Sanabul Fight News: UFC Austin
UFC Austin was as exciting as anyone would have expected, and more! With 9 fights out of 13 being finished via stoppage, and only one of those being a submission, the limbs were flying in Texas on Saturday night, and the stars were shining! Saturday night actually tied the record for most knockouts at any UFC event in history, congrats to all athletes who were a part of it!
Roman Dolidze and Phil Hawes both started off the card in exciting ways with quite difficult matchups ahead of them. Dolidze came in as the underdog against Kyle Daukaus, and clearly took that personally. With 10 total strikes from Roman, he got in the clinch and landed a knee to the head of Daukaus which put him down, ending in a referee stoppage after some ground and pound. Roman Dolidze now moves up to 10-1, and will likely be looking at a top 15 opponent in the Middleweight division next fight.
Phil Hawes and Deron Winn was being looked at as a classic striker vs wrestler matchup, with Hawes coming in as the favorite. Hawes dominated the entire fight, ending up as the only one of the pair to actually land a takedown. Late in the second round with Deron wobbling on his feet, Phil landed three consecutive massive elbows, and Herb stepped in the stob the dominating performance by Phil Hawes. After Phil’s performance he seemingly had some words for Daniel Cormier, which ended in a heated exchange:
After three consecutive losses in the bantamweight division, Cody Stamann was looking to make a statement against veteran Eddie Wineland on Saturday night. With 27 significant strikes landed for Cody to Eddie’s 3, Cody dominated the first round and ended up winning via TKO after landing a barrage of hooks on Eddie while he was covering up. This finally puts Cody back in the win column and he will look to move up against another Top 15 likely in the coming fights.
Ricard Ramos gave us a “Y’all must’ve forgot” moment on Saturday night after finishing Danny Chavez in the first round. Ricardo looked incredible, ending the fight with a spinning elbow that put Danny out cold against the cage. Ricardo is now 7-3 in the UFC, and could finally be looking at a Top 15 Featherweight opponent in his next matchup.
Jeremiah Wells and Natalia Silva closed out the prelims with exciting performances of their own, solidifying a potential move up in competition for each of them. Court McGee before Saturday night had not been finished since 2016 in his fight against Santiago Ponzinibbio, Jeremiah had something else in mind when he came in, guns blazing, against a vet like Court. Wells got the first round KO with some punches in bunches that ended in a wide left hook finish to move him up to 11-2 in his pro career.
Natalia Silva had a dominating performance as a big underdog against Niagara Top Team’s Jasmine Jasudavicious in the flyweight division. Natalia outstruck Jasmine 120 to 40, landed two takedowns of her own while going 6/6 with her takedown defense.
With Cowboy and Lauzon being scrapped off the card, again, Adrian Yanez and Tony Kelley got to put on a show to start off the main card. Adrian Yanez put on one of the most incredible performances of the card, and showed everyone the dog that he is with a sweet barrage to finish off Tony in the first round, flipping him the bird afterwards for a pretty iconic photo. Adrian Yanez has consistently proven how good he really is in the bantamweight division, and I would expect a top 10 opponent for him next. With everyone booked up, he might have to go against a veteran like Raphael Assuncao which would be an incredible fight for fans that could get Adrian in the rankings quickly.
Gregory Rodrigues and Julian Marquez had a fun matchup at middleweight, with Gregory coming off a loss with something to prove after two wins in his first two UFC fights. Rodrigues ended up hurting Julian in the first round, and putting on the pressure to sit him down on the mat with a sweet knockout over a game opponent. This marks Julian’s second loss in the UFC and Gregory’s third win, moving him up the rankings once again.
Ismagulov and Kutateladze had a much awaited fight as well, with the two men looking like boogeymen in the division, this was a matchmakers dream especially with two hungry savages in a competitive lightweight division. The fight was very even, with only 1/13 takedowns landing between the two men, and 79 to 78 significant strikes respectively, Damir Ismagulov ended up taking the decision win after a very competitive three rounds, to move his record up to 24-1.
Joaquin Buckley and Kevin Holland (Who have fought in the past, with Holland winning), each earned submission wins to lead up to the main event. Buckley was matched up against (15-4) grappler, Albert Duraev, and was expecting him to come in shooting a takedown “the second I blink”. Buckley ended up stuffing 7 of 9 takedowns in the first two rounds, and dropping Duraev multiple times before the fight was stopped in between rounds by the cageside doctor, giving Buckley the win. Holland and Means had a relatively fun fight, with Tim finishing two takedowns and the pair landing a total of 50 significant strikes, Holland ended up finishing Tim with a sweet D’arce choke after dropping him with a big right hand. After seeing Kevin look so good at welterweight, and his grappling consistently improving each fight, I think a big matchup at welterweight is next for Kevin, like Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier (moving up), or Gilbert Burns. It’s doubtful the UFC would book such a big fight for him, but Kevin has fought the “who’s who” at middleweight.
The main event was the moment everyone was waiting for, especially the champion and challengers of the featherweight division. Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett was a five-round main event with fireworks from the beginning to the end, with a total of 230 significant strikes between the two men. Kattar outstruck Josh by about 30 sig. Strikes, stuffed 4/4 of Josh’s attempted takedowns, and seemingly did the majority of the visible damage on Josh Emmett. The judges scored a split decision win for Josh Emmett, which was debatable by many fans.
