If you witnessed UFC Fight Night 30 from Manchester, England, you were treated to a solid night of fights. From the top of the card to the bottom, everybody brought the fight and impressed everybody watching around the world.
In the main event, Lyoto Machida made a successful drop to 185 by knocking out Mark Munoz with a devastating head kick. However, controversy reared its ugly head in the co-main event, as a no-contest was the result of the bout between Ross Pearson and Melvin Guillard.
We had some awesome performances from England. Here are the three stars from the event.
1st Star: Lyoto Machida
Welcome to the middleweight division, Lyoto Machida.
It took under a round, but the former light heavyweight champion used his signature striking to down training partner Mark Munoz with a blistering head kick. The kick was incredibly accurate, hitting Munoz right on the button and putting him to sleep.
Even better was the sportsmanship that Machida showed when going for the kill shot. Knowing Munoz was out, he gingerly kneeled atop him and waited for the ref to intervene. No further unnecessary damage was dispensed, no potential grief toward the referee given.
Machida‘s star truly burned bright tonight. In a more natural weight class of 185, I think we have ourselves a potential title challenger, assuming Anderson Silva doesn’t get his belt back against Chris Weidman
2nd Star: Jessica Andrade
Many fans were not fully aware of the arsenal Jessica Andrade possessed coming into her UFC Fight Night 30 bout with Rosi Sexton. They got a glimpse of it when it was all over.
After falling to Liz Carmouche in her UFC debut on short notice, fans were pretty much counting out the Brazilian fighter. However, they failed to realize that it was on short notice against a former title challenger.
Andrade threw bombs from bell to bell, brutalizing the women’s MMA pioneer. It was a one-sided beating that had many fans praising Sexton’s toughness over Andrade‘s performance.
Here is a formal recognition of Andrade‘s impressive performance. She was truly one of the shining stars of the event.
3rd Star: Nicholas Musoke
Newcomer Nicholas Musoke wasn’t given much of a chance by MMA fans because he is a natural welterweight fighting at middleweight on very short notice. After one round, fans were on their feet for the Swedish fighter.
Rocked early by Italian boxer Alessio Sakara, Musoke gathered his head and eventually tagged “Legionarius” with some hard strikes himself. The fight went to the ground, where the Swede took over.
In the blink of an eye, Musoke threw up his legs and snagged the arm of Sakara. After extending his hips and finishing the submission, Sakara verbally tapped, and Musoke won his UFC debut with the odds against him.
We have ourselves another potential Swedish star.
Honorable Mention: Cole Miller
His post-fight speech was boss. He didn’t answer Joe Rogan’s question, he called out Europe and he called out Colin McGoober (Conor McGregor). Cole Miller is now a heel in Europe and a hero for this myself.
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