UFC Fight Night 147 is in the books, as the ESPN+-televised went down from inside O2 Arena last night (Sat., March 16, 2019) in London, England, in an exciting afternoon of fights. In the main event of the evening, Jorge Masvidal silenced the hometown crowd, knocking out Darren Till in the second round of the headlining act (see it again here). In the co-main event, Leon Edwards out-worked Gunnar Nelson to add to his win streak, while Dominick Reyes handed Volkan Oezdemir his third straight defeat in main card action.
Biggest Winner: Jorge Masvidal
Who saw that coming? Masvidal shocked the mixed martial arts (MMA) world after knocking out the much bigger Till in a crazy comeback win. Prior to the stoppage, though, “Gamebred” looked pretty good, as his strikes were a bit cleaner, his kicks a bit more powerful and his overall game a bit tighter. Still, Till was pretty much controlling the fight, knocking down Masvidal in the first, and simply imposing his size and will.
But in round two, Masvidal caught Till sleeping for a split second, sneaking in a wicked left hand the knocked out “The Gorilla” cold before he hit the canvas. It was a huge win for Masvidal, who breaks his two-fight skid in impressive fashion over a former title contender. While he won’t get into title contention straight away, his knockout win over one of the toughest in the division puts everyone on notice. Leon Edwards included.
And let’s not forget, he scored an extra cool $100,000 bonus for his kid’s college education he wanted. Not a bad night at the office.
Runner Up: Leon Edwards
Edwards won his seventh straight after out-pointing Nelson in the co-headlining act. It was a pretty nice win for the brawling Brit (recap), who also had a brief tussle with Masvidal backstage. The win will help Edwards jump up in the rankings, but in today’s game, it takes a bit more to get a shot at the title … especially in the crowded 170-pound weight class.
It’s instances like these that make us scratch our heads: Volkan Oezdemir was granted a shot at the title against Daniel Cormier after only three wins and a year with the promotion, while Edwards is barely hanging on to a Top 10 spot after putting in work 2.5 years steady and winning seven in a row. That said, “Rocky” will get a bigger fight next, perhaps even a match up against “Gamebred.”
Biggest Loser: Volkan Oezdemir
Yes, Tills’s knockout loss to Masvidal was brutal and crucial, but we will discuss where he goes from here in another piece. For now, let’s focus on Oezdemir’s horrible skid. After beginning his combat career to a scorching 15-1 record, including winning his firs three UFC fights — which was good enough to launch him into a title fight — “No Time” has now dropped three in a row.
Granted, he wasn’t completely out-classed by Reyes, and the decision could’ve easily gone either way, but this is his third straight defeat and it will hurt his stock badly. He won’t be getting a big fight next, his hole just go a big deeper and he will be going into his next outing with the possibility of losing four in a row lurking in the back of his mind. He is still a talented and capable fighter, but his climb back to another shot at the strap just got a bit harder. It seems like so long ago that we were mentioning Oezdemir and Jon Jones in the same sentence.
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