by UFC 276 was live tonight from Vegas. It was a loaded card packed with thrilling finishes and tremendous action. Here are some of the takeaways.
Julija Stoliarenko armbar submitted Jessica Rose Clark in just 42 seconds. It was a nice way for her to bounce back after three straight losses.
Maycee Barber hands Jessica Eye her fourth straight loss while picking up a decision win. For Barber, she is now 11-2 with three straight wins and right in the thick of things. For Eye, she continues to state she only fights for money, well, she is far from being relevant so I’m not real sure who wants to pay to see her fight at this rate.
Andre Muniz defeats Uriah Hall by UD 30-27 across the board. A pretty far fall from grace for Hall since the highlight KO on The Ultimate Fighter, way back when! Hall is now 17-11 and will remain on the undercard of PPV’s for the foreseeable future.
Jim Miller submits Donald Cerrone in two rounds. Cerrone has now lost 6 of his last 7 fights, and the 7th fight was a draw. It may be time for the Cowboy to hang it up. Meanwhile Jim Miller quietly picks up the 35th win of his career. Just incredible for Miller. He has been in the UFC since 2008, and never sniffed a title fight.
Jalin Turner only needed 45 seconds to take out Brad Riddell by submission. He has now won 5 straight with this one by far being the biggest.
Sean O’Malley didn’t look like quite himself tonight and was a bit slow. It wouldn’t matter however as the fight was stopped in it’s tracks when Pedro Munhoz got poked in the eye midway through the second round. The fight was halted, and will go down as a NC.
Bryan Barberena and Robbie Lawler had an absolute throwdown tonight as expected. Both men left it all in the cage as they traded bombs that made everyone wonder how they were still standing. Barberena would finally hit Lawler hard enough to crack him late into the second round for the thrilling knockout.
The knockout of the night has to go to Alex Pereira who hit Sean Strickland harder than he has ever been hit in his entire life. The brutal knockout handed Strickland his first loss in 4 plus years. Strickland last lost in 2018 and had won 6 straight before getting destroyed tonight.
Pereira caught Strickland flush in the jaw to send him staggering. He then followed it up with two perfectly placed strikes to put Strickland out for good. He is 3-0 in the UFC and also has two kickboxing victories over Israel Adesanya outside of the UFC. We may being seeing a whole lot of Pereira moving forward.
UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski retained his title with a dominant 50-45 victory over former champ Max Holloway as he took round three of their trilogy. He is simply untouchable and may be the best pound for pound fighter in the world. He is now 25-1, undefeated in the UFC and has completely cleaned out the entire division.
UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya came to the ring as The Undertaker, complete with music, urn and hat. He then promptly buried Jared Cannonier in 5 rounds by decision to retain the strap.
