The Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, was home to a decent day of fights, with six (T)KOs, no submissions, and six decisions, including two split-decisions. We also saw several fighters do their best “Bambi on Ice” impressions, and who wasn’t moved when Alexander Gustafsson proposed to his girlfriend after his victory over Glover Teixeira?!
Performances of the Night: Damir Hadzovic and Bojan Velickovic
Damir Hadzovic opened the Fight Pass prelims against the highly regarded Marcin Held and damn near kicked his head off of his body. Marcin Held dove for what looked like an Iminari roll, and Hadzovic countered by soccer-kicking him straight to the side of the head on the way down. That brutal KO is likely as close as we’ll get to a grounded soccer-kick knockout in the UFC, and it earned Damir a $50,000 bonus.
Bojan Velickovic watched Hadzovic’s opener, cracked his knuckles double hard, and marched out 15 minutes later, determined to upstage him. He couldn’t convince Nico Musoke to dive for an Iminari roll no matter how hard he tried, though. Running out of time as the fight entered the final minute, Bojan just started punching Musoke in the head instead. Musoke forgot who he was, where he was, and why he was in front of so many people. Confused, Nico started dancing like a newborn deer to entertain all the cheering people. Then, he got viciously attacked by a nearby wild Velickovic and lost by TKO. Velickovic picked up the victory and a cool 50 Gs to go with it.
Fight of the Night: Alexander Gustafsson vs Glover Teixeira
The main event of the day saw Sweden’s own Alexander Gustafsson put on an absolute clinic against the ultra-tough Glover Teixeira. The fight lasted all the way into the fifth round, but that was 100% due to Glover refusing to accept the idea that punches or kicks could actually hurt.
Gus spent 20 full minutes alternating between jogging away from Glover’s hooks and lighting him up with wicked kicks, straights and body shots in the center of the cage. We saw Jon Jones/Daniel Cormier level Gustafsson today. His sublime skill and Glover’s superhuman endurance earned both men $50K each, and Gus likely earns another title shot with this victory.
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