by UFC held its third show in 7 days tonight, and it was every bit as action packed as the rest. Thank you, UFC, for an amazing week and a sense of normalcy we all needed. Let’s get right to it with what stood out most to us!
Both Rodrigo Nascimento and Cortney Casey looked impressive with submission victories on the undercard. The undercard also saw a blood bath between Nate Landwehr and Darren Elkins with Landwehr gaining the victory.
It was Kevin Holland earning a brutal knockout over Anthony Hernandez in only 39 seconds into the fight. The biggest knockout of the undercard came from Miguel Baeza who knocked out UFC veteran and fan favorite Matt Brown.
The main card began with a three-round thriller between Song Yadong and Marion Vera. It was nip and tuck at moments as both guys looked good, but it was clear Vera won rounds 2 and 3. The judges saw it differently however and awarded it to Yadong across the board 29-28.
Yadong now moves to 7-0-1 in his last 8 and continues to move up the rankings. For Vera, this is just his first loss in his last 6 fights, stopping the 5 fight win streak. Vera was pissed afterwards and refused to shake the hand of Yadong.
Kevin Randleman in the UFC Hall of Fame is well deserved! I got to feature him in my book Ohio Warriors and rightfully so. The man was one of the first UFC Heavyweight powerhouses to come along.
He was a two-time NCAA Division One National champion, and All American at Ohio State and the 5th ever UFC Heavyweight Champion. That guy was damn good and his spot in the UFC Hall of Fame is warranted! God rest his soul.
He was a star of the dark ages in the opening years of MMA and a true fan favorite from day one. A member of the Hammer House, a big part of the UFC and a big part of the legacy of MMA. He will never be forgotten and will now take his rightful place in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Look at it like this, his only UFC losses came to Randy Couture, Bass Rutten and Chuck Lidell. In his career he beat the likes of Maurice Smith, Pedro Rizzo, Renato Sobral and Mirko Cro Cop. People will look at his career record of 17-16 and mock the decision to place him in the HOF. Those people would be crazy and need to do the research.
Eryk Anders vs Krzystof Jotko looked like it could be a sleeper for fight of the night coming in, but it was anything but. A three round grinder that looked like it could be a glorified sparring match at times. In the end it was Jotko wining by score of 30-27,29-28,29-28. His third win, although not a very impressive one.
A main card of strange judges’ decisions continued as Dan Inge squeaked out a narrow-split decision win over Edson Barboza by scores of 28-29, 29-28, 29-28. For Barboza that is now his third straight loss and second straight by narrow split decision. No knock-on Inge, a win is a win and he will take it.
Inge improves to 14-2 with his 5th straight win. Inge just keeps winning and deserves your attention weather you agreed with tonight’s decision or not. The guy is a winner!
There were over 400 total strikes thrown in an absolute shootout between Angela Hill and Claudia Gadelha in an absolute showcase! After three rounds the judges we split yet again, but it was Claudia Gadelha doing just enough to pull it off. A fast-paced fight with a ton of action that would have had a live crowd going nuts.
The main event lived up to the hype as it provided the only clear-cut finish of the main card. It was Harris dominating the first two and half minutes of the fight as he bloodied and floored Overeem. The ref could have very easily stopped the fight and no one would have complained. Harris was that dominant and was on top of Overeem for a good 45 seconds straight landing bombs.
The ref let it go, and once Overeem regained his composure, it was all “Reem” the rest of the rest. He spent the final half of the first round teeing off on Harris and almost finishing him. It was more of the same in the second as Reem mounted him, took his back and just pounded him until the ref finally called it.
A great week of fight cards for the UFC that a lot of us will hate to see end. Professional soccer resumed in Germany today, and NASCAR picks up tomorrow, but give me MMA any day of the week!
This UFC update is brought to you by Chris Walker of Top Tier Performance. You can out more about them here. https://www.facebook.com/TopTierPerform/?eid=ARCeIZXF219v74jVuA1ucY3mypUc2STO2Uxk_CoIhEh1pERL33oK2tcQrEk1tWU9aTkDw6tz42wJvl-B&timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=100001259948103&fref=tag
