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UFC on FUEL 5 Aftermath: The Future Has (Possibly) Arrived

When the UFC first announced that Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic would be the main event of yesterday’s UFC on FUEL 5, most of us assumed that the fight would serve as a coming out party for Stipe Miocic. Even though he hadn’t faced any big names in his UFC career, the heavy-handed prospect certainly looked like he was Cleveland’s next best hope for a champion. Putting Stipe in the cage with a fighter that (arguably) has a weak chin could produce a highlight reel knockout and put Miocic “in the mix” at the heavyweight division.

Except that didn’t happen. Miocic managed to land some heavy shots throughout the fight, but in the end Struve proved to be too much, earning the TKO in the second round. While Miocic outworked Struve throughout the first round, Stipe Miocic had no answers for the lanky heavyweight’s offense once Struve actually started using his jab. Sorry, Cleveland, but you really should have seen this one coming.

This isn’t meant to take anything away from Stefan Struve, as he looked pretty impressive with his victory. Any questions about his chin seemed to be answered yesterday, as he weathered some heavy punches on his way to earning the TKO. And forgive us if we’re harping on this, but when Struve actually uses his jab, he’s a completely different fighter. His lanky attack creates problems for everyone in the heavyweight division, warranting a post-fight comparison to Jon Jones from Chael Sonnen (except Chael added that Struve has twice the courage of Jon Jones, naturally). The twenty four year old fighter improves to 9-3 in the UFC, and is currently riding a four fight win streak.

Props: MMAFighting.com

Rather, this is meant to point out that perhaps we shouldn’t rush to crown Struve the future of the heavyweight division. A test against the deep end of the division is certainly deserved here, but we’ve already seen Struve get knocked out by the division’s top fighters. Unless he continues to work at absorbing less damage and using his reach, I doubt we’ll see anything different out of him this time around. No matter how good your chin is, taking heavy shots from a 240+ pound athlete isn’t exactly a good idea.

But Struve’s victory wasn’t the only surprise from yesterday. How about Dan Hardy actually attempting some takedowns? Or Matt Wiman submitting Paul “Sassangle” Sass? Or Che Mills vs. Duane Ludwig ending via freak knee injury? Those quirky Brits, I tells ya.

Fight of the Night bonuses went to Stefan Struve and Stipe Miocic, Submission of the Night went to Matt Wiman, and Knockout of the Night went to Brad “One Punch” Pickett, who scored his first knockout since 2008. All bonuses were for $40,000.

Full Results:

Main Card:

Stefan Struve def. Stipe Miocic via TKO, 3:50 of Round Two
Dan Hardy def. Amir Sadollah via unanimous decision
Brad Pickett def. Yves Jabouin via KO, 3:40 of Round One
Matt Wiman def. Paul Sass via submission (armbar), 3:48 of Round One
John Hathaway def. John Maguire via unanimous decision
Che Mills def. Duane Ludwig via TKO (knee injury), 3:28 of Round One

Preliminary Card:

Jimi Manuwa def. Kyle Kingsbury via doctor’s stoppage (eye), 5:00 of Round Three
Hamid Corassani def. Andy Ogle via split decision
Brad Tavares def. Tom Watson via split decision
Gunnar Nelson def. Damarques Johnson via submission (rear naked choke), 3:34 of Round One
Robert Peralta def. Jason Young via KO, 0:23 of Round One

UFC on Fuel TV 5 Results: Power Ranking the Fighters Who Made Their UFC Debuts

UFC on Fuel 5 was a great all-around card and brought us a ton of great fights, but it also provided us with five new faces.All five men fought on the preliminary card and looked to pick up the most important wins of their respective MMA careers.Three …

UFC on Fuel 5 was a great all-around card and brought us a ton of great fights, but it also provided us with five new faces.

All five men fought on the preliminary card and looked to pick up the most important wins of their respective MMA careers.

Three of the five were successful, and the other two will return to the drawling board to see what they can do differently in their next attempts to win fights inside the Octagon.

Let’s take a look back at the five debuts at Saturday’s UFC on Fuel 5 card.

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UFC on Fuel TV 5 Results: What’s Next for the Winners and Losers?

UFC on Fuel TV 5 concluded with a big TKO performance by Stefan Struve over Stipe Miocic.The heavyweight main event puts Struve right in the thick of things in the division. The win gave the 24-year-old his fourth in a row and brings his UFC record to …

UFC on Fuel TV 5 concluded with a big TKO performance by Stefan Struve over Stipe Miocic.

The heavyweight main event puts Struve right in the thick of things in the division. The win gave the 24-year-old his fourth in a row and brings his UFC record to an impressive 9-3.

The 11-fight card from Nottingham was an exciting one. Only four fights went to the judge’s scorecards.

Here is what’s next for all of the evening’s winners and losers.

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UFC on Fuel TV 5 Results: Post-Fight Stock Report

The heavyweight division gained a new contender on Saturday. Stefan Struve has been overlooked throughout his UFC career due to early knockout losses to Junior dos Santos and Roy Nelson, but now that he’s riding a four-fight win streak following …

The heavyweight division gained a new contender on Saturday.

Stefan Struve has been overlooked throughout his UFC career due to early knockout losses to Junior dos Santos and Roy Nelson, but now that he’s riding a four-fight win streak following a huge win over Stipe Miocic at UFC on Fuel 5, it’s time to realize that Struve is the real deal.

Also on the rise is former welterweight title contender Dan Hardy, who used a fired-up hometown Nottingham crowd to get past a game Amir Sadollah in the co-main event.

After hitting rock bottom just over a year ago, Hardy’s stock has finally started to recover from the massive hit it took during his four-fight losing streak.

With UFC on Fuel 5 in the books, here’s a quick look at some top fighters from the card and their post-fight stock reports.

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UFC on Fuel TV 5 Results: 5 Memorable Moments from Struve vs. Miocic Fight Card

UFC on Fuel TV 5 delivered some explosive knockouts, slick submissions and all-around displays of mixed martial arts prowess. The card truly contained a little bit of everything an MMA enthusiast wants to see, proving once again that names alone …

While there was certainly a nice sample for me to delve into to concoct my Petri dish of memorable moments, some simply stuck out more than others. Start the slideshow to see the five most memorable moments from UFC on Fuel TV 5.

Honorable Mentions:

Dan Hardy’s introduction

Robbie Peralta blasts Jason Young

Duane Ludwig blows out his knee

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UFC on Fuel TV 5 Results: New, Boring Dan Hardy May Be Better Than Old Dan Hardy

How much can we congratulate Dan Hardy for beating Amir Sadollah?No offense to Sadollah, but he should have no illusions about the matchmaking for this fight. It was a gift to Hardy to get a big win for the hometown hero against a strong but very …

How much can we congratulate Dan Hardy for beating Amir Sadollah?

No offense to Sadollah, but he should have no illusions about the matchmaking for this fight. It was a gift to Hardy to get a big win for the hometown hero against a strong but very beatable opponent.

That’s not to say that Dan Hardy isn’t improving, though.

While he could’ve tried to grit it out on the feet and slug his way to another win, the British star made a practical decision and showcased some decent wrestling against the skilled Sambo practitioner.

That’s commendable, but it also wasn’t as exciting as his last five fights.

If Dan Hardy had been fighting anywhere outside England, you wouldn’t have heard such a huge crowd reaction. All the cheers from Hardy’s fellow countrymen made the co-main event feel a lot bigger than it really was, especially in the later rounds.

Then again, Hardy was 1-5 in his last five fights before tonight, so this new balanced combat style might be best for him in the long run.

In fact, Dan Hardy’s seven takedown attempts in this fight were more than he’s done in his five previous fights combined. He also kept pressing them when he really didn’t have to after finding his comfort zone and getting the better of Sadollah in exchanges on the feet.

That’s an especially good thing to see given Hardy’s past attitude toward the ground game.

Hopefully, “The Outlaw” will continue to improve his wrestling and takedowns, because against an NCAA-level grappler or a true submission expert, he’ll get eaten alive.

Seeing Dan Hardy round out his MMA game should be comforting to his fans. He’ll save his chin a few more bashings down the road, especially against fighters with bigger, sharper punches.

(As good as Hardy can be, there’s little chance he’ll win a shootout with the likes of Martin Kampmann, Johny Hendricks, Nick Diaz, Jake Ellenberger or even Josh Koscheck.)

Moreover, Amir Sadollah is the kind of fighter who usually manages to drag everyone he faces into tepid battles of attrition, so maybe I’m wrong about this whole thing. But either way, Dan Hardy may be well served to continue becoming less of a “stand and bang” fighter and more technical further on into the remainder of his career.

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