By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs.Topuria was this last weekend and featured
some exciting fights. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Topuria
GOOD- Brendan Allen submits Bruno Silva
Allen tries for an early takedown but Silva fights it off. They fight
on the fence in the clinch and Allen lands a nice elbow. Silva fires
back with some strikes of his own and they separate. They’re unloading
on each other until Allen drops Silva with a big right hand. Allen
follows him down and as they scramble Allen locks in a rear-naked
choke to force the tap a little over four and a half minutes into the
first round. Allen improves to 22-5 and has won 5 straight fights
while Silva drops to 23-9. Good win for Allen.
GOOD- David Onama stops Gabriel Santos
They’re trading strikes early until a scramble ensues off a takedown
attempt and they go to the ground. Onama is on top but Santos quickly
stands. They’re trading strikes and Santos is mixing in a lot of kicks
well. Santos is working the body well and they again go to the ground.
Onama is on top but Santos tries for a few submissions before standing
after not being able to lock either in. Onama is firing in some good
strikes but the first round ends before he can do anything else. The
second round starts with Santos getting a takedown. Onama reverses and
gets on top so Santos stands up after absorbing a stiff elbow. They go
to the ground again and Santos again stands up and nails him with some
hard kicks. Onama lands some hard elbows before dropping Santos with a
huge uppercut that drops him and adding a few more hard follow-up
punches to force the referee to jump in to stop the fight a bit over
four minutes into the second round. Onama improves to 11-2 while
Santos drops to 10-2. Good win for Onama.
BAD/UGLY- Austen Lane vs. Justin Tafa
There’s not much to this because Lane sticks his middle and ring
fingers straight into Tafa’s eyes during an exchange. Tafa’s eyes are
swelling and bleeding and the fight’s over. Absolutely inexcusable
from Lane here. I’m sick of fighters sticking their fingers out
straight at a fighter. It’s bush league stuff that doesn’t belong in a
sanctioned sport. You don’t see Aaron Gordon fish-hooking Jimmy Butler
or Sauce Gardner nut-shotting Justin Jefferson. I’ll paraphrase a
Gordon Ramsey quote from Kitchen Nightmares- Do we need a fighter to
lose an eye before we get a grip? And that’s already almost happened.
This is disgusting and it needs to end now. I understand there’s
always an element of that potentially happening with fighting but it
wouldn’t be quite as hard as it might appear to legislate it out. The
first time a fighter has his fingers sticking straight out, even if
they haven’t touched anybody, is an automatic point deduction. The
second time is a disqualification and you lose the fight. Third time’s
a one-year suspension and fourth time is a 3 year suspension. Overly
punitive perhaps but this garbage needs to get legislated out of the
sport.
These aren’t accidental eyepokes. There is no valid striking technique
that involves sticking your fingers straight out. There’s some martial
arts that promote spearhand technique as a way to get to a throw but
that’s not happening here. These guys are doing this while boxing.
It’s clear and obvious to anyone with eyes that haven’t been gouged
that the goal of sticking your fingers straight out at an opponent’s
eyeline is to make him hesitate to engage you. If this were a street
fight and you’re fighting for your life, no problem. However, this is
a sanctioned sport with rules.
Anyway, enough ranting. Lane is 12-3 with 1 Contest while Tafa is 6-3
with 1 No Contest.
GOOD- Maycee Barber stops Amanda Ribas
They’re exchanging early before Barber hits some stiff elbows and
bloody Ribas’ nose. Ribas gets a nice throw but Barber quickly gets
back to her feet. Ribas tries rolling for a kneebar but Barber batters
her for a while before the first round ends. The second round starts
with more striking exchanges. Barber is bleeding as well but she
continues to fire away. Ribas gets another good throw but Barber
quickly stands. They’re fighting on the fence before Barber starts
blasting Ribas with some powerful right hands. Ribas tries to shoot in
for a takedown but Barber swarms her with elbows and punches to force
the referee to jump in to stop the fight a little over three and a
half minutes into the second round. Barber improves to 13-2 and has
won 5 straight fights while Ribas drops to 12-4. Good win for Barber.
GOOD- Josh Emmett vs. Ilia Topuria
They’re exchanging early and often but most of it isn’t landing clean
as their defenses are good. Topuria is attacking the body some while
avoiding a lot of Emmett’s strikes and the first round ends. The
second round starts largely the same way, as neither fighter is able
to land anything great. Topuria keeps firing and drops Emmett. Topuria
then gets staggered himself before hurting Emmett again but Emmett
survived until the end of the second round. The third round opens with
a lot of kicks before they mix in some punches. They’re both landing
heavy shots and Emmett’s face is showing the damage. Topuria is
opening up and pouring it on but Emmett is too tough to stop and the
third round ends. The fourth round begins with Topuria landing a
strong low kick that stings Emmett. They’re both firing away before
Emmett is dropped by a Topuria left hook. Emmett stands up but eats a
lot of punches on the way. He gets dropped again but Topuria can’t
finish him before the fourth round ends. The fifth round starts with
Emmett showing more toughness but Topuria is just teeing off on him.
Topuria gets a takedown but Emmett fights up so Topuria gets another
takedown. The fifth round and fight end and we go to the judges.
Topuria wins the dominant decision and improves to a perfect 14-0
while Emmett drops to 18-4. Good win for Topuria.
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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