The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH was home to a great evening of fights at UFC Columbus: Blaydes vs. Daukaus. The card saw two (T)KOs, two submissions and eight decisions, including two split-decisions.
Fight of the Night: Bryan Barberena vs. Matt Brown
Performance of the Night: Curtis Blaydes, Chris Gutierrez
The early portion of the event kicked off with Luis Saldana taking a closely contested unanimous decision in a battle that could have gone either way. That was followed by another close battle between Matheus Nicolau and David Dvorak. Dvorak would see his 16-fight win streak broken after a somewhat lackluster performance. Manon Fiorot added another win to her resume when she nabbed a unanimous decision over Jennifer Maia. Aliaskhab Khizriev would break up the monotony of decisions when he defeated Denis Tiuliulin via rear-naked choke in the second round. Danaa Batgerel would fall to a wicked spinning backfist landed by Chris Gutierrez and Sara McMann proved she can still dispatch high-level opponents when she took a unanimous decision over Karol Rosa to close out the prelims.
Preliminary Card
- Sara McMann def. Karol Rosa by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
- Chris Gutierrez def. Danaa Batgerel by TKO (spinning backfist and strikes) at 2:34 of round 2
- Aliaskhab Khizriev def. Denis Tiuliulin by technical submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:58 of round 2
- Manon Fiorot def. Jennifer Maia via UD (29-28×3)
- Matheus Nicolau def. David Dvorak via UD (29-28×3)
- Luis Saldana def. Bruno Souza via UD (29-28×3)
The main card opened with Marc Diakese taking a much-needed and very lopsided unanimous decision over Viacheslav Borshchev. Diakese’s takedown game was entirely too much for Borshchev. That was followed by a back-and-forth battle between Neil Magny and Max Griffin that ended up with Magny taking the split-decision. Kai Kara-France would take a tough unanimous decision over Askar Askarov. He then called for the title shot against the winner of Figueiredo-Moreno 4. How can you deny him? Matt Brown and Bryan Barberena went hell for leather right from Jump Street but it would be Bryan Barberena taking the insane split-decision to the dismay of the crowd.
The co-main event was short and sweet with Alexa Grasso getting Joanne Wood down twice, making the most of the second time, sinking in a deep rear-naked choke which forced the tap from Wood. That marks JoJo’s third, straight loss.
The main event seemed like it was going to be another humdrum decision through round one. Round two told a different tale, though. Blaydes cracked Daukaus with a huge bomb that dropped him like a sack of bricks. “Razor” followed Chris down to finish him off with more punches. Daukaus has now lost two in a row. Blaydes called for an interim title shot against Cyril Gane.
Main Card
- Curtis Blaydes def. Chris Daukaus via TKO (punches), :17 of round 2
- Alexa Grasso def. Joanne Wood via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:57 of round 1
- Bryan Barberena def. Matt Brown via split-decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
- Kai-Kara France def. Askar Askarov via UD (29-28×3)
- Neil Magny def. Max Griffin via split-decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Marc Diakiese def. Viacheslav Borshchev via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Gate : $1,921,988.24
Attendance: 18,630 (Sold Out)
Highest Grossing U.S. UFC Fight Night in History, per UFC officials
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