UFC Fight Night – Font vs Garbrandt not only turned out to be a tutorial event with the majority going the decision, but we fans, on this side of the world are beginning to feel the positive effects of waking up early.
Broadcasted at 4:30 am proved to be worthwhile as the event had a clinical display of talent, a comeback and a vicious TKO.
Firstly, let’s have a look at the results of the main card below:
The card started with an extremely calculative contest in the Middleweight (185 lbs) division between Hermansson and Shahbazyan. The contest, originally supposed to be in front of an audience at UFC 262, was postponed due to a covid case in Hermansson’s camp. However, the clash between these top 10 middleweights stayed intact and we saw shades of all aspects of the sport of mixed martial arts.
The opening round was a striking clinic by the Ronda Rousey protégé Shahbazyan where he displayed immaculate combinations to which the Swedish Hermansson had less answers for. Hermansson’s corner knew they were outstruck in Round 1 and had to change their strategy moving ahead. Round 2 and 3 was where Hermansson showed why grappling is extremely essential in MMA and had great success in his 3 successful takedowns. Most of Hermansson’s 141 strikes were a product of ground and pound to which Shahbazyan didn’t have an answer to. A clear 29-27 by all judges giving ranked 7 Hermansson the decision win over a very tough Shahbazyan.
The Featherweight (145 lbs) fight between Ricardo Ramos and Bill Algeo answered a few questions for the budding MMA fighters. We saw a clear striking advantage by Algeo who outstruck Ramos (90 to 57). But it’s the 8 takedowns… yes, 8 takedowns that made the clear difference with the judges giving the unanimous to Ramos. It’s a great learning experience for younger fighters who want to make a career in MMA to learn from these experienced fighters.
The featherweight contest in the Women’s division between Dumont and Spencer was an eye opener for many. On one side we have the 2 fight young UFC fighter Norma Dumont standing opposite the former Invicta FC champion Felicia Spencer. Spencer has had a crack at Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes for the featherweight title – something that would surely be a feather in her cap in terms of experience.
Originally Spencer was due to welcome US Boxing Champion Danyelle Wolf to the Octagon, but an injury forced Wolf out of the contest prompting Dumont to step in.
With nothing to lose, Dumont showed her fierce approach and stood in there with a former champ and swung leather toe to toe.
With a striking advantage (88 strikes to 70 strikes) and one successful take down, the judges had a split decision in favor of Dumont.
It seemed Spencer had an off-night with Dumot capitalizing on the opportunity. But I guess that’s the major difference when you want to swim with the sharks.
The co-main event saw the dramatic resurgence of former strawweight (115 lbs) champion Carla Esparza. After two very close split decision wins, the Cookie Monster came back with a statement in a blood-bath finish of Chinese superstar Yan Xionan in Round 2 viz crucifix.
Riding high on a 5 fight win streak, Esparza is hopeful she will climb up the ladder and fight for the belt one more time before calling her career.
And now… the Main Event of the Evening.
A classic bantamweight fight between a rising contender versus a former champion. Rob Font took on Cody Garbrandt with no fear in his eyes.
33 year old Rob Font came into the fight on a 3 fight win streak against really tough competition in Sergio Pettis, Ricky Simon and Marlon Moraes.
Cody ‘No Love’ was coming in with a big win over Raphael Assuncao and a new coach/corner in Mark Henry. No Love however, had 3 massive losses prior to that and hoped his fortunes would change with the new coach and strategy in place. Font’s jabs however spoilt the party for Garbrandt.
It surely seems that Garbrandt would have nightmares for a while as those long jabs landed perfectly for 25 mins, giving Garbrandt less opportunities to get in the pocket and fire his right hand. It almost seemed that Font never pursued the finish, but wanted to apply pressure on the relatively calm Garbrandt and break him slowly; which seemed to have worked perfectly. With 183 strikes to 78 by Garbrandt, the judges had no quams in a unanimous decision to Font.
This puts Font in a tricky situation as top contenders Cory Sandhagen is taking on TJ Dillashaw next and Yan will surely get his rematch versus the current champion Sterling.
I’m assuming if Font can grab a fight with the winner of Sandhagen and Dillashaw, it could set him up for a title shot soon.
Hope you enjoyed my article written exclusively for Spogo News.
Do tune into the latest episode of – The Fighting G.O.A.T where we welcome One Championship’s top 135 lbs contender Gurdarshan ‘Gary’ Mangat to our show.
About the author
Somesh Kamra is a professional mixed martial artist specializing in Muay Thai. He has designed many effective training programs for Superhuman Gym and the Police Academy. His knowledge of hand to hand combat is unbeaten and has been a success story for many students. Somesh Kamra is educated from the University of Gold’s Gym in the field of physical fitness that includes strength training, plyometrics & cardiovascular training for muscular conditioning.
He works closely with the UFC for India and serves as the panelist for the TV Show – The Ultimate Guide to UFC and Pit Stop on Sony Sports Network.
Somesh runs India’s first combat podcast – The Fighting G.O.A.T produced exclusively by the IVM Podcast Network.
Instagram: Somesh.Kamra
Twitter: Somesh_Kamra
