It didn’t have the big-name drawing power that we would have wanted but there wasn’t a bad fight on the UFC Dublin card.
It had everything… A battling draw, an absolute mauling on the feet and some gorgeous grappling exchanges all made UFC Dublin a true treat to behold.
Here are the UFC warriors that most impressed us from cageside at the 3Arena.
Knockout of the Night – Tom Breese
It was between Tom Breese and Garreth McLellan for this honour but we’ve given it to the Brit just based on the relentless, merciless and ultimately mean way that he put Cathal Pendred away.
We were honestly surprised that the referee allowed this bout to get into the fourth minute so savage was the beating put on by the Birmingham fighter.
A jabbing clinic and pinpoint left straight left Pendred a bloody mess and made the welterweight division sit up and take notice of Firas Zahabi’s latest piece of work.
Submission of the Night – Neil Seery
Neil Seery evened up his KO and submission percentages at six apiece with his first ever guillotine finish.
2 Tap got the tap after availing of a desperate entry on a double-leg to sink his forearm under the chin of Jon Delos Reyes, close his guard and squeeze the tap out of the Guam fighter.
Nice $50,000 bonus for the Team Ryano man, to boot.
Performance of the Night – Aisling Daly
Ais the Bash probably got the best reception of the night and the crowd’s voice remained at a deafening decibel throughout Daly’s decision victory over BJJ black belt Ericka Almeida.
It was a dangerous ploy to play around in the guard of Almeida but Daly remained confident in her ground skills and left a massive message with the judges as she pounded out the third round.
There was no official UFC performance bonus for Daly but her display impressed us most of all.
One to watch – Darren Till
A draw was the correct result based on Nicolas Dalby’s gutsy third round performance.
Having said that, the striking exhibition put on by Till in the first two rounds left us very excited about the future of this flashy 22-year-old.
