UFC Vegas 27: ‘Font vs Garbrandt’ | 6th Round Post-Fight Show

Zane Simon & Eddie Mercado are here to breakdown this Saturday’s, May 22nd, ‘UFC Vegas 27: FONT VS. GARBRANDT’ event. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event.

Bloody Elbow fight experts, Zane Simon & Eddie Mercado, are here tonight – Saturday, May 22nd., 2021, to breakdown the UFC VEGAS 27: ‘Font vs. Garbrandt’ event, which was broadcast from the cozy confines of the APEX Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event in the player above, or on our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube Channel and BE Presents Podcast Network. (SPOILERS…)

Returning to the down-sized APEX octagon for the main event, we had a BantamWeight tilt between the #3 ranked, Rob ‘The New England Cartel’ Font, with an impressive 18-4 record, eight of those first-round finishes, on a three-fight win streak, having handily defeated former title contender and ex-WSOF champion, Marlon Moraes, as well as Ricky Simón & Sergio Pettis in his last several outings; and his opponent tonight being the former UFC Bantamweight titleholder, #4 ranked, Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt; who was coming off an astonishing victory over Raphael Assunção back at UFC 250 last year, determined to show us a new and improved version of himself, while finding his way back to the belt.

But what transpired between the two combatants was a record-setting “second most strikes landed in UFC history”, with Font punishing Cody with 180 well-planted strikes. The former pizza delivery guy looked championship ready, outclassing & outlasting former champ, ‘No Love’, to a unanimous decision win.

In the co-main event, we had the highly-anticipated Women’s StrawWeight contest featuring the former UFC StrawWeight Champion, TUF tourney winner, former Invicta FC SW Champ, and #4 ranked fighter in her division – Carla ‘The Cookie Monster’ Esparza. Carla is known for her BJJ skills as a powerful wrestler, often mounting her opponents and controlling them with strikes while seeking submissions. While standing, she typically clinches and attacks with punches, knees and elbows. She was walking into this event on a four-fight win streak with a 17-6 record in her favor. Her opponent in this title contention bout was Yan ‘Nine’ Xiaonan, ranked #3 in the division; the Chinese phenom has an astounding 13-1 record, walking into the octagon on an impressive 11-fight win streak.

Regardless ‘Nine’’s record, she was not prepared for what would be the 11th TKO from crucifix position in UFC history when ‘The Cookie Monster’ devoured yet another opponent. It’s imaginable a rematch with Rose Namajunas will be in the works!

Also on the card, we had a FeatherWeight clash when Bill ‘Señor Perfecto’ Algeo went up against Ricardo Ramos, who utterly dominated him for all three rounds to a unanimous decision victory. For those of you who joined the event at the start of the main card we got a phenomenal MiddleWeight battle between Jack ‘The Joker’ Hermansson and ‘The Golden Boy’ Edmen Shahbazyan for our main card opener. The judges scored this unanimously, after Hermansson gave us a classic ‘Joker’ performance — the Swede conquered some early hardships to dominate Shahbazyan, who may want to work on both his wrestling defense and conditioning before competing at the elite level again.

These bouts were preceded by our featured prelim bout, showcasing HeavyWeight veteran ‘Big Ben’ Rothwell, who soured the Octagon debut of Chris Barnett; securing a second round submission finish, via a wicked guillotine choke. Which occurred after we were treated to Bruno ‘Bulldog’ Silva, the Brazilian power puncher stopping his flyweight counterpart, Victor Rodriguez, just 60 seconds into the first round with a knee to the body and a flurry of solidly landed punches. Prior to that we had a decent undercard, well worth discussing as well.

This week the guys’ picks heading into the event were:
Both: Font
Both: Xiaonan
Both: Vanderaa
Both: Spencer
Zane: Algeo, Eddie: Ramos
Both: Shahbazyan
Both: Rothwell
Both: Silva
Zane: Silva, Eddie: Rodriguez
Both: Culibao
Both: Hadzovic
Both: Ismagulov

Overall, this now 12-bout card saw two exhilarating first round finishes, two gnarly submissions, two impressive KO/TKO’s, and eight solid decisions – one split. Rounding things out, bonuses for putting forth POTN efforts went to Carla Esparza and Bruno Silva; FOTN honors went to Jared Vanderaa vs. Justin Tafa. What a night of fights we have to share with you, join us to discuss all the action…

In other news, tonight we had #9 ranked LightWeight, Paul ‘The Irish Dragon’ Felder, take a few moments away from commentating to announce his official retirement from the UFC after seven eventful and productive years with the promotion.

Here’s a look at the UFC VEGAS 27: ‘FONT VS GARBRANDT’ RESULTS & UPDATED FIGHT RECORDS:

ESPN+ MAIN CARD | SAT. MAY 22
12. BantamWeight: Rob Font (19-4) DEF. Cody Garbrandt (12-4) – DEC, Unanimous

11. StrawWeight: POTN – Carla Esparza (18-6) DEF. Xiaonan Yan (13-2) – KO/TKO, G&P from Crucifix at 2:58 of Rd 2, Total 7:58

10. HeavyWeight: Jared Vanderaa (12-5) DEF. Justin Tafa (4-2) – DEC, Unanimous (FOTN)

9. FeatherWeight: Norma Dumont (6-1) DEF. Felicia Spencer (8-3) – DEC, SPLIT

8. FeatherWeight: Ricardo Ramos (15-3) DEF. Bill Algeo (14-6) – DEC, Unanimous

7. MiddleWeight: Jack Hermansson (22-6) DEF. Edmen Shahbazyan (11-2) – DEC, Unanimous

ESPN+ PRELIMS
6. HeavyWeight: Ben Rothwell (39-13) DEF. Chris Barnett (21-7) – SUB, Guillotine Choke at 2:07 of Rd 2, Total 7:07

5. WelterWeight: Court McGee (20-10) DEF. Claudio Silva (14-3) – DEC, Unanimous

4. BantamWeight: POTN – Bruno Silva (12-5) DEF. Victor Rodriguez (7-4) – KO/TKO, Rt Cross to G&P at 1:00 of Rd 1

3. FeatherWeight: Joshua Culibao (8-1) DEF. Shayilan Nuerdambieke (19-6) – DEC, Unanimous

2. FlyWeight: David Dvo?ák (20-3) DEF. Juancamilo Ronderos (4-1) – SUB, Rear Naked Choke at 2:18 of Rd 1

1. LightWeight: Damir Ismagulov (23-1) DEF. Rafael Alves (19-10) – DEC, Unanimous

Be sure to follow Zane – @TheZaneSimon & Eddie – @TheEddieMercado; and follow @BloodyElbow on twitter as well, for all the latest in MMA happenings. Bloody Elbow Presents is a mixed martial arts podcast network presented to you by Bloody Elbow:

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