Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Tim B. and Mookie Alexander take a look at a fairly entertaining event in Copenhagen.
Jared Cannonier made the most of an opportunity today in Copenhagen. He was inserted into his first main event against Jack Hermansson in hostile territory, and was widely expected to be fodder for the Scandinavian fighter. That’s not the way it went at all. Cannonier largely stuffed all of Hermansson’s takedown attempts and caught him with a beautiful uppercut early in the second round, putting his opponent on the floor and pounding him out with ground and pound.
After the fight, Cannonier used his post-fight interview to make people remember him. While most fighters have very little to say, Cannonier most certainly made the most of his mic time and was very respectful of his opponent, of Denmark, and made it clear that he doesn’t need to talk smack to make his mark. I wasn’t a huge fan of Cannonier before tonight. Now I am.
- Mark Madsen looks like he might be a force at lightweight. It’s tough to say for now since he was thrown in there against an obviously overmatched opponent, and lightweight is a total shark tank, but he picked up a quick and dominant win in his home country, which is always fun to see. The crowd LOVED him too.
- Gilbert Burn and Gunnar Nelson was certainly interesting. Their grappling chops basically canceled each other out, but Burns hit a beautiful judo toss and a hard flying knee in the second round, which was the most exciting stanza of the fight. Burns won, and rightfully so.
- Ion Cutelaba is an intense man. He walked across the cage right towards Khalil Rountree during the intros and did the throat slashing gesture. Rountree didn’t even look at him. But once the fight started, Cutelaba’s intensity and wrestling quickly got the best of his opponent, and led to a fairly quick win for the Moldovan. His post-fight interview was kind of funny too. “The Hulk is the best!”
- Ovince Saint Preux didn’t seem to know what to do with Michal Oleksiejczuk’s pressure in the first round of their light heavyweight fight, but he definitely turned it around in the second. OSP got a takedown and used a very unique setup to secure his fourth Von Flue choke win, which is crazy to consider. Nice win for OSP to keep him relevant at 205.
- Nicolas Dalby made his UFC re-debut in style, defeating a game Alex Oliveira via decision. This should come with a bit of an asterisk though, as the referee handed Dalby a very dubious standup in the third round. Oliveira was in side control and quite clearly active with punches, but the ref decided to reset them, much to the dismay of Cowboy. From there, Dalby got a quick takedown, moved to mount, and secured the third round for the win.
- With that being said, I know that Dalby is an avid Bloody Elbow reader, so good on you buddy!
Prelims (Mookie Alexander)
- Alen Amedovski thought he could slug it out with John Phillips. He was wrong, and Phillips knocked him out in 14 seconds. Utterly hilarious brawl and possibly a job-saving win for the Welshman, who finally gets a UFC win on his fourth attempt.
- Floyd Mayweather promoted Makhmud Muradov’s UFC debut was a success, as he won an entertaining decision over Alessio di Chirico. The speed advantage Muradov had was one of the keys to his victory, but di Chirico was a game opponent.
- Ismail Naurdiev outstruck, outwrestled, outgrappled, and just completely outclassed veteran Siyar Bahadurzada for the super lopsided decision win, as he picked up a couple of 10-8s along the way. It’s a good bounceback for Naurdiev after his defeat vs. Chance Rencountre.
- Former Glory kickboxing standout Giga Chikadze came into the UFC on short notice and clearly beat Brandon Davis, except it was somehow scored a draw, then it turns out the commission botched basic arithmetic and Chikadze did win a split decision. It should’ve been unanimous, as Chikadze had the far more damaging and effective offense through rounds one and two. Good on the UFC for immediately looking into those scores because that was ridiculous.
- Lina Lansberg pulled off the upset over women’s bantamweight prospect Macy Chiasson, using her wrestling and control over the last two rounds for a very impressive decision victory. Chiasson’s takedown defense needs some serious work if she’s to move further up the ranks in this division.
- Marc Diakiese continues to turn his career around with a methodical picking apart of Lando Vannata for a shutout decision win. He’s won two in a row after being on the cusp of getting cut when he’d lost his previous three.
- Jack Shore opened the card with a dominant performance and submission finish of Noehlin Hernandez. He definitely made the most of his UFC debut.