Issue 169

August 2018

MARTIN NGUYEN VS. MARAT GAFUROV

One Championship: Quest For Greatness

Two years and four wins after their first encounter, Nguyen faced Gafurov again with the ONE Championship title on the line. With redemption and world championship gold fuelling him, Nguyen overcame a tough first round to land a devastating right hand which was the beginning of the end, stopping the previously unbeaten Russian for the first time in his career.

DARREN ELKINS VS. MIRSAD BEKTIC

UFC 209

Elkins came in as a featherweight stalwart, durable and entertaining, but never quite reaching the top of the division. Bektic was the up-and-coming prospect, 11-0 and with the title in his sights. Bektic dominated Elkins from the opening bell. It was going just as the pundits expected - a punishing, top-game beating. But Elkins pulled off an astonishing comeback in the third round to finish the Bosnian via TKO, handing him his first defeat against the odds, and against the run of play.

BRENT PRIMUS VS. MICHAEL CHANDLER

Bellator 180

Brent Primus challenged for Michael Chandler’s Bellator lightweight title as a relatively green 7-0 contender. Chandler’s consistently high-level opposition and impressive victories left most believing that the win would be a formality. It wasn’t the glamorous finish he might have wanted, but a grim ankle injury

to Chandler forced the doctors to stop the fight - against the champ’s wishes - and Primus picked up the title and a huge underdog victory.

ROSE NAMAJUNAS VS JOANNA JEDRZEJCZYK

UFC 217

Joanna Jedrzejczyk controlled the UFC strawweight division with an iron fist. At 14-0 and with 5 successful UFC title defenses, she looked unbeatable. By contrast, Rose Namajunas was just 6-3 and in the right place to get a shot when other options had been exhausted, but she believed in herself. The Polish fighter was aggressive in the build-up and in the fight, but Namajunas was patient and measured, finding a perfect left hook to finish the champion, claiming her first KO win and with it, the world title.

ZACH FREEMAN VS. AARON PICO

Bellator 180

You’d think the upset would be a debutant like Aaron Pico defeating an 8-2 battle-tested opponent like Zach Freeman, but in fact it was the opposite. Pico was an outstanding wrestler and tipped as a future champion. But Freeman first hurt Pico with an uppercut and then jumped on a tight guillotine, forcing the tap at 0:24 of the very first round. Nobody had expected it to end that early and in that manner, but Freeman’s experience and composure usurped Pico’s big introduction.