By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC 276 was last night and featured two title fights. Who won and how?
Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC 276
UGLY- Pedro Munhoz vs. Sean O’Malley ends in a No Contest
They trade kicks early. Not a lot is happening here. O’Malley hits
Munhoz low with a kick and Munhoz spends the rest of the first round
throwing kicks. The second round sees O’Malley pick up the pace a bit
but Munhoz gets poked in the eye and can’t continue so this is ruled a
No Contest. That sucks. This fight, which saw little action to begin
with, is officially meaningless. Munhoz is now 19-7 with 2 No Contests
while O’Malley is 15-1 with 1 No Contest. Moving on…
GOOD- Bryan Barberena stops Robbie Lawler
Both guys sticking their fingers straight out, I hate that. Barberena
starts with a bunch of kicks as Lawler attacks the body. Barberena
throwing bombs then he attacks the body. Lawler with a big uppercut.
Barberena’s volume is crazy. Lawler’s taking it but nobody can take
these kinds of shots all fight. At least I don’t think so. These guys
are hurting each other with big blasts, it’s a war in there. The
impact of these strikes has to be enormous. They’re landing elbows,
left hands, right hands, this can’t go on much longer. Lawler’s hurt
and there’s the stoppage with a little over ten seconds left in the
second round. Wow, Barberena’s volume was ridiculous. Barberena
improves to 18-8 and has now won 3 straight fights while Lawler falls
to 29-16 with 1 No Contest. Good win for Barberena.
Alex Pereira stops Sean Strickland
They trade kicks and jabs early. Pereira moving well and then he
blasts Strickland with a left hook that drops Strickland. He gets back
up but gets immediately knocked out by a nice right hand. It’s over a
little over halfway through the first round. Pereira improves to 6-1
and has won 6 fights in a row after losing his MMA debut while
Strickland falls to 25-4 and has his 6 fight winning streak snapped.
Good win for Pereira.
GOOD- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway
Volkanovski successfully defended his UFC Featherweight Championship
here. They start with kicks before mixing in punches. They both land
some nice combinations before Holloway lands an elbow before the first
round ends. The second round sees them start with more punches before
mixing back in the kicks. They’re trading and Holloway has a cut on
his left eyebrow. The third round starts with them exchanging heavy
fire. Volkanovski gets cut near his eyes but he’s fighting hard and it
doesn’t seem to be affecting him. The fourth round sees them mix it up
beautifully as the kicks and punches meld together to form a
continuous wall of action. Holloway tries for a few takedowns in the
fifth round as he knows he’s lost the fight and needs a finish. He
can’t get it and the fight ends with Volkanovski firing off
combinations. Volkanovski wins the decision and retains his UFC
Featherweight Championship, improving to 25-1 and has now won an
amazing 22 fights in a row while Holloway falls to 23-7. Good win for
Volkanovski.
BAD/GOOD- Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier
Adesanya successfully defended his UFC Middleweight Championship here.
They trade kicks early as we start slow. This is one of the reasons I
don’t like five round fights, everyone has to pace themselves so we
often get a round or two that can be dull. The second round doesn’t
start much better, more low kicks from each man. The third round opens
with more of the same. This is just Adesanya peppering Cannonier from
distance. Cannonier isn’t having much success trying to close the
distance. The fourth round gets a little exciting to start but then
reverts back to what happened in the previous three rounds. The fifth
round is a repeat and thankfully this fight is over. I completely
understand the strategy, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to get the
win, but this fight sucked to watch. It’s a good gameplan but I don’t
think it’s going to inspire a lot of people to buy your next fight.
Adesanya successfully defended his UFC Middleweight Championship and
improves to 23-1 and has won 3 straight fights while Cannonier falls
to 15-6. It’s a win for Adesanya.
*************
Donald Cerrone retired after his submission loss to Jim Miller at UFC
276. He finishes his career with a record of 36-17 with 2 No Contests
and numerous awards and records, including being tied with Charles
Oliveira for most post-fight bonus awards in UFC history. Cerrone was
well known for taking on anyone. I always considered myself a Cerrone
fan and I wish him nothing but the best in retirement.
*************
Jessica Eye has retired following her loss to Maycee Barber at UFC
276. She finishes her career with a record of 15-11 with 1 No Contest.
She was a good striker and I enjoyed watching her fight. I wish her
nothing but the best in retirement.
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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