By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill was this past weekend and it featured
some really strong performances and big wins. Who won and who lost?
Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill>/i>
GOOD- Carlos Diego Ferreira stops Michael Johnson
Johnson’s throwing mainly punches early while Ferreira’s favoring
kicks. Ferreira shoots in for a takedown but gets denied. Johnson’s
working the body as well as the head. He nails Ferreira with some nice
punches, who fires back with more kicks before the first round ends.
The second round begins with more of the same, Johnson utilizing more
punches while Ferreira is throwing lots of kicks. All of a sudden
Ferreira lands a jab followed by a huge right hand that knocks Johnson
out and drops him like a tree not quite two minutes into the second
round. Holy hell. Ferreira improves to 18-5 and snaps his 3 fight
losing streak while Johnson drops to 21-19. Good win for Ferreira.
GOOD- Joaquin Buckley stops Andre Fialho
Neither fighter lands much of anything for the first few minutes until
Fialho connects with some punches and kicks. Buckley responds with a
takedown but Fialho gets back up. Shortly after that Buckley gets
another takedown but again Fialho is right back up and the first round
ends. The second round starts with both fighters throwing and landing
more. Buckley continues throwing head kicks and finally connects with
one, dropping Fialho like a tree a little over four minutes into the
second round. That’s two fights in a row. Damn. Buckley improves to
16-6 while Fialho drops to 16-7 with 1 No Contest and has lost 3
straight fights. Good win for Buckley.
GOOD- Emily Ducote vs. Lupita Godinez
Godinez comes out firing. Ducote is fighting back but isn’t having
quite as much success. They’re both pummeling the other and they fight
against the cage for a moment before the first round ends. The second
round starts with Godinez working her counters. That continues until
about halfway through the round when Ducote starts firing up. She
lands a lot of strikes and might have stolen the round there. We move
to the third round and they go back to exchanging. Godinez seems to
start to pull away but then Ducote fires back up and starts landing
more. Godinez gets a late takedown. The third round and fight ends and
it’s close as we go to the judges. Godinez wins the decision and
improves to 10-3 while Ducote drops to 12-8. Good win for Godinez.
GOOD- Anthony Hernandez stops Edmen Shahbazyan
Shahbazyan starts the fight firing away. His jab is strong and makes
Hernandez counter with a takedown. Shahbazyan is quickly back up.
Another good striking exchange leads to a Hernandez takedown attempt.
He can’t get it but Shahbazyan reverses into a takedown of his own.
Hernandez gets another takedown before the first round ends. The
second round begins with some clinchwork. Hernandez lands a huge elbow
and right hand but Shahbazyan fights back with a knee. Hernandez gets
the fight to the ground and starts trying for submissions. He can’t
get a guillotine or an anaconda choke but Shahbazyan escapes.
Hernandez is dropping some brutal elbows here but the second round
ends before he can get the finish. The third round opens with
Hernandez getting another takedown. He starts dropping elbows and
punches until the referee is forced to jump in to stop the fight one
minute into the third round. Hernandez improves to 11-2 with 1 No
Contest and has won 4 straight fights while Shahbazyan drops to 12-4.
Good win for Hernandez.
GOOD- Mackenzie Dern vs. Angela Hill
Dern is very active as they fight in the clinch. Dern lands several
knees but Hill returns fire with her own. Dern is just teeing off on
Hill, dropping her with a big right hand. Dern follows her down and
they grapple for the rest of the first round. The second round opens
with Dern charging in but Hill is fighting back. They’re smashing each
other with hard and heavy strikes. Good toughness shown by each
fighter as they’re really nailing the other. The second round ends
with Dern getting stuffed on a takedown attempt. The third round
starts with Hill getting the fight to the ground. They stand and a
huge knee from Dern hurts Hill and takes her down. Dern is blasting
Hill with huge hammerfists. Hill is somehow staying in this and the
third round ends. The fourth round begins with Hill putting Dern on
the fence. However, Dern is landing a lot more strikes. It feels like
she’s doubling her up and then some. Hill eats an elbow from Dern and
they start throwing bombs at each other. Holy crap, they’re just going
at it and the fourth round ends. The fifth round starts and Dern gets
an early takedown. Dern works her ground-and-pound and is laying into
Hill with elbows and punches. Hill survives, though. The incredible
toughness Hill has shown in this fight is really something. We go to
the judges and Dern wins the dominant decision. Dern improves to 13-3
while Hill drops to 15-13. Good win for Dern.
*************
Francis Ngannou signed with the Professional Fighters League last
week. He’ll compete in their pay-per-view Super Fights division while
also being able to box if he wants. He’ll be part of their advisory
committee and an equity owner and chairman of PFL Africa. There’s also
a lot of money involved, for both him and his opponents. This is great
news because I’m all for competition and stuff that benefits the
fighters.
In the post-fight press conference for UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill
UFC President Dana White said that it was crazy and a bad move and
Francis doesn’t want to take risks and all this stuff. However, he
also mentioned that PFL is raising money to buy Bellator. I don’t know
if that’ll happen or not, though I could certainly see it, but it is
interesting because they would be more solidified competition for the
UFC. As usual with a lot of news, we’ll have to wait a while longer to
truly see if this happens and what the effects are.
My new fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: A Fight For
Survival. It’s the third book in my epic fantasy Kingdom of Zarias
series and follows the adventures of the Summers siblings as they
fight to defend the world from an evil villain named Galren. This book
also introduces lots of other characters as the scope of the world
grows. 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. Also,
here’s the link to my new Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias
series- KoZ Compendium
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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