A little more than an hour has passed since the end of the 291st number tournament of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in Salt Lake City (USA), and the emotions still have not subsided! The correspondent states that today's event failed to surpass the phenomenal UFC 290, however, there was a lot of noise in the capital of the 2002 Olympics.
The most dangerous motherfucker. Part II Two former interim lightweight champions Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are rightfully considered one of the brightest representatives of the UFC. Yes, they were twice a step away from the championship belt and stumbled both times, but this did not affect the fans' love for American shirts. Which, five years after the first fight (then Poirier was better) got the opportunity not only to divide the octagon again, but also to replenish the collection of awards with the same “Most Dangerous Bastard” belt.
Spoiler: like a year ago at the tournament in Salt Lake City, the case ended with a crazy high kick and a sensational knockout.
Contrary to the bets of the bookmakers, it was Porrier who overlooked at the start of the second round. After five minutes of dangerous firefight in the standing position, the fighters continued to inflict damage on each other. And Dustin, too relaxed and in control of the fight, could not block from a flying foot to the head … Gaethje delighted the Vivint Arena stadium by adding another juicy finish to his selection of highlights. Poirier lost by knockout for the first time since 2016 — Brilliant has a black streak in his career with two defeats in his last three fights.
By the way, Jorge Masvidal presented the BMF belt. It was he who became the first owner of an unusual title in 2019 after an early victory over Nate Diaz in New York.
The winner of the main event is in line for Charles Oliveira to face champion Islam Makhachev in three months. In the event of a successful defense of the title, the Russian will not refuse to meet the media American — this is how Gaethje will get a third chance to get to the gold of the world's main MMA promotion. And in the future, perhaps, he will complete the trilogy with Poirier, because the score in the fiery confrontation is now 1-1.
The Pole did not rehabilitate himself for the scandal with Ankalaev. Former league champion Jan Blachowicz has met middleweights in the light heavyweight division for the first time. Before your eyes is the inhospitable reception of Ronaldo «Jacare» Sousa, the «murder» of Luke Rockhold and the deprivation of Israel Adesanya of zero in the «defeat» column. And now, the Brazilian Alex Pereira, who lost his belt, went along the beaten path.
The secret to defeating a huge newcomer was simple: fight and fight again. What Blachowicz used from the first minutes, however, passing on waste and working on counterattacks, the second number. Perhaps it was this factor that played against the Polish star, who once again had an extremely faded duel. The same can be said about Pereira, to whom two of the three judges were a little more favorable — in the fight with our Magomed Ankalaev, as well as Jamal Hill and Jiri Prochazka, Alex will have a much harder time. same successful light heavyweight debut.
The funeral of El Cucuy's career continues in June 2019. Tony Ferguson hit Donald «Cowboy» Cerrone and, after scoring a 12-match winstreak, approached the superfight with Khabib Nurmagomedov for the fifth time … But it did not work out: COVID-19 intervened.
Since then, the bloodthirsty El Cucuy has lost to Gaethje, Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler and Nate Diaz. Three of these losses were early: Justin broke Tony's face, Chandler sent him to a deep knockout, and the Stockton Boy forced him to submit. No wonder fans begged the American to stop beating himself up and retire.
Tony's pleas went unnoticed and started a new campaign for the title of absolute UFC champion. What came of it? Gray fight with Bobby Green, who, not even close to being a fighter, controlled the MMA veteran on the ground. And this is with a total advantage in the stand (Green's knockdown in the first round does not count) — even lowering the level of opposition for the legend, the UFC did not resurrect the 39-year-old Ferguson. Everyone's favorite El Cucuy is no more.
And there is only surrender a few seconds before the end of the battle and the sixth (!) defeat in a row.
Unstoppable from Kuzbass!Roman Kopylov's career in the UFC is reminiscent of the path of the new #1 heavyweight contender Sergey Pavlovich. He also skidded at the start, and then began to fill a series of victories with knockouts. Pavlovich has six of them at the moment, and the pupil of the Kemerovo mixed martial arts school has three.
Today, Claudio Ribeiro suffered from the power of Kopylov. Roman gave the Brazilian the first round, but the second did not last even a minute: the Russian took aim at the opponent's body for a long time, but in the end he hit his foot exactly in the jaw. Ribeiro collapsed to the canvas and, like Poirier, missed another finishing blow — thanks to this triumph, Kopylov won the 11th victory in his professional career and got the opportunity to challenge Sean Strickland himself.
More to be discussed after UFC 291:
- Amazing comeback from Derrick Lewis. The American, nicknamed the Black Beast, quickly ran over Brazilian Marcos Rogerio De Lima and finally broke his three-game losing streak. He holds the promotion's record for most knockouts (14);
- The sad return of Michael Chiesa, who after a 21-month downtime in the first round, «knocked» after the choke hold of Kevin Holland. Maverick now has three losses in a row;
- The Guillotine by the undefeated Gabriel Bonfime. The Brazilian is amazing: he has 15 finishes in 15 professional fights!
* * *Unfortunately, the promotion lost one of the main card fights a day before the tournament. Brazilian Michel Pereira exceeded the welterweight limit, and American Stephen Thompson, tired of the failures of weight races from his opponents, considered it unreasonable to leave the fight in force.
Earlier, the fight between Paulo Costa and Ikram Aliskerov was removed from the card. Both will fight in Abu Dhabi in October, but not with each other: the Brazilian will meet with Khamzat Chimaev, and the Russian — with Nassurdin Imavov.
BONUSES
- Best Performance of the Night: Gaethje, Lewis, Green and Holland.