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Early Prelims and Main Prelims:
The night of war started off absolutely electric from the very first fight of the early prelims. We had a slobber knocker between CKB’s Carlos Ulberg & Kennedy Nzechukwu. Nzechukwu I thought was going to hit the canvas quick, Ulberg brought crazy pressure and landed some power shots to the face but Kennedy ate them and continued to get the ring rust off the more he got hit. Ulberg got tired quick and Kennedy exploited him for an electric finish to start things for the night. Two star-studded prospects in Sean Brady and Jake Matthews continued the prelim thunder with some fast and competitive technical warfare with Brady getting it done with a impressive arm triangle & then calling out “The Leech” Jingliang Li which has epic appeal.
Amanda Lemos was jealous on watching the men lite fireworks and joined the party with a vicious TKO on Livinha Souza which then got followed up with Uros Medic leavin’ a damn crime scene thanks to a Herb Dean esque late stoppage. Then we get to my savage performance of the month; Tim Elliot rawdoggin’ Jordan Espinosa and calling him out on his shit during live TV. That may have been the most disrespectful but badass sports whoppin I’ve ever seen. I’ll speak more in tune on my next Founder Talk but check this video out and tune into the shit talk getting unleashed by Tim Elliot.
video via Spinnin Backfist//Twitter
I mean holy cow, that’s wild. I thought the “Talib Chain Snatchin” or Detroit Bad Boys were fierce... my god Mr. Elliot. Hats off I love it. Six fights and six finishes... probably the best prelims ever without thinking about it. It was only the early; early prelims... buckle up.
The main card prelim gents are sitting there like damn we have to follow that up... but it had them lickin’ their chops because those boys shot the electricity up even more! CKB came in with three weapons, with Ulberg being put down, Kai Kara-France knew he had to not only continue the event’s thunder but also get The Down Under boys back on track. First moments I thought KKF was going to find the same fate as Ulberg. Rogerio Bontorin brought the smoke right to him & right away in a tenacious fury. Applied a rear-naked choke on KKF so deep I thought it was a sure finish for Bontorin, but KKF somehow got out and reversed it. KKF got himself to his feet & unleashed major heat as he popped Bontorin with heavy hands causing Herb Dean 2021 to happen again. Herb Dean is out of sorts. KKF had dropped Bontorin into a scorpion, this dude looked dead, which quickly gave KKF the assumption he was slept, KKF starts to celly and Bontorin jumps to his feet (stumbled a moment), and then Herb Dean vocally told Bontorin it’s over but showed zero awareness to anyone else. Due to the lack of communication from Dean, KKF thought all of a sudden the fight never stopped and began to lunge towards a laying down Bontorin and came close to landing some devastating ground & pound but was able to withstand. Regardless, Herb Dean’s slow behavior & lack of fighter communication is going to get some hurt. This is now the second time in just two cards, his entire year (even December of last) has been awful. Check the footage.
video via Spinnin Backfist//Twitter
That is such sloppy officiating, no communication. Dean has to be vocal to both fighters and the time keeper. KKF's corner saw Bontorin get up and noticed no direction from Dean so they urged their fighter to think the fight was still going on and it could have been way worse. KKF lands a few GnP's right there and all of a sudden you have two corners brawling and a potentially hurt fighter. Very sloppy, get it together dawg.
KKF continued the 100% finish percentage for the card and gave the CKB locker room something to celebrate as they wait patiently for their King in the main-event. The night finally reached the judges table as Dagestan's Askar Askarov def. Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision. The fight was still electric as Joey B once again took some major blows to the face. Askar showed tremendous counters and grappling (go figure), but it was his striking and versatility on the feet that had the spectator's attention. He could be a real problem for the rest of the Flyweight division. The other two prelims ended in decisions as well but were two of the three best fights of the night (in my opinion).
Kyler Phillips and Yadong Song put on a absolute clinic inside the Octagon as they entertained us from the very beginning second. Both fighters were tagging each other left and right with any type of strike you can imagine. Phillips landed some shots on Song that literally had my jaw on the floor when he ate them. Song has a IRON Chin. The harder Song got hit the more he would bite down on his mouth piece and apply pressure forward on Phillips, but Phillips was not going to feel depleted. He stuck to his game plan and snuck out a victory in a awesome and close war. This is one of the nastiest leg kicks to ever be eaten, I can't believe he didn't hit the canvas... like what in the blue hell.
video via UFC and Zuffa LLC
DC asking the question that had my head spinnin', Song is a bad mofo let me tell ya that. What a match, what a prelim but none was better than the featured prelim between the returning Dom Cruz and Casey Kenney. Dominick Cruz had a incredible performance for being gone for so long. He was masterful as he technically carved the scoreboard like a true surgeon of war. He may have been away from fighting in the Octagon but his time spent covering and analyzing it during that span payed to his advantage in his bout with Kenney as he played his game of chess knowing how the judges would score the fight. The bout was back and fourth but Cruz played all the right cards that needed to be played and his final takedown in the final round was the cheery on top to his return. Well done to all the prelim matches, they lit up the sky and had the hype for the PPV in a whole 'notha stratosphere.
Main Card:
Light Heavyweight Bout: Alexsander Rakic def. Thiago Santos by unanimous decision
What a let down this was! I had thought this was the for sure fight to bring fireworks. The perfect fight to start the card... and these two sh** the bed! Maybe they were disrespected that the prelim fighters did so well that they said screw working hard tonight. They both were so timid and seem scared of each other's power. Rakic landed the more significant strikes and won a very stale and lack luster decision victory. I think Santos may be seeing his final days amongst the ranks. He showed the true damage from those reconstructed surgeries. Both fighters were fighting not to lose and it was a awful way to start the card.
Lightweight Bout: Islam Makhachev def. Drew Dober by third-round submission
Islam Makhachev is the real deal holyfield, what a performance! The proclaimed protégé of Khabib Nurmagomedov smothered Drew Dober, who is no slouch and did what those Dagestans do; take you to the deepest water and drown you. Makhachev grew up with Khabib and has been under his mentorship for years as he creates his own craft.
Khabib has spoken very highly of his protégé, and is a man who never lies. He claims that Islam will reign over the lightweight decision that he is holding up.
Islam buried Dober, but unlike Khabib, he had takedowns on Dober in the middle of the Octagon. Islam was efficient and his elite grappling was just way to much for Dober and Islam didn't allow Dober to activate his power. It was a flawless performance capped off by a beautiful arm-triangle choke to finish Dober. Islam even called out El Cucuy as he has noticed the fans disbelief for no Khabib-Tony fight. I love it.
video via Spinnin Backfist//Twitter
Bantamweight Title Bout: Aljamain Sterling def. Petr Yan (C) via DQ (intentional foul):
The first title fight was electric as expected but ended in a gutting way. Aljo came out fast n furious as he always does & had Yan on the ropes and backin' up right away in the first round. But Yan withstood the onslaught which then aloud him to work on his gameplan; let Aljo wear himself out. That is exactly what Sterling did. Yan took 3-4 easy and Aljo was really gassed and I think he could have been possibly finished in the 5th round. Unfortunately, Yan made the mistakes of mistakes and hit a illegal knee on a kneeled Sterling. Costing a great defense and his championship Gold. Yan threw the knee in ordinance from his corner and didn't hesitate. Terrible coaches, what a stupid; stupid mistake. He will get his rematch and it should be a classic but Yan needs to pull a Tom Hardy in "Warrior" move and come to the Octagon alone and with no corner. Acting or not by Sterling, that is a whole other debate, but Yan made that choice and a DQ is a DQ. A fighter is not to be asked if he wants to continue in that situation regardless, even if Sterling took it as a escape goat to avoid a loss.
W Featherweight Title Bout: Amanda Nunes (c) def. Megan Anderson by first-round submission:
The Lioness gets GOATED! What a dominating performance by the 'baddest' on the planet. Megan had no business being in the ring with Nunes. She put her out with ease and did it dominated fashion, Anderson only hit her twice. There is no debating that Amanda Nunes is the greatest female fighter in MMA history. If you disagree then we need to talk!
Light Heavyweight Title Bout: Jan Blachowicz (c) def. Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision:
Polish Power! Jan Blachowicz stuns the fight world and spoils the undefeated Style Bender's quest for champ-champ status in the UFC. Everyone from Dana to the commentary booth had counted Jan out, but he shut everyone up. The size difference was just to much for Izzy. Jan was so dominant on takedowns and on the ground. Did as he pleased as he handed Adesanya his first career MMA loss. Poland is gonna be going crazy when Jan arrives and damn does he deserve it. What a performance. Look for him to fight Glover next as Izzy will probably go back down, but he will be back.
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