By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Kara-France vs. Albazi was this past weekend and it
featured a few exciting fights. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the
rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Kara-France vs. Albazi
GOOD/BAD- Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Abubakar Nurmagomedov
They exchange some strikes before they grapple on the fence for a few
minutes. The referee separates them for inactivity. Zaleski lands a
few kicks while Nurmagomedov tries for a few takedowns but can’t get
them and the first round ends. The second round begins with Zaleski
throwing some low and body kicks. Nurmagomedov answers with some leg
kicks before grappling Zaleski into the fence. Zaleski responds with a
few knees before Hurmagomedov finally gets a takedown before the
second round ends. The third round starts with them trading kicks
before Nurmagomedov takes Zaleski to the fence again. Zaleski lands
some nice knees and that’s what gives him the victory. Not a ton of
action. We go to the judges and Zaleski wins the Split Decision to
improve to 24-7 while Nurmagomedov drops to 17-4-1. Good win for
Zaleski.
GOOD- Karine Silva submits Ketlen Souza
Silva gets a quick takedown and after they grapple around for a bit
she cinches in an Achilles lock and it’s over not quite two minutes
into the first round. Souza’s left knee is injured in the process.
Yikes. Silva improves to 16-4 and has won 7 straight fights while
Souza drops to 13-4 and has her 5 fight winning streak snapped. Good
win for Silva.
GOOD- Tim Elliot vs. Victor Altamirano
Altamirano starts off throwing a lot of kicks but Elliot takes him
down. Elliot lets him up just to take him back down again. Both men
are firing out punches but nothing damaging is landing and the first
round ends. The second round starts with them going back to the ground
for a minute before Altamirano gets back up. Altamirano lands a good
head kick and they grapple on the ground for a while before the second
round ends. The third round begins with some tentativeness followed by
some striking. Not a lot, though, before Elliot gets another takedown.
They’re trading strikes before Altamirano gets up but is quickly taken
back down before the fight ends and we go to the judges. Elliot wins
the decision and improves to 19-12-1 while Altamirano drops to 12-3.
Good win for Elliot.
GOOD- Jim Miller stops Jesse Butler
Butler comes out swinging but Miller crushes him with a left hand and
the fence keeps him up enough for Miller to send him to the Shadow
Realm with an enormous uppercut that ends the fight twenty-three
seconds into the first round. Wow. Miller improves to 36-17 with 1 No
Contest while Butler drops to 12-5 and has his 5 fight winning streak
snapped. Good win for Miller.
GOOD- Alex Caceres vs. Daniel Pineda
Caceres gets an early takedown but Pineda is quickly back up. They
trade strikes for the rest of the first round, Caceres showing some
nice defense. The second round begins with Pineda firing some right
hands before getting Caceres down. Caceres gets up but they scramble
around and go back to the floor and stay there for the rest of the
second round. The third round opens with them trading kicks. Caceres
is landing some hard strikes before Pineda gets a takedown. They’re
back up quickly, though. Caceres is picking Pineda apart with his
striking and they finish the fight swinging. We go to the judges and
Caceres wins the decision to improve to 21-13 with 1 No Contest while
Pineda drops to 28-15 with 3 No Contests. Good win for Caceres.
GOOD- Amir Albazi vs. Kai Kara-France
Not a lot of action in the first round but Kara-France definitely
landed more and did the most damage. The second round sees more of the
same and this is what makes me hate that every main event is five
rounds. Sure, we used to occasionally get a three round war that maybe
possibly could have ended in a finish if there were two more rounds
but it’s nowhere near worth it in my opinion. These guys might as well
not even fought these first two rounds, they were just dinking around
most of the time. The second round was really close so I could see
either man winning it. The third round starts with Albazi getting a
trip takedown. Kara-France gets up but Albazi takes him back down and
they spend the rest of the third round grappling. The fourth round
opens with some good striking by Kara-France. Albazi is firing back
but not having much success. Kara-France continues his striking and
gets another takedown, though Albazi is quickly back up and the fourth
round ends. The fifth round begins with Kara-France landing some heavy
hands. The fighters are also trading kicks. Albazi keeps trying for
the takedown but he can’t get it. They’re exchanging strikes for the
rest of the fifth round and we go to the judges for the decision.
Somehow, Albazi wins the Split Decision and improves to 17-1 and has
won 6 straight fights while Kara-France drops to 24-11 with 1 No
Contest.
BAD/UGLY- The Judging
No surprise that the blind judges are Chris Lee and Sal D’Amato.
Someone I was watching the fight with said “Are you kidding me?” as
soon as he heard the decision. There’s no way you could give Albazi
the win here, no way. Kara-France clearly won Rounds 1, 4, and 5 and
you could easily argue that he won Round 2 as well. There needs to be
accountability for bad judging, same as for bad refereeing and
cageside doctoring and anything else. There needs to be accountability
for anything and everything. I don’t want to act like this was the
biggest robbery in history or anything like that but this was pretty
clear cut that Kara-France should have won. Lee gave Albazi the fourth
round despite him being outstruck by a multiple of 5. If that doesn’t
happen it’s a split decision the other way. And D’Amato gave Albazi
the first round, which I thought Kara-France won. Again, not a huge
robbery or anything but I do consider this to be poor judging.
*************
Tim Schultz is an Australian MMA fighter with a professional record of
4-1 on the independent scene. He recently contracted a Staph infection
that was misdiagnosed and mistreated, resulting in an almost
unbelievable picture of what his leg looked like. Seriously, if you
have a weak stomach don’t search it up. However, if you do see the
picture you’ll see that I’m vastly understating how nasty and gross it
looked.
That’s the important part. Tim has had surgery and his leg has been
saved. That’s incredible because of how nasty the wound looked.
Fighters like Casey O’Neill, Jamie Mullarky, Kai Kara-France, Jimmy
Crute, and Jack Jenkins helped raise awareness and money for Tim to
cover the surgery. I’m glad the story seems to have a happy ending and
I wish Tim the best of luck in his recovery.
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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