Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone with UFC Vegas 28 revisiting UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, over the weekend (June 5, 2021). Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds, including Augusto Sakai, who was knocked out by Jairzinho Rozenstruik in buzzer-beating fashion (see it again here). And Ariane Lipski, who suffered her second straight loss after getting stopped by Montana De La Rosa in the second round of their women’s Flyweight bout (watch highlights).
But, which fighter is suffering from perhaps the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show? Walt Harris.
Coming into his co-headlining fight against Marcin Tybura, “Big Ticket” was looking to snap his two-fight losing streak after dropping back-to-back fights to Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov. And he knew going in that it wouldn’t be an easy task seeing as how Tybura was on a four-fight win streak and firing on all cylinders.
Harris looked great to open things up, rocking Tybura with a relentless attack and seemed to be on his way to scoring a first round finish after tagging his foe with some big shots. Unfortunately for Harris, Tybura recovered and took control of the fight halfway through the opening round after landing a huge takedown.
From there, Tybura took his back and started raining down his own punishment. Once Tybura sunk in both hooks and flattened out Harris it was all she wrote. Indeed, Tybura picked up the intensity and starting raining down blows, leaving the referee with no other choice but to put an end to the fight, giving Harris his third straight loss via strikes.
It’s a tough run for “Big Ticket, who has been unable to gain a ton of momentum during his up-and-down run inside the Octagon. Prior to his skid, Harris had actually won four in a row, with one of those victories getting over-turned to a “No Contest” after he tested positive for marijuana.
But, four months after his last victory over Aleksei Oleinik, tragedy hit him and his family hard after his stepdaughter was murdered. Harris took a six-month hiatus from the fight game before he returned to action against Overeem. It was a huge step for him, but being the warrior he is, he put his boots on and came to work, a tough challenge and step forward for anybody after such a tragic and personal loss.
As for what’s next for Harris, why not put him up against Sakai?
Both men came up short in “Sin City” this past weekend and they are currently separated by just one spot on the rankings (Harris is No. 8, while Sakai is No. 9). Sure, one man could go home with a three-fight skid or the other with four straight losses, but that is the fight business.
Plus, when you look at the rest of the division, no one ahead of them in the rankings makes sense, and neither does anyone below them, for that matter.
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