UFC Fight Night 37 came to us from London with a nine-fight card on Saturday afternoon.
Alexander Gustafsson squared off with Jimi Manuwa in the evening’s main event. The Swede took Manuwa down early in the first round, and he tried working for submissions but was unable to find one. Manuwa survived the first with quality submission defense.
Early in the second round, Gustafsson got the finish. A knee followed by a slew of punches was enough to convince the referee to stop the violence. “The Mauler” now awaits the winner of Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira.
The co-main event failed to deliver. Melvin Guillard was gun-shy against Michael Johnson and allowed the lightweight to easily take a decision. The fight was supposed to be an all-out battle between two of the most exciting lightweights, but only one showed up to fight.
In other main card action, Brad Pickett made a successful flyweight debut over Neil Seery. Pickett will enter the title mix, but Seery impressed in a losing effort. Also, Gunnar Nelson returned to the Octagon in peak form with a first-round submission over Omari Akhmedov.
Capping off the five-fight preliminary card, Ilir Latifi submitted Cyrille Diabate in what will be the latter’s final MMA bout.
From the first fight to the last, UFC Fight Night 37 delivered many talking points.
Here are the real winners and losers from the latest UFC card in London.