I’ll begin this post by saying what a way to finish the year. In a main event where we saw one fighter extend their long fight win streak and a co-main where another fighters was ended. UFC 232 gave us, the fight fans, everything we wanted. When the curtains were drawn at the end of the night Jones was walking away with the light heavyweight belt and Nunes had taken a significant step towards to the accolade of being the GOAT of women’s MMA by becoming a two division champ. The build up to this fight was focused on yet another failed drug test by Jones but I feel the long lasting memory held by everyone from this week will be how ‘The Lioness’ put an end to the 11 year unbeaten run of ‘Cyborg’. For that reason I believe it is only fitting to give these two legends of MMA the spotlight in this post.
Nunes Def. Cyborg (KO RD.1 – 00:51)
This was an eagerly anticipated match up between two skilled fighters with ‘Cyborg’ having an unbeaten fight streak of 20 fights over a course of 11 years. What is amazing about her is her last loss in MMA was actually her debut. Her gut and determination was evident from that moment where many would have hung up the gloves. She knew however she was destined for greatness and over the course of the next 11 years she proved it. The woman that stood across the cage from her at UFC 232, a fellow Brazilian, on a seven fight win streak of her own was a devastating knockout artist with hands as fast as anyone on the UFC roster. Although Amanda Nunes effectively ended both Ronda Rousey’s and Miesha Tate’s career, she still headed into this bout with Cris ‘Cyborg’ as a big underdog.
Both fighters were out to prove a point that each of them were here to fight and they had no intentions of backing down. Amanda landed a heavy leg kick to the side of ‘Cyborgs’ calf early on and followed on with an overhand right. What followed was a flurry of punches between the two with Amanda seeming to get the better of each exchange. The overhand right was something ‘The lioness’ seemed to land over and over again, and after dropping her opponent a handful of times she delivered one final overhand which sent ‘Cyborg’ crashing to the canvas by the cage. Referee Marc Goddard was forced to step in and call a stop to the contest at 51 seconds of the very first round.
Some of the most Iconic moments in the UFC’s history, that stick in my memory at least, feature heavily around Joe Rogan’s commentary and the crowd’s reaction to a fight. Joe’s reaction to McGregor knocking out Aldo, Tim Bosch defeating Yushin Okami or Edson Barboza’s famous wheel kick. The feat of defeating ‘Cyborg’ coupled with the crowd reaction and Joe Rogan losing his mind just like the rest of this will make this one of the most memorable and iconic moments in MMA history.
Jones Def. Gustafsson (TKO RD.3 02:02)
Back in September 2013 these two light heavyweights went toe to toe or the first time. Many people put that fight on a high pedestal putting it up their with some of the greatest title fights since the birth of the sport. ‘The Mauler’ tested Jones that night like he had never been tested before and ended up losing a decision at the end of the 5th round. Both fighters had their highs and moments during that fight and it gave all analysts a lot of fuel to digest and look at heading into the fight this week. Unfortunately the pre fight build up was dominated by another failed drugs test from Jones which led to the fight being pulled from Vegas and relocated to Inglewood, California, due to the NSAC not allowing Jones to fight in the state of Nevada. I really hope for Jones and the UFC that his post fight tests come back clean. Drug tests aside, the rematch was a much different tale that the pairs first meeting.
I don’t believe Jones missed a beat at all during his comeback at UFC 232 and subtly dominated his way to a victory in the third. He managed the distance much better this time around and never really let Alex get his hands going by slowing him with leg kicks and constantly circling to his right. Shutting down his opponents movement was a huge part of Jones gameplan and it is something I believe jones did very well with even Alex pointing it out in the post fight interviews. Gustafsson was not really able to get anything going to inflict any significant damage because of this and felt quite frustrated he could not move like he normally did. Jones managed to bring the fight to the ground in the third round and took his time passing guard into side control and eventually taking the back of the Swede, landing some nice elbows all while he done it. Some hard shots to the head of Gustafsson was enough to warrant a stoppage by Mike Beltran and Jones picked up the 23rd win of his professional career.
Jones might have another win on his record but in light of the recent test results you would be a fool not to have an asterix beside his performance. I look forward to these next few weeks to see what comes out of post fight drug tests. I hope Jon is back to his former best and I hope the UFC does not have to embarrass itself any further by stripping Jones of yet another light heavyweight belt. Time will tell.
Chiesa Def. Condit (Sub RD.2 00:56)
Anderson Def. Latifi (Decision)
Volkanov Def. Mendes (KO/TKO RD.2 04:14)
Harris Def. Arlovski (Decision)
Anderson Def. Zingano (KO/TKO RD.1 01:01
Yan Def.De Andrade (KO/TKO RD.2 05:00)
Hall Def. Penn (Sub RD.1 02:46)
Wood Def. Ewell (SUB RD.3 04:12)
Hall Def. Lewin (KO/TKO RD.3 0132
Millender Def. Bahadurzada (Decision)
Jackson Def. Kelleher (Sub RD.1 01:40)
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