The only thing more surprising than Rick Story’s five round routing of Icelandic prospect Gunnar Nelson at Fight Night 53 last weekend was probably the fact that one of the judges actually awarded the fight to Nelson — and by “surprising” I of course mean “in line with everything we’ve come to expect about the state of MMA judging.” But today (yesterday), a truly surprising fact of the fight was dropped by Story via Twitter.
As it turns out, not only was Story able to temporary derail the “Gunni” hype train while fighting on foreign soil, but he was able to do so with a broken ankle to boot. Sounds like a real “Horror” story, amiright fellas? (*crickets*)
According to Story, he suffered the brutal injury to his left ankle in the second round of the five round main event, and is unsure of whether or not it would require surgery or what his return timetable would be. Let’s hope his entrance into the top 15 of his division (at #12) will provide him some comfort in these trying times.
The only thing more surprising than Rick Story’s five round routing of Icelandic prospect Gunnar Nelson at Fight Night 53 last weekend was probably the fact that one of the judges actually awarded the fight to Nelson — and by “surprising” I of course mean “in line with everything we’ve come to expect about the state of MMA judging.” But today (yesterday), a truly surprising fact of the fight was dropped by Story via Twitter.
As it turns out, not only was Story able to temporary derail the “Gunni” hype train while fighting on foreign soil, but he was able to do so with a broken ankle to boot. Sounds like a real “Horror” story, amiright fellas? (*crickets*)
According to Story, he suffered the brutal injury to his left ankle in the second round of the five round main event, and is unsure of whether or not it would require surgery or what his return timetable would be. Let’s hope his entrance into the top 15 of his division (at #12) will provide him some comfort in these trying times.
As for Nelson, well, expect him to chalk this loss up as a learning experience and come back in even more robotic dominant fashion than ever before. Remember, Story scored a unanimous decision over some guy named Johny Hendricks not too long ago, and we hear he’s doing pretty well these days.
The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.
To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.
Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:
The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.
To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.
Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:
Bellator vs. Battlegrounds MMA
It wasn’t exactly the showdown anyone anticipated, yet Bellator 127 went head-to-head against the hopeful Battlegrounds MMA, the upstart group that hired WWE legend Jim Ross and former UFC trash-talking guru Chael Sonnen to lead the way in the commentary booth for the return of the epic one-night tournament.
First, let’s get Bellator out of the way. These weekly Bellator shows will thankfully come to an end, and we can’t wait for Scott Coker to put on monthly shows better than the five UFC shows Zuffa runs per month, even though season 11 has owned so far.
In the main event, Daniel Straus blitzed past Justin Wilcox in under a minute, returning to winning ways after dropping his featherweight strap to Pat Curran back in March. Karo Parisyan’s comeback came to a stop at the hands of Fernando Gonzalez in a catchweight bout, after the latter dropped him and continued to deck him into oblivion. Another catchweight fight saw Rafael Silva defeat another UFC veteran, Rob Emerson, and Kendall Grove surprised the majority of his naysayers by choking out Christian M’Pumbu. Check out the highlights here.
As for Battlegrounds MMA, it was the perfect mix of sensation and shit show. The tournament format made a return, but we can sort of see why MMA can do without it. The show was a little long (not nearly as long as you-know-who), and with all due respect to the combatants participating, it would be hard to say the event would have acquired the same intrigue had it not been a one-night, eight-man welterweight tournament.
Since most of you care about the commentary team, they were a lot better than Mike Goldberg & Joe Rogan, Jon Anik & Brian Stann/Kenny Florian, generic English guy & Dan Hardy, and even Michael Schiavello & Pat Miletech. Both Ross and Sonnen offered something different in the booth, ranging from the “American Gangster’s” steroid jokes and ranking a ring girl, to Ross’ dry humor and still intact punch lines.
The unlikely winner of the whole shebang was Roan Corneiro, defeating three men in one night (including two finishes), and then stripped of $15,000 by the Oklahoma Athletic Commission for “showing up late” to a medical. Since the grand prize was a whopping $50,000, earning just $35,000 to topple three foes in one night is pretty atrocious. Other notable tournament highlights include Cody McKenzie making weight by donating a pint of blood and then losing to Brock Larson by submission, Joe Ray mauled Luigi Fioravanti, and Trey Houston upset Jesse Taylor with a slick first-round armbar.
UFC Sweden Actually Turned Out To Be A Good Show
UFC in the afternoon is a little odd. Depending on which coast you reside on, you have limited time when waking up in someone’s bed that you don’t recognize, and realize you’re about three ferry rides away from your home. Some of us would just keep chilling, but you know, their partner can turn out to be Leo Johnson.
Anyway, Twitter, the best social media app on the fucking planet, blew up with so-called MMA journalists and enthusiasts making fun of those watching the UFC Sweden prelims around noon without being paid for it. We tend to agree.
The UFC Fight Night 53 main card was pretty damn entertaining, mainly because all the Swedes and their affiliates lost. Rick Story shocked by emphatically defeating the overhyped Gunnar Nelson, and then completely blew his post-fight interview by not calling someone out. The co-main event saw Max Holloway knock out Akira Corassani, and the Wiki-less Ilir Latifi also fell to Jan Blachowicz due to a mean kick to the body. The action opened up with Mike Wilkinson upsetting Niklas Backstrom with a nasty knockout. The best part was when the latter walked up to Dan Hardy in the midst of talking to the Englishman and simply said, “that’s fucked up, man …(something else)…”
Donald Cerrone & Hapless Canuck Get Inked
After promising his boss he wouldn’t wakeboard or commit to other crazy shit on fight week, UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone got some pretty interesting ink on his foot. To be honest, there should be more instances of a blonde Bettie Page riding a rocket-penis in the sport.
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WoW the feet hurt!! Would way rather take 30 unanswered uppercuts to the face lol @benguntattoo
If you thought that was bad, check out this moronic UFC-loving sap getting UFC Halifax inked on his freaking forearm, complete with the iconic Chuck Liddell pose.
UFC made its debut in Nova Scotia this past Saturday night with UFC Fight Night 54, showcasing the fight card on multiple backup platforms after FOX Sports 1 flipped them the bird and said, “we’re finishing baseball first, Mitch Gagnon.”
The event was pretty lackluster in general, minus Rory MacDonald’s official coming out party as the real Patrick Bateman. He finished Tarec Saffiedine in the third round via knockout, and there’s a good chance he’s next in line for the welterweight championship. Also on the card, Miesha Tate’s boyfriend lost to Raphael Assuncao in the co-main event.
As for the rest of the main card, check Wikipedia. If Dana isn’t doing post-fight scrums anymore, we aren’t either.
War Machine Is Back On Twitter
War Machine, real name John … you know what? Fuck War Machine. Up next …
UFC Newcomer Creates Go Fund Me Page
Every time the fighter pay issue is brought up in the media, the UFC brass (primarily) completely shuts down the remarks, citing backstage bonuses, unknown contract clauses, and general media stupidity to fight their cause.
In this instance, Nina Ansaroff, who makes her Octagon debut against Juliana Lima in a women’s strawweight bout at UFC Fight Night 56 in Brazil, has created a “Go Fund Me” page upon entering her first fight for the promotion hopeful of “world fucking domination.”
This has to be one of the saddest instances of fighter pay in the goddamn world. Not only did Cat Zingano’s paycheck raise a few eyebrows last week, but also that’s just another example of how flawed the pay system is. Ansaroff is an Invicta FC veteran, riding a five-fight winning streak, and fought both Carla Esparza and Barb Honchak early on in her career. As it stands, the fighter has raised $960, with a projected goal of $5,000.
The “People’s Warrior” claimed he threw his welterweight title fight against Steve Carl back in October 2012, just to get back into the UFC’s grace. It was a little hard to believe since the scrap was a back-and-forth battle that saw Burkman go out due to a triangle choke.
After some back-and-forth clowning with Ben Askren on Twitter, Burkman reiterated that he would never throw a fight, and was simply tooling the current One FC welterweight champion (as per his chat with MMA Fighting).
UFC Fight Night 53: Nelson vs. Story is underway at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, featuring emotionless submission ace Gunnar Nelson, the big homey Ilir Latifi, and a bunch of prelim fighters with near-unpronounceable names. We haven’t exactly given this event a lot of coverage on CagePotato, but our Fight Pass correspondent Bear Siragusa is here to give you live results from the main card, which kicks off at noon PT / 3 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local time. Follow us after the jump for round-by-round updates, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.
UFC Fight Night 53: Nelson vs. Story is underway at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, featuring emotionless submission ace Gunnar Nelson, the big homey Ilir Latifi, and a bunch of prelim fighters with near-unpronounceable names. We haven’t exactly given this event a lot of coverage on CagePotato, but our Fight Pass correspondent Bear Siragusa (AKA, boy of destiny) is here to give you live results from the main card, which kicks off at noon PT / 3 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local time. Follow us after the jump for round-by-round updates, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.
Preliminary card results
– Magnus Cedenblad vs. Scott Askham via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
– Nico Musoke def. Alexander Yakovlev via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Dennis Siver def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Cathal Pendred def. Gasan Umalatov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
– Krzysztof Jotko def. Tor Troeng via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
– Mairbek Taisumov def. Marcin Bandel via TKO (punches) at 1:01 of round 1
– Zubaira Tukhugov def. Ernest Chavez via TKO (punches) at 4:21 of round 1.
Well, that was fun. God dagen alle sammen!
Charles Rosa wins the prize for best walkout song with Shipping up to Boston by Drop Kick Murphy’s. You just can’t go wrong with Drop Kick. I knocked out a guy in a kilt at a Drop Kick Murphy’s concert once… But, I digress. Let’s get rolling right away.
First up:
Niklas Backstrom vs. Mike Wilkinson
Round 1:
Leg kick and a spinning back kick from Wilkinsen. Wilkinsen tries for a takedown but misses. Backstrom tries for a spinning back kick. There are a lots of kicks being thrown. Low kick from Backstrom. Nice front kick and knee from Backstrom. WOW! Backstrom connects with a NASTY front kick and Wilkensen shrugs it off and knocks out Backstrom with a single punch!
Mike Wilkinson def. Niklas Backstrom via KO (punch) at 1:19 of round 1
Next up:
Illir Latifi vs. Jan Blachowicz
Round one:
Leg kick from Jan to start us off. Another nasty low kick from Jan. He has a 5.5 inch reach advantage. Both men showing a lot of respect for each other. Jan with a head kick attempt. Ilir has still not thrown anything. Niether man is willing to commit. Ilir explodes and connects with a lopping right. Jan spins away and avoids the swarm. Leg kick and a nasty body shot from Jan. Jan is all over Ilir. I think that body shot hurt Ilir. Jan follows Ilir to the cage and starts raining down bombs. Damn, it’s all over.
Jan Blachowitcz def. Ilir Latifi via TKO (body kick) at 1:58 or round one.
Chang Sung Jung is back! He’s been out of commission for over a year, but he’s finally just been booked for a fight. He’ll be facing Akira Corassani at UFC Fight Night 53 in Sweden. The card takes place on October 4th.
This will be the card’s co-main event.
Jung hasn’t fought since August 2013 at UFC 163. He lost to Jose Aldo in the fourth round via TKO–a fight in which “The Korean Zombie” dislocated his shoulder. The injury has sidelined him ever since. Before that fight, Jung had wowed audiences with a three-fight, three-finish winning streak over the likes of Leonard Garcia (when beating him still meant something), Mark Hominick, and Dustin Poirier. The fight against Corassani is an excellent chance for Jung to rebound (and maybe score another submission via twister).
(Photo via Getty)
Chang Sung Jung is back! He’s been out of commission for over a year, but he’s finally just been booked for a fight. He’ll be facing Akira Corassani at UFC Fight Night 53 in Sweden. The card takes place on October 4th.
This will be the card’s co-main event.
Jung hasn’t fought since August 2013 at UFC 163. He lost to Jose Aldo in the fourth round via TKO–a fight in which “The Korean Zombie” dislocated his shoulder. The injury has sidelined him ever since. Before that fight, Jung had wowed audiences with a three-fight, three-finish winning streak over the likes of Leonard Garcia (when beating him still meant something), Mark Hominick, and Dustin Poirier. The fight against Corassani is an excellent chance for Jung to rebound (and maybe score another submission via twister).
Sweden’s Akira Corassani is also coming off a loss. Dustrin Poirier outworked and overpowered him at the TUF: Nations finale back in April. Corassani’s loss to Poirier snapped a three-fight winning streak (though one of those wins was due to Maximo Blanco disqualifying himself via an illegal knee, whatever).
Both fighters are currently 3-1 in the UFC. What a marketing angle that could be. “Somebody’s 3-1 has got to go!”
Seriously though, this is an interesting match that goes along with an equally interesting main event: Gunnar Nelson vs. Rick Story.
A Fight Night card with more than one match worth watching. What a treat!
We’ll post more UFC Fight Night 53 updates as we get them.
(So *that’s* what Amir’s been up to these past few years? That poor, poor man…)
You might not know this, but the UFC needs to book a fight approximately every 3.5 seconds in order to pull off hosting as many cards as it does these days. And with fighters going down to injury every 5-6 seconds, the UFC is all but forced to inflate its already bloated roster (or keep somefighters around way, way too long) with less than experienced fighters to make up the difference. Hence, Royston Wee.
In the past 12 hours, a half dozen or so fights have been booked for just these reasons. Most of them promise to be entertaining affairs. Some of them, not so much. Hence, gifs. Let’s get started.
Although not officially confirmed, it looks like we will finally see “The Korean Zombie” return to the octagon for the first time since being broken to pieces in his four round smash-up with Jose Aldo at UFC 163. According to reports, Jung will face TUF 14 alum and Swedish native Akira Corassani at Fight Night 53 on October 4th.
Corassani has also had a rough go of things lately — back in November, he scored a victory via DQ against Maximo Blanco at the TUF 18 Finale when a blitzkrieg of illegal knees rendered him unable to continue. He was then legally smashed up by Dustin Poirier in the second round of a back-and-forth, “Fight of the Night”-earning effort at the TUF Nations Finale. At the very minimum, someone is going to have something broken in this fight, which makes this ranking obvious:
(So *that’s* what Amir’s been up to these past few years? That poor, poor man…)
You might not know this, but the UFC needs to book a fight approximately every 3.5 seconds in order to pull off hosting as many cards as it does these days. And with fighters going down to injury every 5-6 seconds, the UFC is all but forced to inflate its already bloated roster (or keep somefighters around way, way too long) with less than experienced fighters to make up the difference. Hence, Royston Wee.
In the past 12 hours, a half dozen or so fights have been booked for just these reasons. Most of them promise to be entertaining affairs. Some of them, not so much. Hence, gifs. Let’s get started.
Although not officially confirmed, it looks like we will finally see “The Korean Zombie” return to the octagon for the first time since being broken to pieces in his four round smash-up with Jose Aldo at UFC 163. According to reports, Jung will face TUF 14 alum and Swedish native Akira Corassani at Fight Night 53 on October 4th.
Corassani has also had a rough go of things lately — back in November, he scored a victory via DQ against Maximo Blanco at the TUF 18 Finale when a blitzkrieg of illegal knees rendered him unable to continue. He was then legally smashed up by Dustin Poirier in the second round of a back-and-forth, “Fight of the Night”-earning effort at the TUF Nations Finale. At the very minimum, someone is going to have something broken in this fight, which makes this ranking obvious:
Speaking of long layoffs, Amir Sadollah had probably spent more time nursing injuries over the past…entirety of his UFC career than he has been competing. He hasn’t fought since dropping a decision to Dan Hardy in September of 2012 and has dropped two of his past three overall, but thanks to Kyle Noke going down with an injury of his own, the TUF 7 winner’s return has been bumped up from October 4th (where he was scheduled to face Nico Muskoke) to September 20th at Fight Night 52: Nelson vs. Hunt.
Sadollah will be facing none other than Yoshihiro Akiyama, who himself has not fought since 2012 and has dropped his past 4 fights in a row. This fight should probably not be ranked above Jung vs. Corassani, but it’s my list and I’ll be damned if any of you are going to put a damper my chance to see some sweet Judo throws. Ranking:
One one hand, both Caraway and Assuncao have been on absolute killing sprees as of late, with the former picking up submission wins in 4 of his last 5 contests and the latter being the last man to defeat current bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw. On the other, seeing Caraway’s face on my television screen not only reminds me of what a class-A douche he seems to be at times, but of the fact that win or lose, he gets to come home to this. God damn you, Caraway, you lucky son of a B. Ranking:
With Demian Maia injured, Canadian prospect Jordan Mein has agreed to step in on late notice in the co-main event of Fight Night 49 on August 23rd to take on journeyman Mike Pyle. Both guys recently bounced back from TKO losses to Matt Brown in 2013 with a decision win over Hernani Perpétuo and a third round TKO over TJ Waldburger, respectively. While a win won’t exactly place either in line for a title shot, Mein and Pyle are highly entertaining fighters with excellent gas tanks, solid submission skills, and knockout power. Not a bad fight at all, especially for an injury replacement. Ranking:
According to MMAFighting, the UFC is eyeing a #1 flyweight contender bout between Ian McCall and John Lineker for the end of the year at an event TBD. It will mark quite a turnaround for “Uncle Creepy”, who started his UFC career with a draw and back-to-back losses before stringing together his current two-fight win streak via unanimous decisions over Iliarde Santos and Brad Pickett.
Linker, on the other hand, has scored TKO victories in five of his past six bouts, most recently bouncing back from a defeat to Ali Bagautinov in their #1 contender bout at UFC 169 with a third round TKO over Alptekin Ozkilic in a wild scrap at Fight Night 45. The bout marked just the second occasion Lineker has been able to make weight in his past four contests. Let’s hope he can stay away from the Bis prior to this one, as a fight between these two will likely resemble what its like when I play with toy boats in the bathtub. Ranking:
The UFC needs a high-ranking Swede for their return to Stockholm at Fight Night 53. Gunnar Nelson is one such Swede, and came out relatively unscathed from his second round submission of Zak Cummings back at Fight Night 46 (where he picked up his second “Performance of the Night” award in the process). And maybe it’s just me, but he seems to possess the kind of charisma capable of carrying/promoting the UFC’s second most stacked Fight Night card since two weekends ago. High praise, I know.
His opponent will be Rick Story, who is fresh off a submission win of his own at Fight Night 45 and is easily the most experienced opponent Nelson has faced in his MMA career. His loss via brain juicing at the hands of Demian Maia also proved that he is in fact capable of being submitted, so either way, this should be a great fight that will tell a lot about the future of both fighters. Ranking:
While not yet made official, the UFC is apparently targeting Swanson vs. Edgar to headline Fight Night Sweden. The fight was originally being looked at for December, but with the Stockholm card not yet having a main event, this fight would be perfect. Edgar most recently beat up a geriatric cancer patient in a BJ Penn costume at the TUF 19 Finale and Swanson last put an end to Jeremy Stephens‘ featherweight title run via a unanimous decision win at Fight Night 44 back in June.
Here’s the thing: Fight Night Sweden looks like it will be held on Fight Pass. I cannot tell you how enraged I am at the idea of placing a fight this good on a Fight Pass card in Sweden and not a PPV here in the States. It’s a bitchslap to the UFC’s loyal fanbase is what it is, and the combination of rage and excitement makes this a hard one to accurately gif. But when all else fails, The Wire succeeds, so I’ll just go with this one.
(Conor McGregor in a state of cat-like readiness. / Photo via Getty)
Conor McGregor wowed Irish audiences with his destruction of Diego Brandao at UFC Fight Night 46. The Irish crowd was in love not only with McGregor, but with the sport itself. Their enthusiasm was infectious, bringing the festivities up from an 8/10 to a 10/10.
The action started off with a bang–especially on the prelims which saw four out of fix fights finished in dramatic fashion. Of note, The Wiki-less legend Ilir Latifi brutalized Chris Dempsey via TKO in the first round. He blasted Dempsey’s leg with kicks, and then just bum rushed him with punches. We’d describe it in more technical terms but that’s pretty much exactly how the fight looked.
The main card started off just as strong as the prelims. Norman Parke steamrolled through Naoyuki Kotani. Parke used him as a punching bag throughout the entire first round, landing punches, kicks, knees, and elbows and nearly finishing him as well. In the second, Parke picked up where he left off and finished Kotani with a barrage of elbows.
Brad Pickett and Ian McCall met next. McCall was too quick for Pickett, who planted his feet and endlessly missed right hands. McCall’s footwork was too fluid, his rhythm was too atypical, his pace was too fast and his striking was too fast and precise for Pickett to mount any meaningful offense. McCall pulled away with this one easily, winning a unanimous decision.
(Conor McGregor in a state of cat-like readiness. / Photo via Getty)
Conor McGregor wowed Irish audiences with his destruction of Diego Brandao at UFC Fight Night 46. The Irish crowd was in love not only with McGregor, but with the sport itself. Their enthusiasm was infectious, bringing the festivities up from an 8/10 to a 10/10.
The action started off with a bang–especially on the prelims which saw four out of six fights finished in dramatic fashion. Of note, The Wiki-less legend Ilir Latifi brutalized Chris Dempsey via TKO in the first round. He blasted Dempsey’s leg with kicks, and then just bum rushed him with punches. We’d describe it in more technical terms but that’s pretty much exactly how the fight looked.
The main card started off just as strong as the prelims. Norman Parke steamrolled through Naoyuki Kotani. Parke used him as a punching bag throughout the entire first round, landing punches, kicks, knees, and elbows and nearly finishing him as well. In the second, Parke picked up where he left off and finished Kotani with a barrage of elbows.
Brad Pickett and Ian McCall met next. McCall was too quick for Pickett, who planted his feet and endlessly missed right hands. McCall’s footwork was too fluid, his rhythm was too atypical, his pace was too fast and his striking was too fast and precise for Pickett to mount any meaningful offense. McCall pulled away with this one easily, winning a unanimous decision.
After the fight, McCall called out Demetrious Johnson with a speech so creepy it hearkened back to Tank Abbott’s promo where he said looking at Paul Varelans getting beat up made him sexually aroused. But what else would you expect from a fighter nicknamed “Uncle Creepy?”
The co-main event of the night featured Gunnar Nelson vs. Zak Cummings. This fight was another in a long line of great, entertaining fights this card. The first round was evenly contested. Nelson landed the better strikes in the first half, but Cummings scored with pressure in the clinch and some dirty boxing in the latter half. In the second, Nelson ultimately took charge. He dragged Cummings to the mat and sunk in a rear naked choke, tapping out the exhausted Cummings right as the round was about to end.
The crowd was MENTAL for the night’s main event: Conor McGregor vs. Diego Brandao. McGregor made short work of his Brazilian foe in what was a pretty short bout. Brandao managed to land a head kick early on, but McGregor was unfazed. McGregor even managed to beat Brandao in the grappling too, reversing a takedown and landing on top. Once on top, McGregor warded off Brandao’s submission attempts with relative ease. Eventually, the fight returned to the feet. McGregor landed a body shot that took the life out of Brandao. As Brandao hobbled away, McGregor landed a brutal straight left that collapsed Brandao to the mat. The referee stopped the fight after a few follow-up punches.
McGregor riled up the crowd with his post-fight speech, proving that he has charisma enough to be a star.
Who’s next for him? Tough to tell. If the UFC is smart, they’ll book him against Cole Miller, who he was supposed to fight tonight anyway. Some people on Twitter speculated that Frankie Edgar would face McGregor next, but that could be disastrous. The UFC can afford to take their time with McGregor due to his age (26). Throwing him into the lion’s den this early could have dire consequences.
Here are the card’s complete results:
Main Card
Conor McGregor def. Diego Brandao via TKO (punches), round 1, 4:05
Gunnar Nelson def. Zak Cummings via submission (rear naked choke), round 2, 4:48
Ian McCall def. Brad Pickett via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Norman Parke def. Naoyuki Kotani via TKO (punches and elbows), round 2, 3:41
Preliminary Card
Ilir Latifi def. Chris Dempsey via TKO (punches), round 1, 2:07
Neil Seery def. Phil Harris decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Cathal Pendred def. Mike King technical via Submission (rear-naked choke), round 2, 3:33
Trevor Smith def. Tor Troeng via decision (unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Nikita Krylov def. Cody Donovan via TKO (punches) round 1, 4:57
Patrick Holohan def. Josh Sampo vis submission (rear-naked choke), round 1, 3:06.
