There might not have a been a lot of finishes, but there was an abundance of entertaining match ups on show in the UFC’s return to Mexico.
Knockout of the night – Kelvin Gastelum
An easy choice considering there was only one on knockout in the entire event. While it wasn’t a clean KO, Mini-Cain’s vicious pummeling of Nate Marquardt was extraordinary.
Gastelum began to assert his dominance early and appeared to have the former Strikeforce welterweight champion rocked towards the end of the first stanza. After being saved by the bell, Gastelum showcased that beautiful movement, worked the jab and eventually dropped his opponent with a knee.
From there, he rained down with some unrelenting ground and pound that forced a doctor stoppage when Marquardt returned to his corner at the end of the round.
Submission of the night – Patrick Williams
In the battle of the standing guillotines, the victor was always going to be the record-breaker.
Patrick Williams is now the proud owner of the fastest submission in UFC bantamweight history after locking in his vertebrae snapper on Alejandro Pérez in 23 seconds.
Two huge right hands dropped the Mexican. Then, he applied the choke so quick that Joe Rogan didn’t even have time to mention how the altitude could play a factor in the outcome of the fight.
Performance of the night – Fabricio Werdum
For years it was thought that Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos were on their own, on a tier above the rest of the heavyweight division. Last night we found out for sure that this wasn’t the case. Werdum not only defeated Velasquez, he absolutely annihilated him.
The Brazilian put on a striking clinic and finished it off perfectly with a stunning guillotine choke.
There’s a new baddest dude on the planet, and his name is Fabricio Werdum.
One to watch – Yair Rodriguez
A lot of people had written off the TUF Latin America winner for this bout against the vastly more experienced Rosa. However, Rodriguez rose to the occasion for his second fight on MMA’s biggest stage. He started strong showcasing his flamboyant kicking game and proved to be a threat on the ground once Rosa took things down to the mat. The judges just about gave him the nod with the split decision and now he joins the likes of Misrad Bektic and Doo Ho Choi as one of the promising youngsters in the featherweight division.
