By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Bellator 283 and UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Aspinall were both this
past weekend. Unfortunately, both featured fights marred by injuries.
Which fights? Let’s get to the rundown and find out.
Bellator 283
GOOD- Marcelo Golm submits Davion Franklin
They exchange a little before Golm slams Franklin to the mat. After
getting up, Franklin then slams Golm to the mat. He does it one more
time before Franklin starts blasting Golm with elbows. They get up and
Golm has a cut above his right eye. He nails Franklin with an elbow of
his own and a nice right hand to end the first round. The second round
starts with them trading strikes before Franklin gets a takedown. They
reverse positions a few times before Franklin lands some strong elbows
to end the round. The third round opens with Golm pushing forward.
They’re both exhausted but they’re fighting hard. Golm gets a takedown
and locks in a rear-naked choke to get the submission win a little
over four and a half minutes into the third round. Golm improves to
10-3 and has now won 4 fights in a row while Franklin falls to 5-1.
Good win for Golm.
BAD- Lorenz Larkin vs. Muhammed Berkhamov is a No Contest
Larkin started with some nice strikes before Berkhamov got a takedown.
Larkin got back to his feet but hit Berkhamov with an elbow to the
back of the head not quite three minutes into the first round. After
some recovery time Berkhamov couldn’t continue and the fight was ruled
a No Contest. Larkin remains at 24-7 and now has 2 No Contests while
Berkhamov stays at 14-0 and now has 1 No Contest. Moving on…
GOOD- Usman Nurmagomedov submits Chris Gonzalez
No action for the first half of the first round until Nurmagomedov
trips Gonzalez and takes him down and locks in a guillotine to force
the tap and get the submission win almost three minutes into the first
round. Nurmagomedov improves to 15-0 while Gonzalez falls to 7-2. Good
win for Nurmagomedov.
GOOD- Tofiq Musayev stops Sidney Outlaw
Musayev blasts Outlaw with a big right then a left and another right
that knocks him out not quite thirty seconds into the first round.
Wow. Musayev improves to 19-4 while Outlaw falls to 16-5. Good win for
Musayev.
BAD- Douglas Lima vs. Jason Jackson
Jackson gets the takedown and stays on top of Lima until the round
ends. Wash, rinse, repeat for all five rounds of this fight. This was
a very effective strategy but it was also extremely boring. This fight
here is my argument against five round main events. This should have
been called after the third round of Jackson dominating like that but
if that’s too extreme for some people, it should have been called
after the fourth round. Do it like the run rule in baseball and
softball. Regardless, Jackson completely dominated Lima and won the
clear decision and he improves to 16-4 and has now won 6 fights in a
row while Lima falls to 32-11 and has now lost 4 fights in a row. I
hated watching this fight but it was an excellent strategy from
Jackson. Good win for Jackson.
UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Aspinall
GOOD- Paul Craig vs. Volkan Oezdemir
They grapple on the mat for a few minutes early before Oezdemir tags
him with a few strikes. Craig is trying everything he can to get the
fight to the ground. That continues into the second round but Ozedemir
is fighting hard. Craig is as well so the third round is much like the
previous two and Oezdemir gets the decision victory. Oezdemir improves
to 18-6 while Craig falls to 16-5-1 and has his 4 fight winning streak
(and 6 fight undefeated streak) snapped. Good win for Oezdemir.
GOOD- Molly McCann stops Hannah Goldy
McCann opens with a combination but Goldy fires back with a knee.
McCann then fires off some combinations and hurts Goldy with a big
right hand. She then stuns her with a spinning elbow and pours it on
until the referee jumps in to stop the fight almost four minutes into
the first round. McCann improves to 13-4 and has won 3 straight fights
while Goldy falls to 6-3. Good win for McCann.
GOOD- Nikita Krylov stops Alexander Gustafsson
Krylov drops Gustafsson with a right hand straight away. Gustafsson
gets up but Krylov is pelting him with shots. Gustafsson catches an
attempted Krylov knee but Krylov drops him on one leg and it’s over,
the ref jumps in to stop the fight a little over a minute into the
first round. Fantastic stuff from Krylov. Krylov improves to 28-9
while Gustafsson falls to 18-8 and has now lost 4 fights in a row.
Good win for Krylov.
GOOD- Paddy Pimblett submits Jordan Leavitt
Leavitt gets a couple quick takedowns early in the first round but
Pimblett is looking for a submission. Pimblett gets a takedown of his
own and works some ground-and-pound until the round ends. The second
round starts with some nice Leavitt strikes until Pimblett takes his
back and locks in a rear-naked choke to get the submission victory.
Pimblett improves to 19-3 and has won 5 straight fights while Leavitt
falls to 10-2. Good win for Pimblett.
GOOD- Jack Hermansson vs. Chris Curtis
They trade kicks early, though Curtis isn’t throwing nearly as much as
Hermansson is. Hermansson continues working the body in the second
round with a lot of kicks. Curtis works the body as well with punches.
Hermansson staggers Curtis with a head kick but he can’t capitalize
and they both go back to working the body as the round ends. The third
round opens with more kicks from Hermansson and more body shots from
Curtis. Hermansson’s more active and that wins him the decision from
the judges. Hermansson improves to 23-7 while Curtis falls to 29-9 and
has his 8 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Hermansson.
UGLY- Curtis Blaydes vs. Tom Aspinall ends with an injury
There’s an early exchange but Aspinall’s knee gives out fifteen
seconds into the first round and it’s over. This sucks. I mean,
there’s no other way to put it. You feel terrible for Aspinall and we
all wish him a full and speedy recovery. Blaydes improves to 17-3 with
1 No Contest while Aspinall falls to 12-3 and has his 8 fight winning
streak snapped. Blaydes wants to fight the winner of Ciryl Gane vs.
Tai Tuivasa at UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Tuivasa next but I don’t see
that happening because the winner of that is going to want a title
shot. It might happen, though, you never know for sure with the UFC.
If Tuivasa wins he’s definitely going to want a title fight next, not
a fight against Blaydes.
Anyway, it’s terrible to see a fight and card end like this but it was
an enjoyable event despite this outcome.
My new fantasy book is now out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The Steep
Price of Revenge. It’s the second book in my Kingdom of Zarias
series and follows the adventures of the Summers siblings as they seek
revenge for the wrongs inflicted on them. This book also introduces
lots of other characters as the scope of the world continues to
expand. 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.
Leave a Reply