By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
PFL Champions Series 3 and UFC 320 were both this past weekend and
featured some exciting fights and finishes. Who won and who lost?
Let’s get to the rundown.
PFL Champions Series 3
GOOD- Jack Cartwright vs. Caolan Loughran
They’re mostly sparring and trading some strikes in the first round.
The second round begins with more of the same, though they also trade
takedowns in between beating each other up on their feet. The third round starts with Loughran getting a few takedowns but he can’t get
the finish so we go to the judges to render their verdict.
Cartwright wins the decision to improve to 13-2 while Loughran drops
to 10-3. Good win for Cartwright.
GOOD- Jay-Jay Wilson vs. Archie Colgan
Colgan gets a few takedowns early. They’re grappling hard and Wilson
breaks the rules a few times before the first round ends. The way the judges are, it incentivises fighters to commit at least a few fouls,
as there’s no penalty for it. The second round begins with Wilson firing off a bunch of kicks as Colgan goes for a takedown. Wilson again illegally grabs the fence and again gets just a impotent warning
from the referee. They do a lot of grappling and clinch work and some
striking also before the second round ends. The third round starts
with the fighters trading heavy strikes before Colgan gets a takedown.
Wilson battles to his feet before the fight ends. We go to the judges to render their verdict.
Colgan wins the decision to improve to a perfect 13-0 while Wilson drops to 11-2 and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Colgan.
GOOD- Sergio Pettis stops Magomed Magomedov
They trade a lot of jabs and missed kicks until they also trade takedowns. The second round begins with Magomedov catching a Pettis
kick and tosses him to the mat and starts working some
ground-and-pound and hunting submissions. Pettis is able to escape and
when Magomedov jumps behind him to try to take his back, Pettis
crushes Magomedov with a spinning back elbow that knocks him clean out
and nails with another punch as the referee jumps in to stop the fight
four and a half minutes into the second round. Wow.
Pettis improves to 25-7 while Magomedov drops to 21-5. Good win for Pettis.
GOOD/BAD- Corey Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov
This fight is for the inaugural PFL Light Heavyweight Championship.
They trade some strikes early until Yagshimuradov eyepokes Anderson.
They clinch until the end of the round. At one point it seemed like
Anderson might have gotten poked again. The second round begins withnmore grinding. The third round starts with an Anderson low blow.
Otherwise, it’s largely the same.
The fourth round opens with an Anderson takedown and more grinding
away. The fifth round commences with more grinding away from Anderson
and he finishes the fight on top. We go to the judges to render theirnverdict. Not an exciting fight to watch at all, but it was effective.
Anderson wins the PFL Light Heavyweight Championship and improves to
20-6 with 1 No Contest while Yagshimuradov drops to 25-8-1 and has his
7 fight winning streak snapped. It’s a good win for Anderson.
GOOD- Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes
This fight is for the inaugural PFL Lightweight Championship. They
start with some striking and dirty boxing until Nurmagomedov gets a
takedown shortly before the first round ends. The second round begins
and ends with some good striking from Hughes to impose more of his gameplan. The third round starts with some more striking exchanges and takedown attempts. Hughes is having more success with his low kicks.
The fourth round opens with another Nurmagomedov low blow, his second
of the fight. No point deduction, of course. Nurmagomedov is having
success with his strikes, bloodying Hughes’ eye. The fifth round commences with Hughes having some success standing before Nurmagomedov
takes over and smothers his way to another likely decision victory.
We go to the judges to render their verdict. One judge gives Nurmagomedov all five rounds, which is insane. Anyway. Slightly more exciting fight here.
Nurmagomedov wins the decision and the PFL Lightweight Championship to
remain undefeated at 20-0 with 1 No Contest while Hughes drops to
14-3. Good win for Nurmagomedov.
UFC 320
GOOD- Joe Pyfer submits Abusupiyan Magomedov
Tentative start until Pyfer shoots in for a takedown but Magomedov reverses and is on top and throwing a few elbows. They stand and continue hunting and defending submissions until the first round ends.
The second round begins with Pyfer getting a knockdown and the fight
moves to the mat. Pyfer cuts Magomedov with a vicious elbow then grabs
a rear-naked choke but with one arm on Magomedov’s chin so it becomes
a face crank. Pyfer squeezes until Magomedov has to tap not quite two minutes into the second round.
Pyfer improves to 15-3 and has won 3 straight fights while Magomedov
drops to 28-7-1 and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Great win for Pyfer.
GOOD- Youssef Zalal submits Josh Emmett
Zalal gets a quick and early takedown and immediately traps Emmett’s
arms, forcing him to verbally submit a little over a minute and a half
into the first round. Wow.
Zalal improves to 18-5-1 and has won 8 straight fights while Emmett
drops to 19-6. Phenomenal win for Zalal.
GOOD- Jiri Prochazka stops Khalil Rountree
They start off throwing kicks at each other, mixing in the occasional
punch as well. Prochazka hits a jumping knee while Rountree responds
with some heavy punches. Prochazka laughs like a psycho and both men
are enjoying this fight so far, as the first round ends. The second
round begins with the intensity being amped up even further somehow.
Strikes are coming from all angles and this fight could end at any second. The high-stakes fight continues as both fighters nail each
other with powerful strikes but show great toughness to shrug everything off and the second round ends. The third round starts with
more tense high-level striking exchanges. Rountree is backing up, as
he’s starting to feel the effects of Prochazka’s strikes. Rountree’s
hurt but he’s still firing back. However, it’s not enough and Prochazka puts him to sleep with some precision strikes that find
their mark just over three minutes into the third round. Tremendous
comeback. What a fight.
Prochazka improves to 32-5-1 while Rountree drops to 14-7 with 1 No
Contest. Could not have been a better outcome for Prochazka.
GOOD- Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen
Dvalishvili was looking to defend the UFC Bantamweight Championship
for the third time here. They start off throwing strikes early and
often. Sandhagen is able to defend most of Dvalishvili’s takedown
attempts but not quite all of them. It’s mostly a striking affair as
the first round ends. The second round begins with Dvalishvili coming
out firing with strikes and laying into his challenger with heavy
strikes and a series of takedowns that sap Sandhagen’s strength. The
third round starts with more of the same, just not quite as dire for
Sandhagen as before. Dvalishvili still does a lot of damage, though.
Sandhagen is showing great toughness and resolve but Dvalishvili truly
is a machine.
The fourth round opens with both fighters throwing and connecting with
some nice strikes. Sandhagen continues to show fire and grit and he
just won’t give up. Dvalishvili is clearly ahead on the scorecards but the fight continues. The fifth round commences with more toughness and
resolve from Sandhagen but it’s just not going to be enough.
Dvalishvili gets some more takedowns and does some more damage, though
Sandhagen does score with a tremendous left hand that hurts Dvalishvili badly. The champ is able to get away, though, and the fight ends. We go to the judges to render their verdict.
Dvalishvili wins the decision to improve to 21-4 and has won 14
straight fights and has successfully defended the UFC Bantamweight
Championship 3 straight times while Sandhagen drops to 18-6. Another strong win for Dvalishvili.
GOOD- Alex Pereira stops Magomed Ankalaev
Ankalaev was looking to defend the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
for the first time here. Pereira comes out firing with kicks before hurting Ankalaev with a big right hand. Ankalaev shoots but Pereira
tosses him aside and starts dropping a bunch of damaging elbows down
on his opponent. He continues until the referee finally steps in to
stop the fight 80 seconds into the first round. Wow. That was total destruction.
Pereira improves to 13-3 and is once again the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion while Ankalaev drops to 20-2-1 with 1 No Contest and has his
3 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Pereira.
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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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