By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC 273 and last night and featured two big title fights. Who won
those and the other fights? Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC 273
GOOD- Mark Madsen vs. Vinc Pinchel
They start off trading kicks. They mixed in some punches but the first
round was a lot of kicks. More kicks in the second round until Madsen
got a takedown. We go to the third round and Pinchel comes out firing.
They fight on the ground for a while after Madsen gets a takedown but
the round ends without a finish. Madsen wins the decision to stay
undefeated at 12-0 while Pinchel falls to 14-3. Good win for Madsen.
GOOD- Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
They’re slugging early and they fight in close. They both vary their
strikes but Dern hurts Torres towards the end of the first round. They
went to the mat in the second round, where Dern started trying
submissions. She nearly got a couple but Torres defended. Torres
started using more kicks in the third round and they continued beating
each other up. This was a close fight that Dern won by Split Decision.
Dern moves to 12-2 while Torres falls to 13-6. Good win for Dern.
GOOD- Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
They traded strikes early until Chimaev dropped Burns with a hard
right hand. Burns was cut open with an elbow from Chimaev but he
fought through. The aggression and intensity ramps up until they’re
both swinging for the fences. Great toughness shown by both to keep
fighting after absorbing so many heavy strikes. That continued into
the third round as they both connected with powerful punches in
bunches. Words can’t really do this fight justice. You’re better off
just watching it for yourself or at least watching the highlights. It
was a truly great fight. Chimaev won and remains undefeated at 11-0
while Burns drops to 20-5. Good win for Chimaev.
GOOD- Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan
This was a really close fight, as evidenced by the Split Decision, but
coming after the Burns-Chimaev fight made this fight feel like a
letdown. They connected with more strikes in that 3-round fight than
these guys nearly threw in a 5-round fight. I hate to sound so harsh
because this was a nice fight too but that’s just how it felt. The
first round was close but Sterling was able to avoid taking too much
damage. The second round saw Sterling get a takedown and work his
ground-and-pound. The third round saw another takedown by Sterling. He
didn’t do much damage that time, though. Yan started landing more in
the fourth round and that continued into the fifth. Two of the judges
gave Sterling three of the rounds while the other gave Yan three
rounds. So Sterling wins the Split Decision and unifies the UFC
Bantamweight Championship. Sterling improves to 21-3 and has won 7
fights in a row while Yan drops to 16-3. Good win for Sterling.
GOOD- Alexander Volkanovski stops “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung
Volkanovski successfully defended his UFC Featherweight Championship
here. Volkanovski connected with several left hands early in the first
round, including a couple that hurt Jung. The second round saw them
start to trade kicks before Volkanovski hurt Jung again. Volkanovski
also took Jung down and started doing some damage. In the third round
Volkanovski started beating the hell out of Jung and things got bad.
Jung survived and kept coming but Volkanovski kept pounding away on
him into the fourth round when the referee finally jumped in to stop
the fight forty-five second into the fourth round. Volkanovski
improves to 24-1 and has won 21 fights in a row. He hasn’t lost since
2013. Jung drops to 17-7. What a dominant defense and a great way to
end a really strong card. Good win for Volkanovski.
My fantasy 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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