By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Gutierrez was this past weekend and it
featured some exciting fights and finishes. Who won and who lost?
Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Gutierrez
GOOD- Andre Muniz vs. Jun Yong Park
They exchange a few kicks to start before Muniz gets a takedown. Park
works his way up but gets taken back down immediately. Park stands up
and gets pulled down a few more times until he eventually gets top
position and starts dropping elbows down until the first round ends.
The second round begins with the same actions as before. They exchange
a few strikes before Muniz gets a takedown. They then spend the rest
of the second round fighting for position. The third round starts with
deja vu all over again as Park lands a few strikes before Muniz gets a
takedown. They fight for position and Park is able to stand and get
free quicker this time. Park ends the fight landing punches and elbows
from on top. We go to the judges to render their verdict. Muniz wins
the Split Decision and improves to 24-6 while Park drops to 17-6 and
has his 4 fight winning streak snapped. I thought Park did a little
more damage and should have gotten the nod but maybe I’m wrong?
Regardless, good win for Muniz.
GOOD- Tim Elliott submits Sumudaerji
Sumudaerji starts off strong with some good left hands. Elliott fires
back with some nice strikes of his own. Elliott persists and gets a
takedown and goes to work. He quickly moves to side control and locks
in an arm triangle that puts Sumudaerji to sleep just over four
minutes into the first round. Man, that was tight. Elliott improves to
20-13-1 while Sumudaerji drops to 16-6. Good win for Elliott.
GOOD- Nasrat Haqparast stops Jamie Mullarkey
They’re exchanging early until Haqparast attacks the body then lands a
big overhand left that drops Mullarkey. Haqparast jumps on him with
punches to force the referee to jump in to stop the fight a little
over a hundred seconds into the first round. Haqparast improves to
16-5 and has won 3 straight fights while Mullarkey drops to 17-7. Good
win for Haqparast.
GOOD- Khalil Rountree Jr. stops Anthony Smith
They exchange strikes early in the first round. Smith is working the
body and legs of Rountree, who’s responding by landing some really
hard strikes of his own. Rountree staggers Smith but the first round
ends. The second round begins with some good striking from both men.
Smith is starting to pull away but a big counter hook from Rountree
staggers him again. These guys are both landing some very heavy
strikes here. Rountree seems to be getting the better of it but man,
Smith’s landing some good stuff of his own. The second round ends as
they both continue to show toughness. The third round starts with a
few strikes exchanged before Rountree crushes Smith with an uppercut
and straight left that staggers then drops Smith. Rountree has a huge
hammerfist in the chamber but waits for the referee to jump in to stop
the fight not quite a minute into the third round. Credit to Rountree
for his restraint. There’s absolutely guys who would have jumped on
his opponent and smashed him until the referee pulled him off.
Rountree improves to 13-5 with 1 No Contest and has won 5 straight
fights while Smith drops to 37-19. Rountree says he wants to fight UFC
Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira (9-2) next. I know Rountree is
quite a bit down in the rankings so there’s plenty of guys who could
make a more deserving argument but I would love to see that fight.
There’s other guys I would also love to see fight Pereira too but a
Rountree-Pereira fight would be super violent and exciting. Anyway,
I’m getting off topic. Good win for Rountree.
GOOD- Song Yadong vs. Chris Gutierrez
They’re trading kicks early. They’re both mixing in some punches but
it’s mainly kicks in the first round. It’s gonna be hard to walk for a
few days after this fight. The second round begins with more kicks.
They’re throwing some punches as well but they’re just not landing
nearly as much as these kicks are. There’s an eye poke by Gutierrez
and Song gets a takedown after they resume. Song ends the second round
by landing some big right hands. The third round starts with some
striking before Song has an eyepoke. Le sigh. When they resume it’s
back to the kicks. They’re not doing a ton of damage but they’re
keeping distance between the fighters. There’s more kicks before Song
catches one and takes Gutierrez down to end the third round. The
fourth round opens with more kicks until Song drops Gutierrez with a
combination. Song gets on top and tries to work some ground-and-pound
but Gutierrez is trying to stymy him. Song is able to do some damage
before the fourth round ends. The fifth round begins with Song on top
after a scramble. Song is dropping some heavy elbows. Gutierrez shows
good toughness but the fifth round ends with Song on top. We go to the
judges to render their verdict. Song wins the decision and improves to
21-7-1 with 1 No Contest while Gutierrez drops to 20-6-2. Good win for
Song.
*************
In some…interesting news, former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight
Champion Conor McGregor (22-6) squared off with former UFC
Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan (16-5) at an IBA Champion’s Night event
in Dubai. I don’t know the purpose of this. I guess to get people
talking? Why am I bringing this up? So I can talk about this-
McGregor is supposed to fight Michael Chandler (23-8) at an event
sometime in 2024 after they were opposing coaches on The Ultimate
Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler. That season ended on August
8, 2023. That’s over four months ago, with no talk of the fight
happening any time soon. Chandler thinks the fight might not happen
until July. Hell, they could have a new season of TUF shot and aired
by then. I imagine McGregor’s return will be really big in terms of
interest, I’m just thinking about the weirdness of that.
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
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. 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
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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