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#4: Armen Petrosyan – defeated Gregory Rodrigues in a UFC middleweight bout
Coming into his UFC debut last night, it’s safe to say that middleweight prospect Armen Petrosyan was willing to talk a good game.
‘Superman’ – who won a contract with the promotion thanks to a head kick knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series last year – promised an entertaining bout with Gregory Rodrigues, but also suggested that he’d smash his opponent and would fight two more times this year.
In the end, the fight wasn’t nearly as easy for Petrosyan as he might’ve hoped. Sure, he cracked Rodrigues with enough heavy strikes throughout the bout – largely landing more than the Brazilian – to claim a razor-close split decision, but he also ended up with a badly damaged nose and also came close to being knocked out and submitted at points.
Still, the fact that Petrosyan didn’t simply falter in the face of adversity means that he should be considered one of last night’s big winners.
Is he a hot enough prospect that title contention should be considered in his near future? Perhaps not, but he’s clearly capable of putting on wild and entertaining fights, which will serve him well in the octagon in the future.
#3: Wellington Turman – defeated Misha Cirkunov in a UFC middleweight bout
Coming into his fight with Misha Cirkunov last night, Wellington Turman had never won two bouts in a row in the UFC. The fact that he was able to change that by beating arguably his toughest foe to date easily makes him one of the event’s biggest winners.
Things could definitely have gone the other way in this bout. After shaking off an early rear-naked choke attempt, Cirkunov was able to dominate the first round, taking top position to bash his Brazilian foe with some thudding punches.
However, when the Latvian-Canadian looked to continue his momentum in the second round by tripping Turman to the ground again, the Brazilian surprised him by locking up an armbar literally out of nowhere, forcing him to tap out.
This was one of the most sudden armbars in UFC history – not meticulously set up, more like Ronda Rousey’s explosive finish of Cat Zingano back in 2015. Cirkunov is no dummy on the mat by any means, but he was caught seriously cold here.
Whether Turman can follow up this win with another – moving him towards the top 15 at 185lbs – is anyone’s guess, but for now at least, he’s gained some serious traction in a tricky division, something that didn’t seem likely as recently as last year.
