UFC Fight Night 65 was a rather enjoyable event unless you happened to be a UFC fan in Australia or the Pacific Islands. Stipe Miocic left little room for doubt in his TKO win over New Zealander Mark Hunt on Saturday night in Adelaide, Australia.
Miocic’s victory headlined a busy card, with four fights occupying the main draw. Here’s a look at how the quartet of clashes played out.
UFC Fight Night 65 Main Card
Recap
James Vick kicked off the main card for UFC Fight Night 65 with a submission victory over Jake Matthews.
Matthews was the aggressor in the first round. Vick deflected his initial attack, but his second wave of blows was more successful. Matthews also registered the only takedown of the match.
With the opening round nearing its conclusion, things turn a turn for Matthews. Vick started gaining more of an advantage, and after getting pushed into the fence, he locked on the guillotine. Matthews had no choice but to tap.
The Adelaide crowd was left speechless with its countryman on the losing end after such a promising start:
MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani believes this will only be a momentary setback for Matthews:
In the second fight of the night, Sean O’Connell needed less than a minute to dispatch Anthony Perosh and score a TKO win.
Right from the opening bell, O’Connell overwhelmed Perosh with offense, and unlike Vick vs. Matthews, there wasn’t any chance Perosh was going to somehow snatch a result from out of nowhere. O’Connell didn’t allow Perosh any time to breathe, constantly throwing a barrage of punches his opponent’s way.
Once Perosh got caught against the fence, that was all she wrote. O’Connell smelled blood in the water and didn’t relent until the referee stopped the fight.
As if beating Perosh in dominating fashion wasn’t enough to endear O’Connell with UFC fans, he then went on to plug his novel during his post-fight interview. This made USA Today‘s Ben Fowlkes and Fox Sports’ Damon Martin O’Connell’s two newest fans:
Robert Whittaker watched O’Connell’s win and one-upped him. Whittaker knocked out Brad Tavares in a scant 44 seconds.
Tavares simply looked overmatched. After getting tagged early on in the first round, he attempted to take the fight to Whittaker. That only prolonged the inevitable as Whittaker bludgeoned Tavares until the 27-year-old was out cold.
Peter Brown of the Daily Telegraph in Sydney joked that Whittaker did more damage to himself in his post-fight celebration than Tavares did in the fight itself:
One of Whittaker’s sponsors for the fight was Mortal Kombat X, which Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter felt couldn’t have been any more perfect:
Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com took pity on Tavares, who came a long way just to have his lunch handed to him:
To say that Miocic dominated the main event would be a massive understatement. According to UFC.com, he was in control for 16:09 minutes of the fight, compared to just a paltry three seconds for Hunt. He also landed 361 total strikes and 113 significant strikes, with Hunt totaling 46 and 33, respectively.
According to UFC President Dana White, Miocic’s total strikes set a new record:
The fact that Hunt hanged on for so long is either a testament to his unwillingness to quit or his corner’s inability to see how much trouble he was in inside the Octagon. UFC’s Phil Brooks questioned if the fight should have ended much earlier:
At least Miocic enjoyed himself:
All in all, the main card for UFC Fight Night 65 had a little bit of everything, and fans can’t complain that it lacked excitement. Having three of the fights end in the first round was a pleasant development, and Miocic’s one-sided beatdown was something to behold.
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