There were a few take-aways from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night.
After spending most of their summer on the road, the premier promotion returned to the crowdless UFC Apex for back-to-back weeks of explosive knockouts and ‘fight of the year’ contenders.
Stoppages littered the UFC Vegas 109 card, from the prelims to Anthony Hernandez’s breakout performance against #9-ranked contender Roman Dolidze in the headliner.
Before the main card began, Elijah Smith scored one of the scariest slam knockouts in UFC history when he power bombed Toshiomi Kazama in a bantamweight bout.
Here’s what we learned from UFC Vegas 109.
Anthony Hernandez is finally getting the credit he deserves
‘Fluffy’ Hernandez showed the world he’s much better than the #10 ranking next to his name.
After submitting Dolidze in a lopsided main event, Hernandez now holds the second-longest active win streak at 185 lbs (8), only behind the middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis (11), who made sure to give Hernandez his flowers for the performance.
The caliber of opponents Hernandez has beat, in the violent way he has beaten them, has people talking about him in the title conversation, confident he could be a world champion with the way he performed on Saturday.
“I think we’re looking at the best middleweight on the planet,” UFC analyst Din Thomas said of Hernandez after his dominant win over Dolidze.
“Who gave the best middleweight performance we’ve seen in the last three years…”
Don’t go for triangle submissions on Elijah Smith
Son of former UFC fighter Gilbert Smith, Elijah Smith was already considered a decent prospect coming into UFC Vegas 109 with an 8-1 record.
Smith’s last two fights were decisions and ‘Swift’ secured his first UFC finish from inside his opponent’s triangle choke.
That’s right, Smith picked up and slammed Kazama on his head after he attempted to submit him with a triangle choke, leaving Kazama unconscious for minutes.
Smith landed two more devastating follow-up shots on his KO’ed opponent, which should serve as a warning to other fighters not to make the same mistake against him.
Name value isn’t everything
UFC Vegas 109 went down without having a packed crowd or too many notable names.
Initially thought to be a ‘sleeper’ card on paper by the fans, the Fight Night event surely delivered with five violent finishes and more fun fights.
The prelims saw most of the action, with fighters like Joselyne Edwards, Uros Medic, and the 22-year-old Elijah Smith adding on to their highlight reels with stoppages.