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This weekend's UFC event had no crowd in attendance, but Fight Night: Mackenzie Dern vs. Xiaonan Yan turned out to be quite the show. A number of fights ended in stoppages. It was a thrilling card for fans around the world, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – who allegedly booked the UFC’s APEX arena for himself and his wife.
While UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan didn’t see too many violent finishes, there was enough action to warrant six fighters being awarded with $50k bonuses.
Will any of these bouts be remembered come the end of 2022? It’s questionable, but overall, there was plenty to enjoy here.
Here are the five best finishes from UFC Fight Night: Mackenzie Dern vs. Xiaonan Yan.
#5. UFC bantamweight bout: Guido Cannetti defeated Randy Costa
The opening bout of this weekend’s event saw bantamweight veteran Guido Cannetti pick up his second win of 2022 by submitting the heavily favoured Randy Costa with a rear naked choke in the first round.
While ‘Ninja’ had defeated Kris Moutinho earlier this year, nobody really gave him much of a chance against the explosive Costa. However, he stunned everyone with a tremendous performance.
The Argentinian knocked Costa down with a low kick and pounced on him and finished him off with a no-hooks rear naked choke, something that definitely takes a lot of skill and poise to pull off.
This W should mean he keeps his UFC roster spot for a while longer, and it was also enough to earn him a nice $50k bonus, too.
#4. UFC lightweight bout: Joaquim Silva defeated Jesse Ronson
The lightweight clash between Joaquim Silva and Jesse Ronson always promised to be exciting despite the fact that both men were coming off losses.
The first round saw some back-and-forth action, but in the dying seconds, Silva landed a flying knee that dropped his Canadian foe to one knee. Ronson was saved by the bell, but the shot should’ve served as a warning.
As it were, ‘Netto BJJ’ landed another flying knee, this time sending Ronson crashing to the ground.
The fight was essentially over at that point, and referee Keith Peterson didn’t really need to see the Brazilian hit Ronson on the ground with some brutal shots before finally stepping in.
However, there’s no disputing the brilliance of Silva’s finish – his first in the octagon since 2018. While it earned him a $50k bonus, more importantly, it should probably be enough to keep his UFC career afloat for now.
#3. UFC catchweight bout: Daniel Santos defeated John Castaneda
The 'Fight of the Night' honors at this weekend’s event went to the catchweight bout between Daniel Santos and John Castaneda.
Castaneda stunned Santos on more than one occasion in the first round. Quite how ‘Willycat’ survived was anyone’s guess.
However, in the second round, it was painfully clear that Castaneda was tired, having blown his wad in the opening stanza, and that proved to be his downfall.
Santos pushed the pace from the get-go, hammered his opponent with heavy combinations, and had him badly hurt. As Castaneda continued to backpedal, Santos didn’t let up. He ended up dropping Castaneda with a brutal knee, switching his lights off immediately.
In this instance, Keith Peterson stepped in at the perfect time to save Castaneda.
While Santos’ kill-or-be-killed style might not mean his octagon career lasts forever, if he can keep on pulling out finishes like this, he might become somewhat of a star.
#2. UFC middleweight bout: Brendan Allen defeated Krzysztof Jotko
While everyone expected headline fighter Mackenzie Dern to pull off the night’s most impressive display of grappling, Brendan Allen wowed. ‘All In’ defeated Krzysztof Jokto with a rear naked choke in the first round, becoming the first man to submit the Pole since 2014.
It wasn’t just the finish that made this display impressive, though. Allen was planted on his back by Jotko – an excellent grappler in his own right – in the early part of the bout, and looked to be in trouble.
Despite the takedown, Allen managed to hit a beautiful sweep on his foe. Once he got top position, he went to work, slicing through Jotko’s guard, beating him up with short punches, and then wasting no time in finding the fight-ending choke when he took his back.
Essentially, this was about as smooth a display of grappling as you’re going to find in the promotion in 2022. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to elevate the talented Allen into the upper echelon of the middleweight rankings.
#1. UFC featherweight bout: Sodiq Yusuff defeated Don Shainis
It’s fair to say that the fastest finish of this weekend’s event came from featherweight Sodiq Yusuff, who needed just 30 seconds to dispatch UFC newcomer Don Shainis.
Yusuff was initially scheduled to face off with the highly-ranked Giga Chikadze, but Shainis stepped in on late notice and ended up being completely overmatched. Yusuff nailed him with a series of heavy knees before snatching up a guillotine choke to coax the tapout.
Sure, ‘Shameless’ had nothing for ‘Super Sodiq’, but to see the Nigerian get his opponent out of the octagon so quickly was still mightily impressive. It was the first submission win of his MMA career.
Given that he took zero damage, hopefully the UFC can get Yusuff back into the octagon sooner rather than later.
