By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC 308 was this past weekend and featured some exciting fights and
finishes. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC 308
GOOD- Sharaputdin Magomedov stops Armen Petrosyan
Petrosyan comes out with a bunch of early leg kicks before mixing in
some punches. Magomedov starts to heat up and is throwing some good
punches back. Petrosyan keeps up with the leg kicks and Magomedov
returns fire before the first round ends. The second round begins with
Petrosyan again throwing a high volume of leg kicks, a few entering
the restricted area. They return to action but Petrosyan lands two more kicks to the groin. Take a point already, ref. They return to
action and are popping each other with some good strikes before Magomedov connects with two consecutive spinning back fists, each
emanating from the opposite direction to drop Petrosyan and end the
fight with just second to go in the second round. I’ve never seen
anything like that before. Wow.
Magomedov improves to an undefeated 15-0 while Petrosyan drops to 9-4.
Good win for Magomedov.
GOOD- Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige
They start off swinging right away and Ige is cut early. Ige gets a
takedown but Murphy is quickly back to his feet. Murphy is warned for
sticking his fingers straight out at Ige and shortly thereafter gets dropped by an Ige left hand but Murphy survives until the first round
ends. The second round begins with some striking from both men and
they trade takedown attempts before Murphy gets the fight to the mat shortly before the second round ends. The third round starts with some
strikes traded and a Murphy takedown attempt before Murphy gets warned
for outstretched fingers again. Take a point, ref. I would love to see referees get more aggressive in taking points for outstretched fingers
before they lead to eyepokes, as a way to try to get guys to remove
that garbage from their arsenal. Both fighters are scrambling hard for
position as the fight goes down to the mat. Both men hunt for
submissions before the fight returns to the feet and the fight ends.
We go to the judges to render their verdict.
Murphy wins the decision to improve to an undefeated 15-0-1 while Ige drops to 18-9. Nice win for Murphy.
GOOD- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic
They trade strikes throughout the first round until the bell rings.
The second round begins with more of the same, with Rakic landing a
lot of kicks. Ankalaev is heating up and connecting with more strikes as the round wears on. Rakic keeps working the leg kicks and the second round ends. The third round starts with more strikes being
traded from both men until Rakic tries for a takedown and they clinch.
The fight ends and we go to the judges to render their verdict.
Ankalaev wins the decision to improve to 19-1-1 with 1 No Contest
while Rakic drops to 14-5 and has lost 3 straight fights. Good win for Ankalaev.
GOOD- Khamzat Chimaev submits Robert Whittaker
Chimaev gets an early takedown and hits some knees to the thigh before
Whittaker gets up only to get taken down again. Chimaev applies a face
crank that quickly draws a tap from Whittaker as his jaw is dislocated
and this fight is over three and a half minutes into the first round.
Chimaev improves to an undefeated 14-0 while Whittaker drops to 26-8.
Good win for Chimaev, who will almost assuredly face UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus du Plessis (22-2) for the belt next.
GOOD- Ilia Topuria stops Max Holloway
Topuria was looking to defend his UFC Featherweight Championship for
the first time here. They start off with jabs and kicks as each man tries to find the proper range. Topuria gets a takedown and they’re back up and down quickly before Holloway gets up again. Both fighters
are landing stiff strikes until the first round ends. The second round begins with more of the same, as both fighters are walking the knife’s
edge with powerful strikes that seem like they could end the fight any
moment. The third round starts with more heavy striking and Topuria nails Holloway with a huge right hand that stuns him. Topuria advances
and pours it on, knocking Holloway down with a big left hand before
finishing him off with hammerfists just over a minute and a half into the third round.
Wow, Holloway is stopped for the first time by strikes and Topuria notches another huge highlight reel victory and his first successful UFC Featherweight Championship title defense.
Topuria improves to an undefeated 16-0 while Holloway drops to 26-8 and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Great win for Topuria.
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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