UFC 300. What a night.
The hype surrounding the landmark card was palpable from the first official bout announcement months ago. Leading into fight night, there was a monumental amount of excitement from fans, media & fighters, alike.
It’s not unheard of for a card to built up so much in the lead in that come fight night, it underwhelms. That certainly was not the case last night.
A stacked card from top to bottom, a sold out T-Mobile arena, a plethora of celebrity fans cage side & $300K bonuses on the line, the card delivered beyond many people’s wildest expectations.
Alex Pereira once again showed that he may well be one of the hardest hitters in the history of the sport with a cold first round finish against Jamahal Hill in the main event.
‘Poatan’ clocked Hill with a mighty left hook with just over a minute left in the opening stanza of their Light Heavyweight clash. The shot sent Hill straight to the mat and the Brazilian swarmed the title challenger with hammerfists and referee, Herb Dean, had seen enough and waved the contest off.
Weili Zhang also retained her title, with an extremely dominant performance against Yan Xiaonan in the co-main event of the evening. The Strawweight queen dictated the whole contest and secured 49–45, 49-45, 49-45 on all three judges' scorecards, showing once again, just how much of a formidable force she is at 115lbs.
The BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway was widely considered to be the people’s main event; and it delivered one of the best 25 minute contests in the history of the sport. Prior to the contest, it was widely discussed if the size difference between the two, with Holloway moving up from Featherweight, would prove to be too much. That idea was quickly put to bed when the two started swinging on eachother.
Just before the buzzer at the end of the first round, Holloway landed a spinning kick which appeared to break Gaethje’s nose. As the rounds rolled on, so did the big strikes, with Holloway pulling away in the bout and finding some incredible strikes whilst eating everything that was being thrown at him. However, Gaethje found some success in the fourth when he become the first man to drop Holloway when he landed a with a right hook.
As the timer ticked on in the fifth and final round, it was largely considered that the Hawaiian had done enough to claim the belt from ‘The Highlight’. The 10 second clapper sounded which prompted Holloway to point the mat, an indication he wanted to stand and swing with Gaethje. With nothing to lose, the former BMF title holder duly obliged and both men starting whipping in huge shots.
With just one second left of the fight, Holloway landed a peach of a right hook and rendered Gaethje unconscious immediately and was crowned the new BMF champion, with the MMA legend Mark Coleman presenting the belt.
Arman Tsarukyan may have booked himself a date with the winner of Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier, which was confirmed for UFC 301 last night, with a split decision win against Charles Oliveira. Both men left everything inside the octagon in the brutal 15 minute affair, with Tsarukyan edging it on two of the judges' scorecards.
Bo Nickal saw the second round of a mixed martial arts contest for the first time in his Middleweight clash with Cody Brundage. It was clearly a step up in competition for the wrestling supremo, with Brundage defending Nickal’s submission threats in the first round. With just less than 90 seconds left on the clock in the second, Nickal tied up a tight rear naked choke and moved to 6-0.
Ji?í Procházka had to rally in the second round to secure a win against Aleksandar Rakic. Rakic fired in several heavy calf kicks early in the fight which clearly troubled the former Light Heavyweight champion. A stiff one, two from Procházka instantly took the legs out from underneath Rakic, who went reeling from the strikes and was unable to regain his composure. Seeing this, ‘BJP’ swarmed his opponent and managed to secure the TKO finish just seconds later.
Kayla Harrison opened her UFC account in style, with a second round finish against Holly Holm. The former PFL champion and Olympic never looked in danger and looked more than comfortable in her new weight class, dominating the contest from beginning to end and finishing her promotional debut with a second round submission win.
There were also big wins for Aljamain Sterling, Diego Lopes, Renato Moicano, Jessica Andrade, Bobby Green and Deiveson Figueiredo.
You can watch the Light Heavyweight champion's in cage interview, below:
