Mookie Alexander recaps and analyzes a fun Saturday morning/afternoon of fights that took place at UFC Fight NIght: Gustafsson vs. Smith in Stockholm, Sweden.
If there were legitimately doubts about how good Anthony Smith truly is since moving up to 205 lbs, he surely erased them with his upset win over Alexander Gustafsson in the UFC Stockholm main event. He stunned the crowd by choking Gustafsson out in the fourth round of a fight that, quite frankly, Smith was clearly winning up to that point. The tide looked like it was turning in Gus’ favor after he hurt Smith in round three and was upping his volume, but Smith was more composed and more effective on offense for much of the contest, and Gustafsson’s failed trip in the fourth round proved to be a fatal move. Smith took the back, hurt Gustafsson with ground-and-pound, then sealed the deal with a rear-naked choke.
This is undoubtedly the biggest victory of Smith’s career, as he’s validated himself as elite at his weight class. You only wonder what would’ve happened had he moved up sooner. I can’t wait to see what’s next for him, as he’s a great story of perseverance and dogged determination.
On the flip side, this is a devastating defeat for Gustafsson. Not only has he once again lost in front of his home fans (and against another guy named Anthony), but it also doubles as his apparent retirement. He left his gloves in the cage and said “the show is over, guys.” Gustafsson was on the cusp of a UFC title the first time he fought Jon Jones — some argue he should’ve won it on the scorecards — and he was close to TKOing Daniel Cormier before losing a split decision in that same fight. Now he’s decidedly out of the title picture after getting dominated by Jones in the rematch and looking second-best vs. Smith. He had a very good and largely entertaining career, it’s just a shame that he never quite reached the mountaintop.
More thoughts ahead:
Main Card
- Holy shit. Aleksandar Rakic gave us a knockout of the year candidate. He slumped Jimi Manuwa with a head kick so loud that you’d have thought it was a shotgun blast. Manuwa may be on a losing streak but this is Rakic’s biggest win to date, and he’s established himself as a light heavyweight to watch rise up the ranks.
- Makwan Amirkhani and Chris Fishgold put on an entertaining show as expected. In the end, it was Mr. Finland who capitalized on Fishgold’s ill-fated guillotine attempt off a takedown, and instead turned it into a fight-winning anaconda choke in the second-round. Great win for Amirkhani against the former Cage Warriors champ, now hopefully we won’t see him disappear for another year.
- Christos Giagos perhaps saved his UFC roster spot with a decision win over Bosnian lightweight Damir Hadzovic, who was fortunate to survive getting rocked in round two. By the end of the contest both men were extremely gassed, but Giagos’ wrestling and Hadzovic’s still porous takedown defense told much of the story.
- Featherweight Daniel Teymur finally got his first UFC win, outpointing and outworking Sung Bin Jo, who looked more the part of “regional scene can crusher” than someone with promise. I picked Jo on the expectation that he’d show himself to be more than what I’d just described, but he was timid from the start and Teymur capitalized from the opening minute.
Preliminary Card
- A fun welterweight battle capped off the prelims, as Sergey Kandhozko edged out fellow newcomer Rostem Akman by decision. Akman is one of the hairiest dudes I’ve ever seen anywhere, but it was Kandhozko who got by in a close shave.
- Wow. Former Invicta FC bantamweight champ Tonya Evinger got bulldozed for three rounds by Lina Lansberg. Evinger sought takedowns and tried to win in her usual style but effectively got beaten and bloodied in her own game, and by someone who’s takedown defense has historically been a liability. Evinger is 0-3 in the UFC and looks like a faded fighter, but credit to the “Elbow Queen” for one of her best performances to date.
- Brazilian lightweight Leonardo Santos returned from nearly three years away from the Octagon to completely spark out Stevie Ray with a right hand from hell. It’s the same big shot he used to hurt and eventually stop Kevin Lee, but Ray was gone just from that punch. He’s still undefeated in the UFC, and I hope healthy enough and able to get on an active schedule.
- A much more patient and methodical Frank Camacho moved down to lightweight and whooped Nick Hein’s ass. It was a clinical showing that led to a standing TKO at the end of round two. Excellent body work, well-timed and well-placed combos to the head, and he resisted the urge to get into brawls.
- Women’s bantamweight Bea Malecki got the Swedish crowd hyped up after her rear-naked choke finish of Dudu Santana. Not exactly a great scrap but Malecki rebounded from a slow start and took advantage of the few minutes of cardio Santana had, plus Malecki appears to be way better technically.
- The first two fights of the night saw Spanish lightweight Joel Alvarez reverse position and ground-and-pound TKO Danilo Belluardo, while light heavyweight Devin Clark got back in the win column with a unanimous decision over Darko Stosic.