Despite all the controversy surrounding Eduardo Herdy’s dubious refereeing, there were some good contests on show in Rio.
The UFC action on Saturday night kicked off with a literal bang, as Fredy Serrano scored a vicious one-punch knockout on Bentley Syler. After both fighters cancelled each other’s styles out for the opening two stanzas, Serrano unleashed a holy haymaker from hell that sent Syler crashing to the canvas.
He pounced on the downed fighter and rained down with some brutal hammerfists before the referee intervened.
Amanda Nunes dispatched of veteran WMMA fighter Shayna Baszler on the main card.
The heavy-handed Brazilian teed off a magnificent leg-kick to the Baszler’s lead leg which saw her crumple down to the canvas in a heap. Nunes quickly followed her to the mat and unleashed some devastating ground and pound, giving the ref no choice but to end the bout.
Kevin Souza had arguably the most spectacular knockout of the night, with his brain-loosening haymaker on Katsunori Kikuno. The Brazilian dropped the man, whose lack of stand-up defence is second to only Bob Sapp, to grab the Ko victory in the opening round.
