HYDEN’S TAKE: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Bellator 178 and UFC Fight Night 108 including Swanson-Lobov, Pitbull-Straus, OSP, Diego

By Frank Hyden, MMATorch columnistk

Artem Lobov (photo credit Gary A. Vasquez © MMATorch)

Bellator 178 and UFC Fight Night 108 were both this past weekend. Let’s get right to the rundown.

Bellator 178

GOOD – A.J. McKee stops Dominic Mazzota

McKee landed a crushing headkick that dropped Mazzota and ended the fight not quite a minute and a half into the first round. McKee is really exciting to watch and this was another big win for him.

GOOD/BAD – Saad Awad vs. Ryan Quinn

Awad outwrestled Quinn here. Things were never really in doubt, which lead to some less than exciting moments. Awad was working, but he just couldn’t finish him. Nice win for Awad.

GOOD – Ilima-Lei Macfarlane submits Jessica Middleton

Macfarlane took the fight to Middleton from the beginning. She got Middleton down and worked for the submission, which she locked in for the win about two minutes into the first round. Good win for Macfarlane.

GOOD – Patricio “Pitbull” Freire submits Daniel Straus

It seemed like Pitbull came to fight and Straus didn’t. Straus never seemed to get out of first gear and he didn’t seem comfortable. Straus tried for a takedown at the beginning of the second round and Pitbull got him in a guillotine. It was tight and he had to tap. This Pitbull will be tough to beat if he keeps fighting like this. Big win for Pitbull.

UFC Fight Night 108

GOOD – Mike Perry stops Jake Ellenberger

Ellenberger did pretty good in the first round, but in the second round, Perry caught him with a vicious elbow and knocked him out cold. I think Ellenberger should strongly consider retiring. He’s taken a lot of punishment in his career. I know he looked fairly good in the first round, but everyone reaches a time where they have to consider if it’s worth it anymore. As for Perry, this really showed his power. Good win for Perry.

GOOD – Joe Lauzon vs. Stevie Ray

These guys fought hard, it was definitely a typical Lauzon fight. Lauzon laid a whipping on Ray in the first round, but then gassed out and had to try to will his way to victory. Ray didn’t allow that, so Ray ended up getting the majority decision. Good toughness for Ray and he got rewarded for it.

BAD – John Dodson vs. Eddie Wineland

This was a bad fight. There were shots landed, but also a lot of feinting around and all that stuff. It just wasn’t very interesting. This fight had a lot of fake action, plenty of movement but nothing really going on. Dodson won the decision.

GOOD – Ovince Saint Preux submits Marcos Rogerio De Lima

De Lima missed weight, but it didn’t seem to affect him in the first round. In the second round, though, OSP got him to the ground and worked for the submission. OSP is up and down, but when he fights like this, he can beat a lot of guys. Good win for OSP and De Lima has missed weight twice recently so he might have to go to heavyweight.

GOOD – Al Iaquinta stops Diego Sanchez

Sanchez is another guy who has taken a lot of punishment over the years and should just go enjoy retirement. They have nothing left to prove, we’ve seen how tough Sanchez and Ellenberger are. It’s time to move on to the next phases of their lives. As for Iaquinta, he showed what he can do in his return. He hurt Sanchez with a right hand, then finished him off with another shot when Sanchez got back up. Iaquinta is still upset with his pay, and has been for quite a while. I agree that the UFC should pay their fighters more, so I’m definitely on board with his complaints. There’s a lot of hidden costs associated with being a fighter, like training costs and coaches fees, so the show and win money that gets announced isn’t nearly as high as what the fighters actually get. Good win for Iaquinta, who might possibly sit out again or just retire if the UFC continues to lowball people.

GOOD/BAD – Cub Swanson vs. Artem Lobov

Lobov showed good toughness, but Swanson was just better. No surprises there, as Swanson is one of the better featherweights in the world while Lobov isn’t ranked in the top 15. So Swanson should have beaten up Lobov here. Swanson couldn’t finish him, but at the same time, Lobov is tough. This wasn’t the most exciting of fights, but I guess you can’t always get excitement. It was a fine fight, but nothing you’ll remember much about next week.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S ARTICLE: HYDEN’S TAKE: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 177 and UFC on FOX 24 including from Whittaker over Souza, Demetrious’s win


Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank

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