Max Holloway Def. Brian Ortega (Doctors stoppage RD.4 05.00)
Max Holloway came back from being out for the entire year of 2018 up until this fight, but he showed no ring rust and put on one of his best performances to date. I had Max to win this by decision but the manner in which he ended up picking apart Ortega was truly impressive. Not only did he win the fight but he set a number of records in doing so. Landing over 300 strikes in the fight and breaking the nose of Ortega while breaking the record for most significant strikes in a single bout. With a long and what I believe to be a very successful career ahead of him, and currently aged only 27, he is now the owner of most significant strikes in UFC history overtaking veteran Michael Bisping and fellow featherweight and former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.
Right from the start max was landing early with combos. Ortega knew from the first round of the night he was up against the toughest competition he had faced to date. It didn’t take long for Holloway to draw blood from t-city. The combos and speed of which Holloway was able to throw shots and get out of the way was better than anything we had seen from him before. We did see him fade a little in the third round but this was quickly shaken off coming out for the 4th when Holloway pointed to the ground in front of Joe Rogan indicating he was going to finish it in the fourth. ‘Blessed’ couldn’t have been closer to finishing it in the fourth landing heavy shots in what seemed like an endless combination whipping Ortega’s head back and pushing him up against the fence. Ortega’s heart is something to be admired considering with all the damage and punishment he had taken not once did he hit the canvas. It was evident through Ortegas takedown attempts how much of a tole the fight had taken on him and a very appropriate doctors stoppage was called for from the stools at the end of the 4th round for Holloway to retain his featherweight title for what was the first title fight, excluding interim title fights, to not have the former champ Jose Aldo either challenging or defending the belt.
Shevchenko Def. Jedrzejczyk (Decision)
This was a tough fight to call going in to it. Much like the main event I found myself going back and forth between the two fighters, even more so in the case of this flyweight title fight. Considering their history with each other however I gave the slight edge to Shevchenko, which translated to the fight quite well with Shevchenko just edging it in every department against Jedrzejczyk throughout the fight. Joanna was the more aggressive fighter pushing forward from the outset but Valentine was content to counter this aggression with her own shot and forcing Jedrzejczyk to miss a lot of her shots. The Bullets best success came from pushing Jedrzejczyk up against the fence and taking her down to the ground. It was during these clinching and ground battles that the gap really started to open up with Shevchenko being the physically stronger fighter.
The two women involved in the co-main are among the top women in MMA today. It is hard to see anyone in the flyweight division putting a challenge to either of these. Jessica Eye put on a good performance earlier in the night however to defeat the heavily favoured Katlyn Chookagian. Jessica was aggressive throughout the fight and was always pressing forward which was just enough to give her a split decision on the judges scorecards. As good as Jessica looked and if a title shot is next for her, it is more than deserved, but I see Valentina going on a very long title defense after disposing of Jedrzejczyk, and that is no disrespect to Eye who proved herself to be a hell of a fighter tonight.
Gunnar Nelson Def. Alex Olivera (Sub. RD.2 04.17)
Hakeem Dawodu Def. Kyle Bochniak (Decision)
Thiago Santo Def. Jimi Manuwa (TKO/KO RD.2 00.41)
Nina Ansaroff Def. Claudia Gadelha (Decision)
Gilbert Burns Def. Olivier Auben-Mercier (Decision)
Jessica Eye Def. Katlyn Chookagian (Decision)
Elias Theodorou Def. Erik Anders (Decision)
Brad Katone Def. Matthew Lopez (Decision)
Dhiego Lima Def. Chad Laprise (KO RD.1 01.37)
Carlos Ferreira Def. Kyle Nelson (TKO/KO) RD.2 01.23)
Aleksandar Rakic Def. Devin Clark (TKO/KO RD.1 04/05)
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