4P4P, 16-3)

Co-Main [ESPN+]

Lightweight: Paul Felder (#10, 15-4) vs. Alexander Hernandez (#11, 10-1)

Main-Card [ESPN+]

Flyweight: Joseph Benavidez (#2, 25-5) vs. Alex Perez (#15, 21-4)

W-Flyweight: Andrea Lee (#5, 9-2) vs. Mara Romero Borella (#11, 11-5-2NC)

Light-Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (#8, 10-0) vs. Ion Cutelaba (#13, 14-3-1NC)

Preliminary-Card [ESPN 1]

Flyweight: Deiveson Figueiredo (#6, 15-0) vs. Ray Borg (#3, 11-3)

Bantamweight: Tom Duquesonoy (16-2-1NC) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-9)

W-Strawweight: Livia Renata Souza (11-2) vs. Syuri Kondo (6-1)

Early-Prelims [uFC-Fight Pass]

Light-Heavyweight: Ryan Spann (15-5) vs. Jordan Johnson (10-0)

Welterweight: Lyman Good (20-3-1NC) vs. Curtis Millender (16-3)

Main-Event [DZAN]

Heavyweight: [LHY-C] Ryan Bader (26-5) vs. Cheick Kongo (29-10-2)

For Vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship

Co-Main [DZAN]

Welterweight: Douglas Lima (30-7) vs. Gerald Harris (25-7)

Main-Card [DZAN]

Lightweight: Ryan Couture (12-6) vs. Zach Freeman (9-3)

W-Flyweight: Julianna Velasquez (7-0) vs. Colleen Schneider (10-8)

Welterweight: Andrey Koreshko (21-3) vs. Michael Page (13-0)

Majster_93 · March 21, 2021

Main-Event [ESPN+]

Flyweight: [C] Henry Cejudo (#10P4P, 13-2) vs. [bNT-C]TJ Dillashaw (#4P4P, 16-3)

Co-Main [ESPN+]

Lightweight: Paul Felder (#10, 15-4) vs. Alexander Hernandez (#11, 10-1)

Main-Card [ESPN+]

Flyweight: Joseph Benavidez (#2, 25-5) vs. Alex Perez (#15, 21-4)

W-Flyweight: Andrea Lee (#5, 9-2) vs. Mara Romero Borella (#11, 11-5-2NC)

Light-Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (#8, 10-0) vs. Ion Cutelaba (#13, 14-3-1NC)

Preliminary-Card [ESPN 1]

Flyweight: Deiveson Figueiredo (#6, 15-0) vs. Ray Borg (#3, 11-3)

Bantamweight: Tom Duquesonoy (16-2-1NC) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-9)

W-Strawweight: Livia Renata Souza (11-2) vs. Syuri Kondo (6-1)

Early-Prelims [uFC-Fight Pass]

Light-Heavyweight: Ryan Spann (15-5) vs. Jordan Johnson (10-0)

Welterweight: Lyman Good (20-3-1NC) vs. Curtis Millender (16-3)

Main-Event [DZAN]

Heavyweight: [LHY-C] Ryan Bader (26-5) vs. Cheick Kongo (29-10-2)

For Vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship

Co-Main [DZAN]

Welterweight: Douglas Lima (30-7) vs. Gerald Harris (25-7)

Main-Card [DZAN]

Lightweight: Ryan Couture (12-6) vs. Zach Freeman (9-3)

W-Flyweight: Julianna Velasquez (7-0) vs. Colleen Schneider (10-8)

Welterweight: Andrey Koreshko (21-3) vs. Michael Page (13-0)

CageRage · March 21, 2021

UFC on ESPN+ 1: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw [Preview]

Main-Event [ESPN+]

Flyweight: [C] Henry Cejudo (#10P4P, 13-2) vs. [bNT-C]TJ Dillashaw (#4P4P, 16-3)

Co-Main [ESPN+]

Lightweight: Paul Felder (#10, 15-4) vs. Alexander Hernandez (#11, 10-1)

Main-Card [ESPN+]

Flyweight: Joseph Benavidez (#2, 25-5) vs. Alex Perez (#15, 21-4)

W-Flyweight: Andrea Lee (#5, 9-2) vs. Mara Romero Borella (#11, 11-5-2NC)

Light-Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (#8, 10-0) vs. Ion Cutelaba (#13, 14-3-1NC)

Preliminary-Card [ESPN 1]

Flyweight: Deiveson Figueiredo (#6, 15-0) vs. Ray Borg (#3, 11-3)

Bantamweight: Tom Duquesonoy (16-2-1NC) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-9)

W-Strawweight: Livia Renata Souza (11-2) vs. Syuri Kondo (6-1)

Early-Prelims [uFC-Fight Pass]

Light-Heavyweight: Ryan Spann (15-5) vs. Jordan Johnson (10-0)

Welterweight: Lyman Good (20-3-1NC) vs. Curtis Millender (16-3)

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Bellator 210 [Preview]

Main-Event [DZAN]

Heavyweight: [LHY-C] Ryan Bader (26-5) vs. Cheick Kongo (29-10-2)

For Vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship

Co-Main [DZAN]

Welterweight: Douglas Lima (30-7) vs. Gerald Harris (25-7)

Main-Card [DZAN]

Lightweight: Ryan Couture (12-6) vs. Zach Freeman (9-3)

W-Flyweight: Julianna Velasquez (7-0) vs. Colleen Schneider (10-8)

Welterweight: Andrey Koreshko (21-3) vs. Michael Page (13-0)

rodrigoviolim · March 22, 2021

UFC on ESPN+ 1: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw [Preview]

Main-Event [ESPN+]

Flyweight: [C] Henry Cejudo (#10P4P, 13-2) vs. [bNT-C]TJ Dillashaw (#4P4P, 16-3)

Co-Main [ESPN+]

Lightweight: Paul Felder (#10, 15-4) vs. Alexander Hernandez (#11, 10-1)

Main-Card [ESPN+]

Flyweight: Joseph Benavidez (#2, 25-5) vs. Alex Perez (#15, 21-4)

W-Flyweight: Andrea Lee (#5, 9-2) vs. Mara Romero Borella (#11, 11-5-2NC)

Light-Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (#8, 10-0) vs. Ion Cutelaba (#13, 14-3-1NC)

Preliminary-Card [ESPN 1]

Flyweight: Deiveson Figueiredo (#6, 15-0) vs. Ray Borg (#3, 11-3)

Bantamweight: Tom Duquesonoy (16-2-1NC) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-9)

W-Strawweight: Livia Renata Souza (11-2) vs. Syuri Kondo (6-1)

Early-Prelims [uFC-Fight Pass]

Light-Heavyweight: Ryan Spann (15-5) vs. Jordan Johnson (10-0)

Welterweight: Lyman Good (20-3-1NC) vs. Curtis Millender (16-3)

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Bellator 210 [Preview]

Main-Event [DZAN]

Heavyweight: [LHY-C] Ryan Bader (26-5) vs. Cheick Kongo (29-10-2)

For Vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship

Co-Main [DZAN]

Welterweight: Douglas Lima (30-7) vs. Gerald Harris (25-7)

Main-Card [DZAN]

Lightweight: Ryan Couture (12-6) vs. Zach Freeman (9-3)

W-Flyweight: Julianna Velasquez (7-0) vs. Colleen Schneider (10-8)

Welterweight: Andrey Koreshko (21-3) vs. Michael Page (13-0)

McDojoDelux · March 25, 2021

UFC on ESPN+ 1: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw

Date: February Week 3 (2019) Sunday

Event posts will be a mixture of both fight play-by-plays as well as quick bullet points to summarize the event as a whole, only key fights like the fight of the night or fights, the performance of the night as well as fights that have a lot of significance like the main event, co-main, or key bout on the main-card or prelims will be covered. These play by plays are romanticized for dramatic effect but the results are legitimate, if the play-by-plays are too long or you don’t feel like reading them I’ll have a more brief summary of what happened plus the full card results at the bottom.

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FIGHT PLAY-BY-PLAYS:

Two highly praised prospects of the Light-Heavyweight division will battle to open the main-card of the UFC’s first fight on ESPN+. However, as mentioned before Dominick Reyes takes this fight on only 1 week’s notice as Cutelaba’s original opponent Glover Teixeira pulled out due to injury. Reyes has talked pretty big explaining how he needs no training camp to beat anyone, saying during the 1-week preparation he mostly just cut weight and didn’t even train. Cutelaba has called out Reyes for lying and putting out excuses so he’ll “feel better when he gets smashed”.

Round 1

The two open up with an exchange in the middle of the octagon Cutelaba attempts to back down Reyes by constantly pumping out the jab but instead, Dominick Reyes circles around him hitting some nice leg kicks early on before firing off a one-two that lands then two hooks which are blocked well. Cutelaba seems content to wait on the outside staying on the defensive side of things as he awaits for Reyes to make a mistake he can capitalize on, this leads to him eating more leg kicks plus a few push kicks to the body from long range but eventually, an ill-advised jab then spinning heel kick to the head combination from Reyes misses baldy leaving Cutelaba to grab his back with a body lock around his hips then the Sambo wrestler gets a beautiful suplex slam for his first takedown of the fight. The next two minute is spent with Cutelaba on top getting some decent body shots but nothing else as Reyes shows some create transition defense as well as covering up well whenever Cutelaba unload with ground n’ pound as he is left mostly in half-guard for most of the time spent on the mat until the referee Jason Herzog stands then up as Cutelaba tried to converse some energy. Reyes starts pressuring Cutelaba backing up looking to put it on him to possibly win the round winning out looping hooks in a rapid flurry starting with 3 hooks to the body then 4 to the head with only 2 of the hooks to the body landing as Cutelaba covered up well against the cage.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Reyes

Blurcat: 10-9 Reyes

Sherdog: 10-9 Reyes

Round 2

Reyes throws out a pretty sloppy combo of straight punches followed by a front kick to the head which also missed allowing Cutelaba to counter with a strong straight as he basically jumped into the shot then grabs the single-leg but can’t get the takedown so Cutelaba settles for pushing him up against the cage. Some occasional body punches and foot stomps are all that follow for the next minute and a half as the two catch their breath. After another 30 seconds of stalling referee Jason Herzog finally separates the two. Cutelaba once again basically jumps into a straight punch which he lands but due to the poor movement this time he is clipped by two hooks from Reyes which wobbles Cutelaba a little bit!!! He immediately dives for the double-leg takedown pushing Reyes un against the cage but just stalls looking to recover, but he has to disengage as Reyes rains down some elbows. As he tries to get away, Cutelaba is again clipped by hooks on the forehead!!! Reyes is taking some deep breaths it’s clear the conditioning on such short notice is finally taking its effect. Reyes flings out a one-two but Cutelaba leans back then blasts Reyes with an uppercut but Reyes responds with a clean jab then calf kick. Reyes again starts pushing himself near the end of the round to possibly swag the judges. A jab hits home for Reyes then he catches Cutelaba with a roundhouse kick to the body then Reyes follows it up with 2 out of 3 straight punches landing then ends the combo with two quick leg kicks then both land.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 20-18 Reyes

Blurcat: 20-18 Reyes

Sherdog: 20-18 Reyes

Round 3

Reye’s is completely out of gas clear by him slouching on his stool covered in towels and ice packs on the body. Cutelaba sees this and immediately shoots to wrestle, easily grabbing a single-leg he can’t seem to get Reyes down as Reyes himself actually prevents Cutelaba from pushing him up against the cage. Reyes actually attempts to out-wrestle Ion Cutelaba but it ends up with Cutelaba getting a very solid body lock as he attempts to put Reyes down again with another suplex slam, however, he still can’t get Dominick Reyes down this time Cutelaba is able to put him against the cage. Reyes tries to cage walk in an attempt to circle out as he does so though Cutelaba is able to get off a few uppercuts plus foot stomps for the next incoming minute. Cutelaba shows his raw strength advantage by getting a huge belly-to-belly suplex takedown, but Reyes is able to shift into a sitting position against the cage and is able to quickly get back up against the cage trying to cage walk his way out of the clinch again. But Cutelaba is once again able to drag him down to the mat then rinse and repeat as the same sequence happened for the next couple of minutes as Reyes is able to get back to a sitting position against the cage and get up then get sit back down until the end of the fight. In total Cutelaba got a total of 4 out of 7 takedowns during the round.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 29-28 Reyes

Blurcat: 29-28 Reyes

Sherdog: 29-28 Reyes

“Ladies and gentlemen after 3 rounds we go to the judges’ scorecards for the decision, the judges score this contest

29-28 Cutelaba

29-28 Reyes and,

28-28

This fight is ruled a split decision DRAW”.

Both fighters have a look of shock on their faces. Reye can't believe the decision while Cutelaba looks shocked as well as happy to have gotten a draw at least. The 12 thousand fans in attendance at the Barclays Center do not agree with the decision with a loud shower of boos coming down when the decision was read as well as the crowd booing Cutelaba throughout his post-fight interview with Jon Anik. Cutelaba tried making the best out of the situation by saying it was a “very good fight” and “a rematch is a must”. Meanwhile, Reye’s while stunned didn’t seem to keen on the rematch actually during his interview with Jon Anik “honestly I feel I beat him and I took on an opponent which is lower ranked than me, I did the UFC a favor I feel I should get a crack at a Top 5 opponent you saw what I did with a week now give me a full training camp I knockout everyone”.

OFFICIAL RESULT

Dominick Reyes draws w/. Ion Cutelaba

--------------------------------------------------------------

After wowing UFC president Dana White securing a UFC contract on the 5th episode of Dana Whites Contender series, Perez has gone a solid (3-0) inside the UFC showcasing a high-level fight IQ with a strong leg plus good positional wrestling he looks to finally rip off the label of prospect and become an official contender. Although much like Dominick Reyes a few fights before he’ll have to prove himself on short-notice as he only had 3 weeks of preparation to face the longtime Flyweight contender Joseph Benavidez who finds himself likely on his last ever title-run with all to lose and nothing to gain Benavidez didn’t have to accept this fight. But Benavidez said he wanted to “stay active and stay in love with the sport, I want to become the world Champion someday and a Champion doesn't say no to anybody especially someone he knows he can beat”.

Round 1

Benavidez is rushing in like a raging bull wanting to trap Perez up against the cage then wrestle him, but while he charges forward he attempts a very visible straight-right which is easily ducked by Perez who then counters with a clean one-two that hits Benavidez on the forehead but a follow up spinning back fist from Perez misses when Benavidez dips his head to the right then slams a roundhouse kick to the body. Benavidez fakes the lead uppercut instead rushing in with a clean right-hook, the body followed by him tying up with Perez driving him against the cage. Benavidez remains busy by quickly driving 3 knees to the body plus a few bus driver uppercuts before perfectly getting a body lock allowing Benavidez to get a very solid takedown. Perez excellently defends the ground n’ pound from Benavidez as well as preventing Benavidez from grabbing mount multiple times until the round comes to an end.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Benavidez

Blurcat: 10-9 Benavidez

Sherdog: 10-9 Benavidez

Round 2

Perez fires off a set-up jab that misses but is able to land a leg kick to the thigh of Benavidez but while retracting the kick Benavidez grabs a hold of the leg then gets a single-leg takedown to go 2 for 2 on takedowns!!! The ground game is a very similar story to the 1st round as Benavidez transitions plus ground n’ pound just isn’t finding a home as Perez is doing very well defending off his back. While Benavidez is transitioning to side-control Perez decides it would be a good idea to put all his energy into a scramble in an attempt to get on top or get the fight to its feet again. A costly decision as Benavidez proves to be the better sprawler instead he finally grabs full-mount!!! Instead of going for some big ground n’ pound, the Benavidez attempts two sold armbars while they don’t really come close to submitting Perez, Benavidez did hold onto them for a relatively long time (1 minute and 12 seconds). A long long period of the two doing nothing on the ground follows suit until Perez who was able to shift himself near the cage uses his two feet to push off the fence of the octagon and while the two scramble Perez breaks free and the fight is back to its feet!!! Benavidez rushes down Perez landing a nice jab but eats a hard right hook to the chin for his troubles too, the two start to employ some great defense as Benavidez is checking Perez’s leg kicks almost every single time whole Benavidez while he found a home for the jab can’t land anything else as Perez parries it of just blocks it by covering up well. Perez looks for another leg kick but he fakes the kick going for the legs instead he hits a hard spinning kick to the chest of Benavidez following it up with a hard left then right hand but Benavidez responds with a right hook to the body. Benavidez lands a nice jab then straight but again is clipped by a hard right hook as he fails to follow up with strikes or cover-up afterward. Perez three hooks to the body all miss, Benavidez tries to land a counter uppercut but at the last minute, Perez slips it as the round ends.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 20-18 Benavidez

Blurcat: 20-18 Benavidez

Sherdog: 20-18 Benavidez

Round 3

Benavidez flings out a one-two, Perez slips his head to the right dodging both punches then once again counter with a right-hook but instead of being one and done he lands a left hook to the forehand as Benavidez tries to circle right Perez nails a nice straight to the chin that backs up the veteran Flyweight to the cage!!! Perez grabs a hold of Benavidez trying to unload with 2 knees to the head but they are both blocked. Benavidez is able to slightly-out wrestle Perez for a moment as he tries to reverse the position as he attempts to reverse however Perez times an excellent sweep which puts Benavidez down to the mat as Alex Perez gets his first successful takedown of the fight!!! Perez does well mostly nothing with his top control staying in full-guard for a majority of the control time he has in the third and final round possibly to converse his energy for a last-minute flurry near the end of the round. Eventually referee Keith Peterson stands the two fighters up after a lengthy period of inactivity. Benavidez after checking a leg kick from Perez rushes forward landing a one-two then ducks under the counter right-hook from Perez while circling out. Perez comes in with a combo of 5 straight punches but only the starting jab lands but he surprises everyone with a venomous head kick which Benavidez slips backward to doge at the last possible seconds!!! If that landed it could've ended the fight my goodness!!! The two mostly trade jabs as the fight comes to an end.

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 30-27 Benavidez

Blurcat: 29-28 Benavidez

Sherdog: 29-28 Benavidez

“Ladies and gentlemen after 3 rounds we go the judges’ scorecards for a decision all three judges score this contest 29-28 to the winner by unanimous decision

Alex Perez”

Oh boy, if you thought the boos during the Dominick Reyes versus Ion Cutelaba decision was bad this one was way worse. Benavidez drops to his knees in disbelief while Perez raises his hands in victory. The whole experience is very similar to when GSP got the split decision win over Johnny Hendricks at UFC 167 (November 2013). Perez could barely get in a few words during the post-fight interview the boos were just that loud, the social media reaction on Twitter was also very toxic with commentator Daniel Cormier not helping by screaming into the microphone “what a disgusting decision, Joseph Benavidez has just been robbed for everyone to see unbelievable”. Cormier has apologized for this outburst calling it “unprofessional”.

OFFICAL RESULT:

Alex Perez def. Joseph Benavidez via UD (29-28x3)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Alexander Hernandez is a red-hot prospect coming into 2019 after becoming a breakthrough star in the Lightweight division during 2018. Knocking out the very entertaining Beneil Dariush in 42 seconds he then got a convincing decision win over Olivier Aubin-Mercier but he said he “wasn’t happy” with the performance wanting a more convincing win. “I like to finish people, when it goes to a decision it hurts me a little bit because I know I should be knocking everyone out”. Wouldn’t you know it Paul Felder originally booked to be a commentator on this card is stepping in on short notice just like Alex Perez and Dominick Reyes before him with only 3 weeks of preparation? Felder is regarded as a very high-level creative striker but with such a short camp how will it hold up against a powerhouse in Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez?

Round 1

Hernandez starts the round with a slip and pull counter by extending his head backward to avoid the one-two then straight then blasts a counter straight to the chin of ‘The Irish Dragon’. Felder responds with a push kick to the body then a one-two he finishes the combo with a spinning elbow that Hernandez ducks to the right to slip the elbow. Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez dodges a 4 punch combo of hooks from Felder countering with a roundhouse kick to the body, Hernandez slips past a right hook by slipping his head to the left then cracks Felder with a hard counter one-two, quick left then right hook combo!!! Felder attempts to counter with a lead elbow but Hernandez commits another excellent pull and counter breaking Felder’s nose with a massive overhand!!! That punch seemed to have activated a killer instinct for Paul Felder who starts pouring it on!!! Displaying some rapid-fire quick punches Felder hits a nice jab to the body then goes up top with a one-two to the head followed by a leg kick to the thigh then he grazes the forehand of Hernandez with his own overhand causing a cut on the right side of Hernandez’s head!!! Felder lands a flush question mark kick to the head!!! But leaves his guard very low allowing Hernandez to respond with a powerful right hook to the chin of Paul Felder!!! Felder responds with a push kick to the body then a one-two then lands moving forward constantly Felder isn’t giving Hernandez any room at all!!! Hernandez lands another pull and counters with a left hand then follows that up with a right hook to the forehead, but a spinning back fist from Felder lands directly to the forehead of Hernandez!!! These two are going to war here near the end of the round!!! Hernandez with a one-two to the body then a nice uppercut right under the chin of Felder who blasts Hernandez again with a rapid-fire 5 punches of hooks which all land with 3 to the body and 2 landing to the head!!! He ends the combo with a spinning heel kick to the head but Hernandez blocks it, a jab from Felder misses but a leg kick lands he then dodges a straight-right from Hernandez then lands a nice counter body kick!!! Very exciting round and a probable round-of-the-year contender for 2019 already!!!

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 10-9 Hernandez

Blurcat: 10-9 Felder

Sherdog: 10-9 Felder

Round 2

Felder initiates an exchange of punches to start the round with Felder going to with a straight-right but walks right into two left hands from Hernandez who then rips Felder with another clean uppercut right under the chin. Despite this ‘The Irish Dragon’ connects with a nice jab while moving backwards then plants his feet to hit a clean right hand followed by a calf kick. But again Hernandez responds with two quick left hands he then slips back to avoid the jab then tries to counter but Felder hits him with a quick head kick that reopening the cut on the right side of Hernandez’s forehead!!! But Hernandez takes the kick very well by firing back with a jab then right hook but Felder fires off a combo starting with a crunching left-hook, body kick, then one-two but misses on the finishing uppercut. Felder is starting to take big breaths and starting to back-up as the two previously were meeting each other in the center of the octagon for nearly the entire fight. Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez lands a pair of jabs then a clean one-two that snaps Felder’s head back a 5 punch combo of hooks from Felder doesn't trouble Hernandez as he slips all of them then lands a left-cross right to the chin of Felder. ‘The Irish Dragon’ hits a one-two counter as Hernandez tries a lead uppercut but Alex keeps charging forward getting a one-two of his own, finishing the combination with a right hand then left hook that both landed clean. Hernandez again blitzes in but this time rushes into 3 straight punches from Felder who then hits a flush switch kick straight shin to the face of Hernandez right as the round ends!!!

Unofficial Judges:

MMAJunkie: 20-18 Hernandez

Blurcat: 19-19

Sherdog: 20-18 Felder

Round 3

Felder goes all in one a one-two followed by a spinning elbow then venous heel kick but he misses all of his strikes leaving him off balance. Herandez while on the backfoot cracks Felder with a right hook that puts Felder to the floor!!! Hernandez pounces on Felder raining down punches landing several devastating looping punches until referee Jason Herzog puts a stop to the action!!! Wow!!! Alexander Hernandez a huge statement victory here tonight!!!

OFFICIAL RESULT:

Alexander Hernandez def. Paul Felder via TKO [Punches] R3 (0:33)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ever since Connor McGregor became the UFC’s 1st ever UFC double-champion at UFC 205 it seems more and more fighters are interested in joining the double-champ club as currently, only two fighters reside in it with the previously mentioned McGregor and Daniel Cormier. Dillashaw will attempt to become just the 3rd to do so out of 4 attempts in UFC history, but unlike the previous 3 before him, Dillashaw will be moving down a weight class in an attempt to get 2 belts. Dillashaw has expressed some cold-blooded intentions heading into the fight not caring if the UFC does close down the Flyweight division if he does win tonight's fight. Cejudo with a win could possibly save the division and has expressed interest in a possible move up to Bantamweight then Featherweight in an attempt to become a three divisional world champion. Dillashaw has also expressed interest in possibly moving to Featherweight to become a three-division champ as well.

Round 1

Referee Mike Beltran in charge of the action here gets the fight started after a no touching of the gloves from either fighter. Dillashaw starts off the fight with a long stance similar to the long karate stance of Cejudo firing off a jab then a body kick both of which are blocked. Cejudo has both his hands outreaching in a mummy guard with his body wide open Dillashaw looks for another body kick but Cejudo excellently catches the kick and Dillashaw could not stop the single-leg takedown of Cejudo who easily lifted the Bantamweight Champion into the air then to the canvas. Cejudo quickly grabs side-control firing off some elbows which are blocked then he easily moves back into full-guard despite being a Champion in a lower weight class it seems Cejudo is the bigger fighter out there. Cejudo tries some ground n’ pound to the body of Dillashaw as he does so TJ uses an underhook to work for some separation. It's a terrible decision though as Cejudo reacts fast seizing this opportunity to grab full-mount early in the round!!! Cejudo quickly grabs the armbar and finds it locked in, leaving Dillashaw no option but to tap!!! Dillashaw did try to troll everyone as he only tapped once as he tried to make it out like he was working to get out of the submission instead of tapping but the replays quickly disprove Dillashaw who tried to make it seem like it was a bad stoppage instead of him actually tapping!!!

OFFICIAL RESULT:

[C] Henry Cejudo def. TJ Dillashaw via SUB [Kimura] R1 (3:11) to retain UFC Flyweight Championship

Cejudo 1st Flyweight Title-Defense

--------------------------------------------------------------

Critical Rating: 72% / Commercial Rating: 89%

Attendance: 12,329 ( $2,175,075 )

Venue: Barclay Center ( USA, New York )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main-Event

[C] Henry Cejudo def. TJ Dillashaw via SUB [Kimura] R1 (3:11) to retain UFC Flyweight Championship

[Fight Rating: Good]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Co-Main

Alexander Hernandez def. Paul Felder via TKO [Punches] R3 (0:33)

[Fight Rating: Great]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main-Card

Alex Perez def. Joseph Benavidez via UD (29-28x3)

[Fight Rating: Good]

Mara Romero Borella def. Andrea Lee UD (29-28x3)

[Fight Rating: Average]

Dominick Reyes draws w/. Ion Cutelaba (29-28, 28-29, 28-28)

[Fight Rating: Average]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preliminary-Card

Deiveson Figueiredo def. Ray Borg via TKO [Punches & Knees] R1 (2:31)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Tom Duquesonoy def Brian Kelleher via UD (30-27x3)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Syuri Kondo def. Livia Renata Souza via UD (30-27x3)

[Fight Rating: Good]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Early-Prelims

Jordan Johnson def. Ryan Spann via SUB [RNC] R1 (2:47)

[Fight Rating: Great]

Curtis Millender def. Lyman Good via TKO [Head Kick & Punches] R1 (4:48)

[Fight Rating: Good]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fight of the Night:

Paul Felder vs. Alexander Hernandez

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Performance of the Night:

Henry Cejudo, Deiveson Figueiredo, Jordan Johnson

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predictions:

vladjarca - (4.5/10) correct predictions

Majster_93 - (7/10) correct predictions

CageRage - (7.5/10) correct predictions

rodrigoviolim - (5.5/10) correct predictions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the first-ever UFC on ESPN+ card wasn’t an all-time great card that fans will be remembering for years it was still a very solid night of fights that mostly lived up to expectations. We'll start off with the main-event Henry Cejudo took little time to dispose TJ Dillashaw with a 1st round finish. It seemed like Cejudo was just, in general, the bigger fighter he had the wider frame and looked more bulky than TJ did, Dillashaw during the post-fight press conference told reporters “I made a very stupid mistake something I won’t ever do again. This one is very hard for me to swallow. I trained so hard and didn’t really get a chance to do anything out there. I think the stoppage was a little early. I was trying to make my way out of it. This will motivate me to be better than I’ve ever been before”. The mistake he mentioned was his choice to use an underhook to cause separation while Cejudo had him on the canvas this led to Cejudo grabbing the full-mount then the armbar. Dana White confirmed with this impressive performance that the Flyweight division “is here to stay” and when pressed on Cejudo’s desire to move up to Bantamweight which he expressed during the lead-up and post-fight interview with Jon Anik, Dana White said,

“Well look, if he wants to challenge for the Bantamweight title that means a rematch with [TJ] Dillashaw, and I don’t wanna see that fight straight away again. It was one-sided domination. I say let TJ do his thing at 135 for a while let Cejudo do his thing at 125 then we’ll see what happens after that”.

- Dana White

A star was born during tonight’s co-main event as Alexander ‘The Great’ Hernandez stopped Paul Felder early in the 3rd in a sensational fight that had the crowd buzzing. The two traded shots at a brutal pace during the 1st and most of the 2nd round, Hernandez punches seemed to be doing more damage wise but Felder landed more often plus his striking was as expected way more crisp than the still very raw Hernandez but in the 3rd the amount of damage became too much for Felder to handle. After Felder missed on a one-two followed by a spinning elbow then venous heel kick, Hernandez while moving backwards dropped him with a right-hook very similar to how Stipe Miocic knocked out Fabricio Werdum to claim the Heavyweight Championship at UFC 203 (May 2016). With ground n’ pound to finish him off Hernandez then did a very pro-wrestler like callout of both Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier calling them both “old men'' calling for the two of them to “step aside the new generation of Lightweights is coming and only I have the right to put the first loss of Khabib’s [Nurmagomedov] record”.

Now let's move onto a huge story early on the main-card that being judging in MMA. To start the main-card we have the controversial Dominick Reyes vs. Ion Cutelaba split decision draw. Most had it 29-28 Reye’s and some could argue a draw since round 3 which people almost unanimously believe Cutelaba easily won featured Cutelaba out grappling Reye’s for a full 5 straight minutes getting 4 takedowns in total during the round. But to counteract that he never landed anything of significance or had a deep submission that round either so is that really a 10-8 round? More bewildering is that one judge scored it 29-28 for Cutelaba giving him rounds 1 and 3. While round 1 saw some time with Cutelaba on top again he didn’t do much plus the majority of round 1 was spent standing where Reye’s was picking him apart with his superior kickboxing. Even worse was a key Flyweight bout between Alex Perez and Joseph Benavidez that saw Perez win 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards when most fans and pundits scored the fight 29-28 or 30-27 for Benavidez. In fact, 15 out 15 MMA media sources that scored the fight tonight gave Benavidez the decision win however, all three judges saw it differently as all three of them gave rounds 2 and 3 for Perez. Souring things even worse for Perez was when he expressed interest in fighting Deiveson Figueiredo who called out both Benavidez and Perez wanting to fight the winner of their fight, Perez said “It makes a lot of sense in terms on ranking and I feel the winner gets a title-shot in all honesty”. This year the UFC and many athletic state commissions across the United States decided on a new criteria for the unified rules of MMA (at least for inside the UFC). Mostly to fix judging in MMA with the legalization of knees to a grounded opponent, all forms of soccer kicks, plus more of an emphasis on effective striking and grappling overwhelming the volume of strikes plus time spent on the ground effectiveness with the striking and grappling it the new top priority for judges to look for in a round by round system. Perhaps the UFC will abolish the 10-9 must rounds system one day but for now.

Moving on to some very impressive performances of the night Deiveson Figueiredo didn’t take long to TKO #3 Flyweight Ray Borg to stay undefeated he backed down Borg to the fence of the octagon then landed a devastating right hook after using a set-up one-two then became the first fighter in the UFC to finish his opponent with knees to the head as it was recently legalized. Like mentioned before Figueiredo called to fight the winner of Perez vs. Benavidez for a number 1 contender fight that he said “made a lot of sense” to Jon Anik. Also staying undefeated Jordan Johnson is quickly rising the ranks of the Light-Heavyweight division quickly getting fellow Light-Heavyweight prospect Ryan Spann to the ground then showed Spann’s lack of experience on the ground tapping him out rather quickly. Jackson called for a ranked opponent after the fight saying he was “too skilled” to continue fighting a non-ranked opponent, a request the UFC might just give him. Lastly Mara Romero Borella got the biggest upsert victory off the card being a (+470) underdog to the (-330) favorite in Andrea Lee. The first round saw the two have a very surprisingly competitive striking match as Lee didn’t really utilize her kicks making the 1st a boxing contest in which both landed some decent shots, Borella was marching down Lee that round forcing her to use a lot of footwork and general movement even though Borella was just feinting sometimes. That led to Borella zapping Lee’s energy as she gassed at the start of the 2nd which is when Borella incorporated wrestling which led to the Italian getting a very convincing unanimous decision victory. This is done and dusted let’s head onto the results of Bellator 210 (in the next thread post that is).

rodrigoviolim · March 25, 2021

Cejudo destroyed Dillashaw ... let's see if the path of both will cross at Bantamweight, if they continue to win. But if Dillashaw loses, I think there might be a title shot for Cejudo on the BW.

How many controversial decisions in the event ... The fights of Reyes-Cutelaba and Perez-Benavidez were a shame !!!! Even I booed from here hehehehe

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