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Last night’s UFC Fight Night event was understandably overshadowed somewhat, mainly by the long-awaited clash between Anderson Silva and Jake Paul in the boxing ring. However, the show did deliver some fun action.
UFC Fight Night: Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen featured a number of excellent finishes, most notably on a really exciting preliminary card, and four fighters received $50k bonuses.
Will some of these fighters now move into title contention in the near future? It’s debatable for some of them, but as always, you never know.
Here are the five best finishes from UFC Fight Night: Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen.
#5. Arnold Allen defeated Calvin Kattar in a UFC featherweight bout
Last night’s headline bout didn’t quite finish in the way that anyone would’ve hoped, as a freakish knee injury to Calvin Kattar basically led directly to his TKO defeat at the hands of Arnold Allen in the second round.
However, to completely put Kattar’s loss down to the injury would be doing ‘Almighty’ a bit of a disservice. The native of Ipswich, UK, performed brilliantly under the spotlight, never letting the more experienced Kattar get comfortable.
From the word go, he was able to pop him with a number of stiff left jabs, all while using his movement and footwork to avoid the big shots of ‘The Boston Finisher’, and it was after his head was snapped back by one of those jabs that Kattar attempted an ill-advised jumping strike that blew his knee out.
Kattar managed to make it into the second round, but it was a bad decision from him as Allen landed a big leg kick that finally forced him to give up the ghost just eight seconds into the stanza.
Obviously this wasn’t the highlight reel finish that Allen was probably hoping for, but it was nasty nonetheless and it means ‘Almighty’ is now on a ten-fight winning streak. With any luck, a featherweight title shot - particularly if Alexander Volkanovski vacates - will be in his future.
#4. Steve Garcia defeated Chase Hooper in a UFC featherweight bout
The fastest finish at last night’s event belonged to featherweight Steve Garcia, who dispatched of young prospect Chase Hooper in just 1:32 of the first round. After losing his last UFC bout, ‘Mean Machine’ clearly had something to prove, and took all of his frustrations out on Hooper.
The fight’s opening seconds saw Hooper walk directly into a combination of crisp punches, and it came as no surprise to see him dive for a takedown. Garcia blocked that and dropped ‘The Dream’ with a left hand, and then, after refusing to go to the ground with him, dropped him for a second time.
A third knockdown soon followed, and this time, Garcia didn’t let up, hammering Hooper with more punches that forced referee Herb Dean to intervene. When proceedings ended, Hooper looked to be left in a bloody mess.
Given his spotty record, it’s unlikely that ‘Mean Machine’ will climb into contention at 145lbs any time soon, but there’s no denying that this was one of 2022’s most ruthless beatings, and given Hooper had impressed in his previous showing, Garcia did brilliantly to take him out. He more than earned the $50k bonus he was awarded.
#3. Marcos Rogerio de Lima defeated Andrei Arlovski in a UFC heavyweight bout
Quite how the heavyweight bout between the longest-tenured UFC veteran in the division, Andrei Arlovski, and a fighter who rarely puts on dull fights in Marcos Rogerio de Lima was left on the preliminary card was a total mystery.
At any rate, the two men delivered one of the night’s most exciting fights, with ‘Pezao’ pulling off probably the biggest victory of his octagon career for good measure. Quite how it wasn’t enough to net him a $50k bonus is anyone’s guess.
The fight was no more than a few seconds old when the two big men embarked on a trade, and unsurprisingly, de Lima came out on top, dropping ‘The Pitbull’ with a hard left hand.
Arlovski managed to survive, but it didn’t take long for the Brazilian to move into a dominant position, and from there, he trapped the former champion against the fence and snaked an arm across into a rear-naked choke.
It didn’t look like a technically perfect choke, but it didn’t matter, as Arlovski was forced to tap out for just the third time in his lengthy career.
The win was a good way for de Lima to rebound from a disappointing loss to Blagoy Ivanov earlier this year, and while he remains a somewhat limited fighter, this was more proof that he’s got the power to change any fight in his favor. At heavyweight, that’s often all you need. He’s a man to watch going forward for sure.
#2. Tresean Gore defeated Josh Fremd in a UFC middleweight bout
TUF 29 finalist Tresean Gore was up against a serious experience disadvantage in his bout with Josh Fremd last night. Sure, ‘Mr Vicious’ had been in the UFC octagon twice before, but both times he’d wound up on the losing end, and overall, he had just five professional bouts to Fremd’s 12.
In the end, though, that didn’t matter, as Gore’s serious killer instinct allowed him to pull off one of the more memorable submission finishes in recent memory, a truly nasty guillotine choke that more than earned him a $50k bonus.
The first round didn’t go his way at all, as Fremd escaped a bad position on the ground to largely outstrike Gore throughout the stanza.
In the second round, though, when Fremd shot in for a takedown, he left his neck far too open – and Gore capitalized by sinking a tight guillotine.
From there, things got completely crazy, as Gore literally wrenched Fremd off his feet, then yanked him across the fence before sitting him down, tightening the choke up in the process and forcing him to pass out.
Really, the only comparable thing to this guillotine was another famous choke delivered by former bantamweight contender Scott Jorgensen in his WEC days, and it’s likely that it should get some traction online today. This was an excellent finish for Gore, who probably saved his UFC career in the process.
#1. Roman Dolidze defeated Phil Hawes in a UFC middleweight bout
The best finish of last night’s UFC event was undoubtedly produced by middleweight Roman Dolidze, who essentially did enough to finish his highly touted opponent, Phil Hawes, twice times over – once by submission and then finally by knockout.
Interestingly, despite Dolidze holding an impressive record of 10-1 with four of those wins coming in the UFC, Hawes had more hype around him thanks to his raw athleticism and the fact that his last performance saw him dispatch Deron Winn in violent fashion.
However, he was well beaten by Dolidze last night, with ‘The Caucasian’ dominating him both on the ground and on the feet.
Hawes took Dolidze down early, but after eating some elbows from the bottom, ‘Megatron’ then found himself caught in a nasty kneebar/heel hook combination. The hold wasn’t enough to force him to tap out – but it did clearly pop Hawes’ knee, prompting Dolidze to tell referee Dan Miragliotta to step in.
Miragliotta didn’t do that, but when the two men got to their feet, Dolidze wasted no time in blitzing Hawes with a crushing combination that sent him crashing to the ground, unconscious before he even hit the mat.
After the bout, Dolidze called for a top 15 opponent next, and based on this showing, he probably deserves it. A clash with someone like Chris Curtis, who also holds a win over Hawes, would almost certainly work. Either way, the native of Georgia will have a lot more hype on him after this finish.
