Another big night of UFC action took place this weekend from Stockholm, Sweden, with a number of big standout performances taking place on the night.
From rapid-fire knockouts to courageous comebacks, UFC on Fuel TV 9 was certainly not short of talking points—and it certainly wasn’t short of speculation about where the future lies for certain fighters. Yet, before we go down that path, we’ve first got to see what made their performances in Stockholm so special and worth getting excited about.
Read on to see the top performances from UFC on Fuel TV 9.
Gegard Mousasi: Def. Ilir Latifi
It might not have been the dominant performance that many wanted to see from Mousasi in his UFC debut, but with a concise and well-calculated victory, he still emerged looking very strong on the night.
In his first UFC fight, Mousasi was tactical and refused to give in to Latifi, and in the end, that style saw him emerge victorious. Which, given how dangerous his opponent was in terms of takedowns and grappling, is a very fair achievement.
The fact that all of this happened on one leg is even more remarkable, with reports emerging afterwards that Mousasi won the fight with a busted knee that will now require immediate surgery (Yahoo! Sports).
Talk about a memorable performance for your UFC debut.
Conor McGregor: Def. Marcus Brimage
It took McGregor just 67 seconds to go from starting a fight to celebrating wildly with an Irish flag—such was his dominance in UFC on Fuel TV 9.
McGregor came into the fight with a strong following and the belief that he could challenge Brimage, but few expected that he would do it in the way that he did. After all, Brimage is a solid fighter who was more than capable of challenging the young Irishman.
Or so we thought.
McGregor showed he is the real deal with a devastating victory here and will now look forward to his next fight, which could see him against some very strong fighters. But, having seen him thrive here, you’d have to think he’ll be more than okay there as well.
Matt Mitrione: Def. Philip De Fries
If you thought 67 seconds was quick, then the 19 seconds that Mitrione took to get past De Fries was just something else. And whilst many might want to point out that Mitrione didn’t really do anything to get the win here, the reality was that this was a big performance.
Without a win in nearly two years of fights, Mitrione showed that he hasn’t lost a step at the top level and that he is more than capable of mixing it with the best. What’s more, he showed that understanding of the Octagon can be a real weapon moving forward—perhaps even enough to bring him out of his slump and into the winners circle once more.
A win is a win regardless of how it comes about, and Mitrione will gladly take the victory and the confidence that it will no doubt give him.
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