UFC 270 has just ended and although the card on paper didn’t look too appetising, barring the main event and co-main, it definitely set the standard high for the rest of the year.
Francis Ngannou defeated Ciryl Gane by decision (48-47, 48-47 and 49-46) in a fight that proved that Francis is not just a heavy-hitter. After losing round one and two due to Ciryl’s superior movement and striking, Ngannou had to rely on wrestling to take the final three rounds.
Gane may have won the fight if he didn’t attempt a leg-lock that cost him top position, allowing the champion to dominate on the ground for the final few minutes.
In the co-main, Deiveson Figueiredo beat Brandon Moreno by a slender margin. Two knockdowns for the Brazilian allowed him to take close rounds, which could’ve given the Mexican the win. With them being 1-1-1, surely there should be a fourth and final fight to settle the score.
The main card started with 22-year-old Michael Morales defeating Trevor Giles by TKO. The stoppage was questionable as Giles quickly got up to complain but he wasn’t responding to ground strikes so I can see why the referee called the fight.
Said Nurmagomedov put his name in the bantamweight contender pool with a stunning striking display followed by a guillotine on Cody Stamann in 47 seconds. He’s definitely someone that could be a problem further down the line in this already stacked division.
Michel Pereira defeated Andre Fialho in a close fight in which Pereira did Pereira things, such as: Off the cage superman punches, flying knees and a wheel kick. I hope one day he gets a finish from one of these crazy moves, as it could go down as a knockout for the ages.
The prelims were extremely exciting with Matt Frevola and Genaro Valdez swinging for the fences at each other before Genaro eventually caved in. Also Jack Della Maddalena put his name in welterweight contention after a striking clinic that earned him a round 1 TKO on Pete Rodriguez. Furthermore, Vanessa Demopolous had an incredible comeback win after getting knocked down by Silvana Gomez Juarez within 2 minutes, however on the ground she was able to find an arm bar to gain brilliant submission win. She also jumped into Joe Rogan’s arms, which is a moment that made the fans adore the “Lil Monster.”
Overall the card was really fun and I enjoyed all 6 hours of it. It showed that even without big names, you can have an exciting card and every fight was worth watching.
I’d rate it an 8.5/10.
TheWrestlingFallacy 