If you missed UFC 165, you missed a classic. The boys brought their A-games and put on great fights that brought fans in Toronto to their feet.
The card was headlined by an all-time matchup: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson. Jones took the win narrowly via unanimous decision.
However, before the main card, we were treated to some great prelims. Let’s take a look at the three stars from the undercard at UFC 165.
John Makdessi
In front of his home country crowd, John Makdessi worked quickly to get to the post-fight celebration. In just two minutes of fighting, Makdessi thoroughly dominated the fight, which was all spent on the feet.
The first minute of the fight, Makdessi and Forte traded kicks. Once Makdessi got comfortable, he unleashed a nasty combination that pretty much knocked the Brazilian out. The rest was quite unnecessary, as Forte napped.
That win further pushed “The Bull” up the rankings in the lightweight division. He has looked great in his most recent fights, a credit to his time at Tristar Gym.
Had Renan Barao not done what he did to Eddie Wineland, Makdessi could have easily taken the Knockout of the Night.
Wilson Reis
Taking a fight on short notice does not usually bode well for fighters. They are facing competition that will have had a full training camp, while they are thrown to the sharks.
Wilson Reis walked into Toronto with very little time to prepare for Ivan Menjivar, a man considered to be a top-10 bantamweight pre-fight. Reis used a balanced attack to take the fight to the Tristar rep and was rewarded with a unanimous decision victory.
It wasn’t long ago Reis washed out with Bellator and had little hope of a big-show return. Now he’s on a five-fight win streak, one of which was against the world’s largest MMA promotion.
Mitch Gagnon
If there is a dark horse in the bantamweight division, Mitch Gagnon may be it. Since dropping his UFC debut, Gagnon has looked like a man on his way to the top of the division.
At UFC 165, Gagnon was matched up with a tough Dustin Kimura.
Gagnon dominated the Hawaiian on the feet and finished him off with a nasty guillotine choke.
A post-fight bonus later and Gagnon was $50,000 richer. A nice reward for a dominating effort.
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