It’d been five fights since Rory MacDonald picked up a win by stoppage, dating all the way back to his fight with Che Mills in April of 2012. MacDonald snapped that streak in a big way tonight, knocking out Tarec Saffiedine with a left hook and brutal finishing flurry that left Saffiedine unable to stand up straight for several minutes.
Saffiedine was landing some good leg kicks, but it was a fight mostly controlled by MacDonald’s ability to dictate pacing and use simple combinations to catch Saffiedine clean, along with leg kicks of his own.
Ultimately, it was a very standard performance for MacDonald. He worked at his own pace, looked for the openings that presented and took advantage of them. It’s that patient, mature style that bothers many when it comes to MacDonald fights, but it’s what makes him a top level fighter and a legitimate title challenger.
- The night’s card was mostly forgettable. It’s hard to tell how much of that was just that the fights weren’t that entertaining and how much of that is the accumulation of the earlier UFC card leading to a little bit of burnout. Either way, the MacDonald finish was a welcome wake-up call. But there’s very little of note coming out of this card, so let’s hit the high points and then the results and call it a night.
- Raphael Assuncao should get a title shot following his win over Bryan Caraway. Assuncao was facing a very tough opponent and he dominated the fight as you would expect from a guy with his ranking. Caraway was tough enough to get to the decision, but he was getting busted up at times, eating big punches and kicks to the head and continuing to come forward. Bantamweight is very interesting with TJ Dillashaw as champ and Dominick Cruz returning to action with his stunningly dominant win last weekend and Assuncao making it clear that he’s in line for a shot at the belt.
- Anthony Njokuani’s career appears to be over. I’m sure he’ll keep fighting, and he might do some exciting things in smaller promotions, but he just does not pull the trigger in UFC fights anymore. As a result, his fights have been reduced to him circling, defending takedowns and not using his combination striking that made him so fun to watch in the past. Tonight he just got outworked by Daron Cruickshank. Cruickshank may have been in position to win even if Njokuani opened up, but there were very few moments where it appeared that Njokuani actually cared about winning.
Results
Rory MacDonald d. Tarec Saffiedine – TKO, R3
Raphael Assuncao d. Bryan Caraway – Decision (30-27 x3)
Chad Laprise d. Yosdenis Cedeno – Decision (30-27 x3)
Elias Theodorou d. Bruno Santos – Decision (29-28 x3)
Nordine Taleb d. Li Jingliang – Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Mitch Gagnon d. Roman Salazar – Submission, R1
Daron Cruickshank d. Anthony Njokuani – Decision (30-27 x3)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier d. Jake Lindsey – Submission, R2
Paul Felder d. Jason Saggo – Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Chris Kelades d. Patrick Holohan – Decision (29-28 x3)
Albert Tumenov d. Matt Dwyer – TKO, Round 1
Pedro Munhoz d. Jerrod Sanders – Submission, Round 1