By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC 292 was this past weekend and featured two title fights and a lot
of good fights that went to decision and one new champion being
crowned. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC 292
GOOD- Pedro Munhoz vs. Marlon Vera
Munhoz comes out throwing a bunch of kicks, Vera responds with a few
of his own. Munhoz lands more strikes throughout this first round. The
second round begins with Munhoz varying up his strikes. Vera returns
fire and bloodies Munhoz’s nose with his jabs. They continue
exchanging on the feet as the second round ends. The third round
starts with Vera landing more and more jabs. He’s turned it up bigtime
here. Munhoz fights back with right hands but Vera lands his jab over
and over. The third round and fight ends the way it began, on the feet
with both men throwing. We go to the judges for the verdict and Vera
wins the decision to improve to 21-8-1 while Munhoz drops to 20-8 with
2 No Contests. Good win for Vera.
GOOD- Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Mario Bautista
They start off with kicks before they fight in the clinch for a bit.
Blackshear gets a takedown but Bautista is right back up. Blackshear
gets another takedown but Bautista grabs a guillotine. Blackshear
escapes and they separate as the first round ends. The second round
begins with Bautista varying up his strikes. Blackshear lands some
kicks and they trade takedown attempts. Blackshear gets a takedown but
Bautista is right back up as the second round ends. The third round
starts with Bautista landing some nice punches as Blackshear lands
some kicks and punches. They trade knees and elbows in the clinch
before Bautista gets a takedown. Blackshear fights up but gets taken
back down and the third round and fight end. We go to the judges for
the verdict and Bautista wins the decision to improve to 13-2 and has
won 5 straight fights while Blackshear drops to 14-6. Impressive stuff
from Blackshear as he won a fight literally the previous weekend. To
turn around this fast is impressive. Good win for Bautista.
GOOD- Ian Machado Garry vs. Neil Magny
Garry is destroying Magny’s leg with low kicks. Magny is able to
clinch a few times but Garry separates and continues his onslaught
with the calf kicks. Magny went down from them a few times. The second
round begins with Garry going back to the low kicks. Why not? Magny
tries for a takedown but can’t get it. Garry knocks Magny’s mouthpiece
out with a head kick but Magny absorbs it and keeps fighting as the
second round ends. The third round starts with Garry going high with a
kick before going back to the low kicks. Magny goes down a few times
from these leg kicks but he won’t be finished as the third round and
fight end. We go to the judges for the verdict and Garry wins the
decision to remain undefeated at 13-0 while Magny drops to 28-11 and
has alternated wins and losses in his last 6 fights. Good win for
Garry.
GOOD- Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos
Zhang is defending her UFC Strawweight Championship here. Zhang gets
the fight to the mat and starts her ground-and-pound. She’s punishing
Lemos, who does lock a submission in but can’t get it fully. Zhang
smashes Lemos with more ground-and-pound until the first round ends.
The second round begins with Lemos landing a few stiff punches, which
causes Zhang to take her down. Zhang does some damage but they’re also
mainly grappling and scrambling until Lemos gets up. They clinch and
Zhang trips her back down and they grapple until the second round
ends. The third round starts with Zhang getting the trip takedown and
they scramble around on the mat until Lemos gets up. Zhang lands some
elbows and jabs as Lemos fires back and the third round ends. The
fourth round opens with Zhang throwing kicks. Lemos fires back with
punches before Zhang comes back with punches of her own and gets a
takedown. Lemos gets up and they trade a little bit before the fourth
round ends. The fifth round sees Zhang firing kicks before dropping
Lemos with a huge right hand. Zhang is all over here and works for
better position. She’s hammering Lemos, who eventually gets up as the
fifth round and the fight end. We go to the judges for the verdict and
Zhang wins the dominating decision to retain her UFC Strawweight Title
and improve to 24-3 and has won 3 straight fights while Lemos drops to
13-3-1. Good win for Zhang, who continues to impress.
GOOD- Sean O’Malley stops Aljamain Sterling
Sterling was defending his UFC Bantamweight Championship for the
fourth time here. Not a ton of action early as neither man wants to
make a big mistake. Sterling landed more as the first round ends. The
second round begins with a little back and forth before O’Malley
catches Sterling coming in and drops him with a big right hand.
O’Malley swarms and hammers on Sterling until the referee is forced to
jump in to stop the fight fifty seconds into the second round.
O’Malley is the new UFC Bantamweight Champion and improves his record
to 17-1 with 1 No Contest while Sterling drops to 23-4 and has his 9
fight winning streak snapped. Good win for O’Malley, who’s looking to
start a long run in the division.
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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