UFC Hamburg transpired in the Barclaycard Arena last night (Saturday September 3, 2016). In the promotion’s fifth trip to Germany and the first to Hamburg, a host of well-known European prospects were on show. Most of the local favorites did very well indeed. Alexander Gustafsson bounced back from the first back-to-back losses of his career.
UFC Hamburg transpired in the Barclaycard Arena last night (Saturday September 3, 2016). In the promotion’s fifth trip to Germany and the first to Hamburg, a host of well-known European prospects were on show. Most of the local favorites did very well indeed. Alexander Gustafsson bounced back from the first back-to-back losses of his career. The former title challenger shut out a game Jan Blachowicz over three rounds. The real story of the night came from Ryan Bader though.
After being squashed by Anthony Johnson in his last trip to the octagon, ‘Darth’ was in need of a big win. Following the devastation ‘Rumble’ had bestowed on Bader, the Ultimate Fighter 8 winner was not faced with an easy task. Taking on surging knockout artist/wrestler Ilir Latifi on European soil must have been a daunting task.
Career Defining Knockout
Not only did he pull it out the bag, but Ryan Bader did it with a stunning knockout in the second round.’Darth’ hadn’t scored a finish in the UFC octagon since 2011 against Jason Brilz. What a time to do it, and in such brutal fashion too. Here’s the footage of Bader’s nasty knockout against ‘Rocky’ in Hamburg:
That’s an interesting question to ask right now. The UFC light-heavyweight division is a complicated picture at the championship end. With Anthony Johnson, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier making a bit of a jam, there could be room for a pretty decent fight with Latifi’s team-mate. Yep, Alexander Gustafsson vs. Ryan Bader has a pretty nice ring to it.
There’s now a rivalry to base that fight on too, given the friendship between training partners Gus and ‘Rocky.’ Also the rankings, for what they are even worth these days, would add up in that fight. Have we seen the new version of Ryan Bader put on trial in Germany?
Once upon a time, Ryan Bader (21-5) was one of the hottest prospects in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) light heavyweight division. While “Darth” hasn’t tasted UFC gold, he has earned 20 professional career wins and sat at number four in the rankings before meeting Ilir Latifi (12-5, 1 NC) at UFC Fight Night 93. “Darth”
Once upon a time, Ryan Bader (21-5) was one of the hottest prospects in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) light heavyweight division. While “Darth” hasn’t tasted UFC gold, he has earned 20 professional career wins and sat at number four in the rankings before meeting Ilir Latifi (12-5, 1 NC) at UFC Fight Night 93.
“Darth” earned the sixth win in his last seven fights in a way that left the crowd in Hamburg, Germany speechless.
Bader moved in and defended Latifi’s takedown attempt. “Darth” landed a jab as Latifi was moving forward. Another takedown attempt was thwarted by Bader. A body kick connected for Bader. “The Sledgehammer” caught the leg of Bader and went for some strikes, but his opponent got out of harm’s way. Latifi whiffed a huge hook. Latifi moved forward and dropped Bader with a right hook. “Darth” returned to his feet before the round ended.
The second round began and Bader landed a stiff jab. Bader went for a takedown, but it was stuffed. Bader ate a right hand as he got back to his feet. Bader landed a right hand as Latifi went for a clinch. Bader knocked Latifi out cold with a devastating knee as his opponent went for a level change.
Final Result: Ryan Bader def. Ilir Latifi via KO (knee) – R2, 2:06
Light heavyweights Ryan Bader and Ilir Latifi have a date, as the two will meet on a “Fight Night” card from Hamburg, Germany this September.
Bader (20-5) recently had his five-fight win streak snapped at the hands of Anthony Johnson in January via knockout. The former Ultimate Fighter winner had defeated the likes of Rashad Evans, Phil Davis and Ovince Saint Preux.
Latifi (12-4) is on a three-fight win streak and is 5-1 over his last six.
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.
Highly regarded light-heavyweight Jan Blachowicz has become one of Poland’s greatest home-grown talents, with a 17-3 record competing almost exclusively for the KSW promotion. Blachowicz hasn’t competed since March 2013, but he’s currently riding a five-fight win streak, including decision wins over UFC veterans Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Mario Miranda, Houston Alexander, and Goran Reljic.
The UFC announced this morning that Blachowicz will make his Octagon debut against Latifi at UFC Fight Night 53, October 4th at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. (Only on Fight Pass!) Latifi is coming off a quick TKO of Chris Dempsey earlier this month, which came after his historic manhandling of Cyrille Diabate at UFC Fight Night 37 in March, in which no significant strikes were attempted by either fighter; Latifi won by guillotine choke after three minutes.
The fight marks Latifi’s return to competition in Sweden, following his unsuccessful UFC debut against Gegard Mousasi in April 2013. But true Latifi fans don’t really count that fight; the former non-wiki combatant was coming in to replace his training partner Alexander Gustafsson on short notice, and was unable to show us the real Latifi.
A main event for UFC Fight Night 53 hasn’t been announced yet. The current lineup is as follows…
Highly regarded light-heavyweight Jan Blachowicz has become one of Poland’s greatest home-grown talents, with a 17-3 record competing almost exclusively for the KSW promotion. Blachowicz hasn’t competed since March 2013, but he’s currently riding a five-fight win streak, including decision wins over UFC veterans Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Mario Miranda, Houston Alexander, and Goran Reljic.
The UFC announced this morning that Blachowicz will make his Octagon debut against Latifi at UFC Fight Night 53, October 4th at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. (Only on Fight Pass!) Latifi is coming off a quick TKO of Chris Dempsey earlier this month, which came after his historic manhandling of Cyrille Diabate at UFC Fight Night 37 in March, in which no significant strikes were attempted by either fighter; Latifi won by guillotine choke after three minutes.
The fight marks Latifi’s return to competition in Sweden, following his unsuccessful UFC debut against Gegard Mousasi in April 2013. But true Latifi fans don’t really count that fight; the former non-wiki combatant was coming in to replace his training partner Alexander Gustafsson on short notice, and was unable to show us the real Latifi.
A main event for UFC Fight Night 53 hasn’t been announced yet. The current lineup is as follows…
– Dennis Siver vs. Robert Whiteford
– Ilir Latifi vs. Jan Blachowicz
– Amir Sadollah vs. Nico Musoke
– Niklas Backstrom vs. Mike Wilkinson
– Ernest Chavez vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
(Same weight class. Just sayin’. / Photo via MMAViking)
(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.
