By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Daukaus was last night and featured some
good fights, including a strong contender in the heavyweight division,
a good flyweight fight, and a war between Bryan Barberena and Matt
Brown. Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Daukaus
BAD/GOOD- Marc Diakiese vs. Viacheslav Borshchev
Diakiese spent the first round fighting for takedowns. Most were
defended but he got a couple. Same for round two, he got some
takedowns but did practically no damage. Wash, rinse, repeat for the
third round and there you go. Diakiese gets the decision victory in a
very dull affair. It’s a smart strategy to focus on your wrestling,
that’s where the GOOD comes from but this was boring as hell to watch,
hence the BAD. Diakiese needed the win, though, as he had lost two in
a row so he did what he had to. Diakiese improves to 15-5 while
Borshchev drops to 6-2. Good win for Diakiese.
GOOD- Neil Magny vs. Max Griffin
They trade kicks early before Magny gets dropped by a cross. Griffin
continues firing after letting Magny up and is attacking the head and
body. Griffin also connects with some nice leg kicks. Magny fires up
and starts landing some good strikes in the second round. He keeps
pressing forward with strikes and takes the round. Magny finally gets
a takedown in the third round and they continue hitting each other and
Magny takes the round to get the decision victory. Magny improves to
26-8 and has won 5 of his last 6 fights while Griffin falls to 18-9
and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Magny.
GOOD- Askar Askarov vs. Kai Kara-France
Askarov is finally able to get a takedown after Kara-France went B.J.
Penn for a moment there. They spend the rest of the round on the mat
as Askarov works his ground-and-pound. The second round sees
Kara-France better defend the takedown and start punishing Askarov
with strikes. The third round sees more of the same and this is really
close. I think Kara-France takes it with his striking but I think a
case could be made for Askarov winning as well. Kara-France is awarded
the decision victory and improves to 24-9 with 1 No Contest and has
won 3 fights in a row while Askarov falls to 14-1-1 and is handed the
first loss of his career. Good win for Kara-France in a really close
fight.
GOOD- Matt Brown vs. Bryan Barberena
Barberena starts with low kicks. After some work on the fence Brown
takes him down. After getting up they trade body shots and some stiff
punches to the face. They trade elbows and the round ends. The second
round sees more strikes up and down their bodies before Brown gets a
takedown. Brown gets hurt by a Barberena elbow but gets a takedown to
survive. Barberena reverses and works some ground-and-pound before
they continue beating the hell out of each other on the feet. Just
when you think Brown’s done or fading he fires off some heavy strikes
and keeps coming. The third round sees them trade more heavy strikes
and some huge elbows. Brown is taking enormous damage but he’s not
stopping. Instead he’s firing back harder. This is like an anime fight
where the violence keeps escalating. Brown is hurt by more monstrous
shots but survives and Barberena has to settle for the decision
victory. No surprise, Brown’s so damn tough. Barberena improves to
17-8 while Brown falls to 23-19 and has lost 3 of his last 4 fights.
Good win for Barberena.
GOOD- Alexa Grasso submits Joanne Wood
Grasso gets a quick takedown and works a little ground-and-pound
before letting Wood up. Wood fires off some good strikes before Grasso
takes her down and locks in a rear-naked choke for the submission
victory not quite four minutes into the first round. Grasso improves
to 14-3 and has won 3 fights in a row while Wood falls to 15-8 and has
lost 3 fights in a row. Good win for Grasso.
GOOD- Curtis Blaydes stops Chris Daukaus
They trade strikes early before Daukaus gets wobbled. They keep
trading, with Blaydes getting the better of it but Daukaus still
firing. They keep trading until the first round ends. The second round
begins and ends quickly as Blaydes lands a huge counter right that
drops Daukaus within seconds and pounces on him to force the referee
to jump in to stop the fight not quite twenty seconds into the second
round. Blaydes improves to 16-3 with 1 No Contest while Daukaus drops
to 12-5. Good win for Blaydes and he should move up the UFC rankings
at least a spot but we’ll see.
My new book is now out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: Undeath and
the Dewester Set. It’s a fantasy epic that begins with the Summers
siblings but spreads out to encompass a large number of characters
across multiple stories as the world faces a threat from a vile
necromancer. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in the
Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s on
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I
would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me.
Here’s the link to my book- My Book Thank you very much,
have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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