After a couple of less than stellar preliminary card fights, namely Uriah Hall v Rafael Natal and John Dodson v Zach Makovsky, the main card 100 per cent backed up all the hype that surrounded UFC 187
We saw titles retained, champions crowned and one of the best rounds ever seen in the Octagon so it’s safe to say that we were satisfied with the showing.
Here are our recipients of the second weekly Monday Morning Awards, or MMAs if you will. (see what we did there?)
Knockout of the night – Andrei Arlovski
Three very different TKOs to choose from here with Donald Cerrone smashing John Makdessi’s jaw, Chris Weidman putting on a ground-and-pound masterclass and Andrei Arlovski turning Travis Browne’s legs to jelly.
We’ve plumped for the latter just because it was the finish that got us most excited and the fact that the Belarusian had been dropped just seconds before he battered Browne with a bombardment of varying strikes that left the Hawaiian glassy-eyed against the cage.
Submission of the night – Dong Hyun Kim
There’s a very serious argument to be made for Daniel Cormier’s rear-naked choke getting this honour but we felt that Stun Gun’s arm triangle was more impressive just because Anthony Johnson was absolutely exhausted and looked a beaten man before DC put him out of his misery with the sub.
Kim, meanwhile, offered a more technical finish and earns the award just based on the fact that he was easily winning the fight and didn’t have to take the risk to finish midway through the final round. He could have coasted but he chose not to and he showed ridiculous squeeze as he forced the tap.
Performance of the night – Chris Weidman
We had “joined the team” years ago but, like the middleweight champion, we’re baffled why Weidman isn’t more popular among UFC fans.
The All-American proved that there’s no doubt who the best in the world is at 185lbs after he gritted his way through a tornado of strikes from Vitor Belfort, took the Brazilian down and worked his ground-and-pound to stretch his unbeaten record to 13.
One to watch – Islam Makhachev
UFC debuts don’t come much better than that of Islam Makhachev who continued his unbeaten streak by dominating Leo Kuntz using textbook Sambo techniques that have made Khabib Nurmagomedov so popular because the latest Dagestani fighter in the UFC trains under Khabib’s father Abdulmanap.
Makhachev, 23, displayed the far superior grappling with a picture-perfect hip toss in the first round and he put an exclamation point on his performance in the second round when he took Kuntz’s back before slipping his forearm under the American’s chin and getting the tap.
