By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Bellator Paris and UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen were this past weekend. Let’s get to the rundown.
Bellator Europe 10
GOOD- Mads Burnell stops Darko Banovic
Burnell took Banovic to the ground, moved to side control, and beat down on him until the ref jumped in for the stoppage. Good win for Burnell.
GOOD- Alan Omer stops Ryan Scope
Omer landed some good shots early before dropping Scope. He pounced on him and rained blows down until he got the ref stoppage. Good win for Omer.
BAD- Cheick Kongo vs. Timothy Johnson
There was a lot of clinch work in this fight, which sapped any excitement the big exchanges might have had. Johnson had some good ground-and-pound and Kongo connected with some nice punches but ultimately this fight wasn’t all that good. Johnson won the fight by split decision, good win for him I suppose.
GOOD- Oliver Enkamp submits Emmanuel Dawa
Enkamp landed some nice kicks before the fight went to the ground. Enkamp landed some big elbows and then got into full mount. He then worked for, and locked on, a tight Japanese Necktie for the submission. Good win for Enkamp.
BAD- Michael “Venom” Page vs. Ross Houston
Houston got a takedown in the first round but nothing came of it. MVP landed more punches in the second and third rounds but they weren’t doing any real damage. However, they were enough to get him the decision win. Good win for Page, I guess.
UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen
GOOD- Ilia Topuria vs. Youssef Zalal
This was a close and solid fight. Nothing great, but Topuria did a bit more and he got the decision victory. Good win for Topuria.
GOOD- Tom Aspinall stops Alan Baudot
Baudot landed some nice kicks and back elbows early. Aspinall then took Baudot down and started unloading shots until he got the ref stoppage about a minute and a half into the first round. Good win for Aspinall.
GOOD- Dricus Du Plessis stops Markus Perez
They exchanged strikes early, and kept right on firing until Du Plessis popped Perez with a perfect left hook to the temple that dropped him and ended things about three and a half minutes into the first round.
GOOD- Marcin Tybura vs. Ben Rothwell
They traded punches often in the first round, with Rothwell getting the better of things. The second round saw more striking between the two, but Tybura took the round with his striking. The third round broke things open, as Tybura smashed Rothwell with his strikes and even got a takedown. Tybura got the decision, good win for him.
GOOD- Edson Barboza vs. Makwan Amirkhani
Barboza got the better of the striking in the first round. That continued in the second round as he dropped Amirkhani twice and bloodied him up. Amirkhani did get the fight to the ground in the third round but Barboza still won the round because he did more damage overall. Good win for Barboza.
GOOD- Cory Sandhagen stops Marlon Moraes
Sandhagen did some damage with his quickness and striking, though Moraes did get a takedown in the first round. In the second round, Sandhagen landed a brutal headkick that I think broke the cheekbone of Moraes. Yikes. They traded more strikes before Sandhagen nailed Moraes with a spinning wheel kick to the temple and followed that up with more strikes on the ground to get the stoppage. Good win for Sandhagen.
This was a solid night of fights. I need to make a special shoutout to a prelim fight during the UFC card. Joaquin Buckley had perhaps the greatest highlight fight-ending kick you’ll ever see as he knocked out Impa Kasanganay. That might be a slight exaggeration but damn, that was incredible. Just search it up if you haven’t seen it already.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank and you can check out my blog athttps://3pr117238763.wordpress.com/ where I talk about wrestling, sports, and videogames. Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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