By: Frank Hydean, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC 293 was this past weekend and featured some good fights. Who won
and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC 293
GOOD- Tyson Pedro stops Anton Turkalj
Turkalj comes out winging kicks that miss while Pedro whiffs on some
punches. The fighters then trade low kicks and they clinch for a
moment. Pedro lands a big combination that staggers Turkalj and sets
him up for a huge right cross that drops him and this fight’s over a
little over two minutes into the first round. Pedro improves to 10-4
while Turkalj drops to 8-3 and has lost 3 straight after winning his
first 8 fights. Good win for Pedro.
GOOD- Justin Tafa stops Austen Lane
This was a rematch of their fight in June that ended with Lane poking
Tafa in the eye so badly that Tafa couldn’t continue. The fight begins
with Lane landing a few kicks before poking Tafa in the damn eyes
again. That’s unbelievable, are you freaking kidding me? I’m not gonna
go on a rant but this is crazy. Anyway, Lane lands more kicks as Tafa
works his way inside and softens Lane up with some right hooks before
blasting him with an overhand left that drops Lane. Tafa follows up
and the referee has to jump in to stop the fight not quite a minute
and a half into the first round. Tafa improves to 7-3 with 1 No
Contest while Lane drops to 12-4 with 1 No Contest. Good win for Tafa.
GOOD- Manel Kape vs. Felipe dos Santos
They trade kicks early before dos Santos lands a flying knee. Kape
answers with a big left hand that drops dos Santos. He’s back up
quickly and they continue to exchange heavy strikes. The fight goes to
the ground and they grapple for a second before returning to their
feet. They continue to trade and Kape nails dos Santos with a Judas
Effect that seemingly has no effect. They continue to land elbows
until the first round ends. The second round begins with more of the
same. Both men are throwing good volume and attacking each other with
everything. It’s mainly kicks and punches but they’re also mixing in
other attacks and keeping a fast pace. The toughness on display here
is getting more and more impressive. This is a real battle here as the
second round ends. The third round starts with more brutal striking
exchanges. Violent and wild are a really good way to describe this
fight. I have to harp on their toughness here because both fighters
are landing strikes that you could easily see knocking somebody out.
But they’re both going into movie monster mode and just absorbing it.
I think you got to see this fight, or at least a supercut of all the
huge bombs they take, to really see what they went through here. The
fight goes the distance because neither man could be stopped so we go
to the judges to render a verdict. Kape wins the decision and improves
to 19-6 and has won 4 straight fights while dos Santos drops to 7-1
with 1 No Contest and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Good win
for Kape.
GOOD- Alexander Volkov submits Tai Tuivasa
They’re throwing nearly exclusively kicks early. Now they’re mixing in
punches and Volkov drops Tuivasa with a right hand. Tuivasa is back
up, though, and they exchange more strikes until the first round ends.
The second round begins with more striking exchanges. Volkov drops
Tuivasa again with a counter right but Tuivasa is quickly back up.
However, Volkov catches a kick and they go to the mat. Volkov starts
in with some ground-and-pound before trying for the submission. Volkov
locks in an Ezekial Choke and Tuivasa has to tap a little over four
and a half minutes into the second round. Volkov improves to 37-10 and
has won 3 straight fights (his 4th career submission win to go along
with his 24 knockout wins) while Tuivasa drops to 14-6 and has lost 3
straight fights. Good win for Volkov.
GOOD/BAD- Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya
Adesanya was defending his UFC Middleweight Championship here. The
fight starts with both men trading kicks. Strickland comes alive and
hurts Adesanya with a big right hand and a flurry that Adesanya
absorbs somehow as the first round ends. The second round begins with
more kicks and feints from both fighters. The slow second round ends
without a ton of action. The third round starts with more of the same.
Adesanya is throwing a lot of kicks while Strickland marches after
him. The fourth round opens with Adesanya falling back while
Strickland marches forward. There’s a little more action this round
but this is prime “Bored Anderson Silva going through the motions”
style fighting from Adesanya here. Strickland is daring Adesanya to do
something but he won’t. It’s possible the near-knockout shook him up
more than I’m giving him credit for but I don’t know. We move to the
fifth round and it’s the same thing. Strickland is coming forward
while Adesanya retreats. We go to the judges to render a verdict and
Strickland wins the decision to win the UFC Middleweight Championship
and improve to 28-5 and has won 3 straight fights while Adesanya drops
to 24-3. Good win for Strickland.
It’s possible I owe Adesanya fans an apology. DraftKings had a
promotion where they gave you +100 odds on an Adesanya win so I took
it. It was just a $10 bet but it might have caused a Hyden Whammy to
happen, as far too often I’ll bet on something and then the opposite
happens. It’s not every time, as I’ve bet on the Colorado Football
team the last two weeks and won each time, but it does seem to happen
too many times.
Regardless, I’m sorry to any Adesanya fans if I jinxed your guy.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
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However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
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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
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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