The APEX Center in Las Vegas, Nevada was home to a great night of fights at UFC 260: Miocic vs. Ngannou 2. The card saw three (T)KOs, two submissions, and five decisions, including one split-decision.
The prelims opened with a solid offering from Abu Azaitar and Marc-Andre Barriault that would see Barriault take a third-round TKO victory. Omar Morales would best Shane Young via unanimous decision, and following that, Michał Oleksiejczuk defeated Modesta Bakauskas via split decision. Abubakar Nurmagomedov would secure a unanimous decision over Jared Gooden, and Alonzo Menifield gave Fabio Cherant the Marie Antoinette treatment, taking his neck in a guillotine in just 71 seconds.
The main card saw Jamie Mullarkey demonstrate previously unknown reserves of power when he absolutely demolished Khama Worthy in just 46 seconds with a flurry of punches. Miranda Maverick would defeat Gillian Robertson via unanimous decision, handing the Canadian her second-straight loss. Sean O’Malley dominated grizzled veteran Thomas Almeida for most of their fight, scoring a sensational knockout late in round three.
The co-main event saw the continuation of Tyron Woodley’s stark decline when Vicente Luque staggered him with huge shots, then ended up submitting him with a D’arce choke inside four minutes. I’m not sure how many fights Woodley has left on his contract, but one has to imagine his time inside the octagon is coming to an end.
The main event had a tense first round that saw Stipe able to take Ngannou’s power, and also saw Big Franci take Stipe down. The back and forth was constant and soon round two would be underway. Ngannou got off to a fast start and stunned Miocic early. Stipe landed a hard jab, putting Ngannou on spaghetti legs. Francis lands a short left that floors Miocic, then he flies down from the heavens with another that just annihilates the Croatian. Big Franci is the heavyweight champion, and thus ends the reign of DQ/NC terror in main events.
Performance of the Night: Francis Ngannou, Sean O’Malley
Marc-Andre Barriault (TKO (punches), 4:56 of round 3), Alonzo Menifield (guillotine choke, 1:11 of round 1), Jamie Mullarkey (TKO (punches), :46 of round 1), Vicente Luque (D’arce choke at 3:56 of Round 1), and Francis Ngannou (KO (punch) at :52 of round 2 all finished their fights inside the distance, but it would be Francis Ngannou and Sean O’Malley that would take the night’s $50K performance bonuses.
Fight of the Night: Tyron Woodley vs. Vicente Luque
Omar Morales (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), Michał Oleksiejczuk (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), Abubakar Nurmagomedov (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), and Miranda Maverick (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) all heard the final bell but it would be Tyron Woodley vs. Vicente Luque that would land the FOTN bonuses.
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