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UFC 299: O’Malley v Vera 2 — Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Last night (Sat., March 9, 2024), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida for UFC 299. Though only one title was on the line, this fight card was about as stacked as they come! Even early in the “Prelims,” there were interesting notes like the debut of a Cuban Taekwondo Olympic medalist, as well as proven finishers like Michel Pereira and Ion Cutelaba. When former main event athletes like Curtis Blaydes and Rafael dos Anjos are on the undercard, you just know it’s going to be a great night of combat!

Let’s take a look back over at UFC 299’s best performances and techniques:

An O’Malley Masterclass

Sean O’Malley just put forth a pretty compelling argument that he’s the best striker in the UFC right now. I know, I know, Alex Pereira exists … but is the Brazilian the best, or is he just gifted with ungodly power?

Let me focus back on “Suga,” who absolutely showed out at the expense of Marlon Vera. For five full rounds, he picked apart Vera, mostly with apparent ease. He landed a knee in the second round with the resounding crack of a genuine home run hit, and it’s only because of Vera’s remarkable durability that we were able to witness the full extent of O’Malley’s standup prowess.

O’Malley does a lot of flashy techniques to great effect, but time and time again, it comes back to boxing. From both stances, O’Malley boxed remarkably well. He jabbed up Vera with both hands, feinted the jab, and consistently stayed a step ahead of Vera with his angles and pivots. Vera was constantly turning to face O’Malley and getting stabbed with punches for his efforts, and any time Vera advanced on a retreating champion, O’Malley would still flick him with the jab.

O’Malley’s body work was gorgeous here as well. Vera is known for being difficult to hit cleanly, so O’Malley and his team wisely adjusted strategy and spent long portions of the fight ripping crosses into his mid-section. Vera may be a cardio machine, but nobody runs marathons getting hit in the gut every quarter mile. O’Malley successfully slowed “Chito” down with his body work, as well as setting up future connections upstairs off the level change, like the aforementioned knee and numerous overhands.

Speed, volume, accuracy, technique, strategy — O’Malley was on fire last night. He’s a special fighter. Merab Dvalishvili may present an entirely different challenge and is a remarkable athlete in his own right, but it’s hard to feel confident in any Bantamweight against “Suga” after this master class.

He’s not even 30 yet.

The Diamond Endures

It’s rare that a fight is a two-way ass-beating.

For most of seven minutes, Benoit Saint Denis was abusing Dustin Poirier. Poirier fans around the globe cringed as Poirier repeatedly jumped for the guillotine, even after his coaches begged him to focus on the face-punching. Between those gilly attempts, Saint Denis was chasing Poirier around the Octagon and landing really nasty shots. Combination punches, dirty knees and elbows from the clinch, heavy kicks at range — Saint Denis attacked all targets with equal vigor and then wrestled relentlessly behind his offense.

Both men were fatigued by the second, but Poirier seemed to be fading worse. Nevertheless, he managed to escape from back mount, and this time, he used a guillotine attempt to ward off a takedown attempt rather than pull guard. Saint Denis was tired and on his feet with “The Diamond,” still pressuring … as is his nature.

If we know anything from more than a decade of watching Poirier in the Octagon, he carries his power at all times. One counter punch drastically changed the situation, putting Saint Denis into desperation mode. Suddenly, Poirier was in control, and a perfect counter right hook absolutely leveled the French prospect seconds later.

It’s a complicated outcome.

Truthfully, Poirier didn’t look good. He made a lot of bad decisions, relied mostly on his face for defense, and couldn’t stay off the fence at all. There are rumors that he’ll face Islam Makhachev next after this win, and there’s simply no way that match up goes well for him (unless he finally lands that guillotine). At the same time, it was such a ballsy performance that it’s hard not to walk away impressed. Poirier leaves another war of attrition with a sickening knockout win, once again proving himself an all-time great in that style of fight.

JDM Pulls It Off

This may be a slightly hot take, but on my scorecard, Gilbert Burns was up 2-0 with five minutes remaining.

That’s not to say it wasn’t close or that Jack Della Maddalena wasn’t fight well. In fact, I was consistently impressed with Maddalena’s excellent scrambling. Burns was timing his takedowns really well, using the wise approach of kicking and wrestling the boxer — all the way out or all the way in! When Maddalena hit the floor, however, he did great work in fighting hands, fighting hooks, and flowing with the jiu-jitsu ace to scramble back to his feet in short fashion.

The bout was a little odd when the two were striking. Burns would occasionally land a really hard single punch or heavy kick. Then, Maddalena would cautiously build combinations, but a lot of them didn’t have a ton of power. Combined with Burns’ occasional takedowns but relative lack of control, it made for competitive rounds.

Whatever the scorecards, Maddalena pulled off a hell of a turnaround midway through the third. Burns was finally getting him down with greater consistency, and you could see in Maddalena’s posture and visage that he was exhausted. Nevertheless, Maddalena was able to pull off one last escape from a desperate position — the two-on-one wrist ride — and suddenly, it was “Durinho” desperately searching for a takedown.

Maddalena knew it and timed a knee perfectly to knock out the former title contender. Book “JDM” vs. Shavkat yesterday!

Petr Yan Returns To The Win Column

Petr Yan vs. Song Yadong was an absolute BANGER!

Yadong started the bout really well. His speed in the first five minutes was absurd, as Yadong was able to chop the lead leg, threaten takedowns, and build combinations well. Yan was firing back, but he was clearly put off by his opponent’s raw speed and power.

Naturally, those attributes start to slow a bit after five hard minutes. Yan took advantage in several ways, but his first bit of major success was landing a few body kicks that really took some steam off Yadong’s shots. Then, his jab started to land, and Yan began to punish his opponent’s takedown feints and head movement with ripping uppercuts. We’ve come to expect great adjustments from the former champion, and he certainly delivered!

It call come down the the third, and both men were feeling those 10 violent minutes. Initially, I liked the look of “The Kung Fu Kid,” who found good success by focusing more on his jab and pressuring Yan despite the heavy fire coming back his way. Just as the momentum seemed to be falling back into his corner, Yan was able to score a pivotal takedown along the fence. He finished the fight in top position, throwing elbows, and there was little doubt that “No Mercy” had done enough to get the nod.

Curtis Blaydes Finally Turns The Table

There was a bit of poetic justice in how Curtis Blaydes defeated Jailton Almeida.

How many times have we seen Curtis Blaydes start strong before getting melted? The most infamous example came against Derrick Lewis, where “The Black Beast” hardly landed a single punch until finding the perfect uppercut in the second round to put Blaydes to sleep. Other bouts against the likes of Francis Ngannou and Sergei Pavlovich were less dramatic, but even so, Blaydes found early success before getting smoked.

Finally, this bout was the opposite. Almeida proved his Heavyweight strength and wrestling by manhandling Blaydes for five minutes with an impressively dominant array of clinch trips and throws. Blaydes was thoroughly stuck for the entire first five rounds. It wasn’t looking good!

Then, Blaydes flipped the script. He sprawled on Almeida’s shot early in the second, and before the Brazilian could start chaining together his attempts, Blaydes unloaded a series of hammerfists to the side of his head. Blaydes has never been a fast puncher, but he hits plenty hard and had a stationary target in front of him.

Almeida slumped over, unsure what was happening.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best wins of Blaydes’ career. Almeida hadn’t lost in five years and 15 fights! It should be enough to score Blaydes a title rematch versus Tom Aspinall, which has both the history and style match up to be quite intriguing … even if Blaydes will be a significant underdog.

Middleweight Michel

It’s really started to feel like Michel Pereira should have been at Middleweight this whole time

The Brazilian ended his Welterweight run — which featured numerous weight misses — on a five-fight win streak. However, only one victory came via finish, and several times, we saw Pereira lose rounds in the process. He looked good, but nobody was really pegging “Demolidor” as a future title contender.

Maybe that’s changed up at 185 lbs? Pereira steamrolled Andre Petrovski in 66 seconds a few months ago in his first bout post-banishment to Middleweight, and he just battered Micha? Oleksiejczuk in 61 seconds last night! Oleksiejczuk is a high-quality Middleweight striker, but Pereira ran right through him by ripping apart his mid-section, which is quite a feather in his cap given Oleksiejczuk’s own penchant for body punching.

How high can Pereira climb without killing himself to make weight? I’m excited to find out.

Four Knockouts In 37 Seconds

Robelis Despaigne is a force of nature. He won three fights prior to his UFC debut in just seconds, and nothing changed against Josh Parisian! Despaigne wasted a beat or two by slipping on a high kick, but as soon as he regained his footing, he immediately made up for lost time with a whipping counter right hook.

Parisian hit the ground and was immediately toast. The fight lasted 18 seconds.

What did we learn about Despaigne here? F—king nothing. We still have no idea what happens if he’s forced to wrestle or simply fight beyond the first minute. Who cares though? If nothing else, Despaigne has established himself as an absolute must-watch Heavyweight and unique prospect. It literally cannot get much more exciting!

For complete UFC 299 results and play-by-play, click HERE!