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While it wasn’t heavy on name value at all, last night’s UFC Fight Night turned out to be an entertaining event, with many explosive performances on offer.
With many fighters looking to climb the rankings across divisions, the UFC Fight Night definitely saw a few big winners emerge from the smoke.
Whether any of these fighters move into title contention or their wins simply keep them ticking along is a question mark. Nevertheless, they’ll be savoring last night’s wins for a while.
On that note, here are the five biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Johnny Walker vs. Jamahal Hill.
#5. Joaquin Buckley – defeated Abdul Razak Alhassan in a UFC middleweight bout
Coming into last night’s event, everyone expected Joaquin Buckley’s middleweight bout with Abdul Razak Alhassan to end in a bang. After all, the two men had earned reputations as violent finishers. Both had also suffered knockout defeats in the past.
In the end, though, the fight went to the judges. In a razor-close decision, it was ‘New Mansa’ who picked up the win.
While the two 185 lbers didn’t produce the knockout fans expected, it wasn’t a dull fight by any means. Both men threw everything they had at the other, with Buckley largely landing the cleaner shots in the first two rounds.
The third round, though, saw Alhassan take over the fight with his takedowns and ground-and-pound. On another night, ‘Judo Thunder’ may well have found enough in the tank to finish Buckley off, particularly if he’d been able to get to full mount quicker.
However, ‘New Mansa’ survived a bad round to eke out a victory. With the win moving him to 4-2 in the octagon, he’s on track to further his career with the promotion.
Will he ever move into title contention at 185 lbs? Right now, it seems unlikely, but this win showed that he’s much more than just his viral knockout over Impa Kasanganay. That alone makes him one of last night’s biggest winners.
#4. Chas Skelly – defeated Mark Striegl in a UFC featherweight bout
Very few fighters in the world of MMA – particularly in the UFC – manage to sign off in the way they intend to. While Chas Skelly may end up reneging on his retirement, his win last night felt like the perfect ending to his octagon tenure.
Skelly took the fight to Mark Striegl from the off, dominating him in the clinch and with his takedowns in the first round. He appeared to be well on his way to a victory, before ‘The Scrapper’ surprised everyone by using a brutal knee and some follow-up strikes to put Striegl away in the second round.
It didn’t win him a $50K bonus, but it was still an excellent victory.
The featherweight hadn’t fought since September 2019 before this bout due to various injuries. So his decision to hang up his gloves probably makes sense – particularly as he’s 36 now.
For picking the right time to get out of a brutal sport, and doing so with a knockout win, ‘The Scrapper’ is definitely one of last night’s big winners.
#3. Kyle Daukaus – defeated Jamie Pickett in a UFC catchweight bout
Middleweight prospect Kyle Daukaus was largely in a no-win situation last night. Not only was he faced with a late-notice opponent in Jamie Pickett, but his fight was also switched to 195 lbs catchweight, as ‘The Nightwolf’ didn’t have time to make the 185 lbs limit.
More to the point, their fight was never intended to act as a co-headliner on a UFC card. That meant had Daukaus failed to impress, it would’ve been pretty bad for his career overall.
However, the Philadelphia middleweight instead dealt with Pickett in excellent fashion. He took Pickett down to avoid trading with the dangerous striker. Daukaus then dispatched his opponent with a beautiful D’Arce choke with literally one second remaining in the first round.
Despite his reputation as a hot prospect, Daukaus had only won one fight – officially at least – in the octagon since his June 2020 debut. So this was a much-needed victory for him.
It was also enough to net him a $50K bonus, meaning this was the perfect night for him. Hopefully, given that he took no damage, he can get back into action quickly to follow up this win with another one.
#2. Jim Miller – defeated Nikolas Motta in a UFC lightweight bout
It’s clear that, at 38, Jim Miller is unlikely to climb back into contention for the UFC lightweight title. However, it’s fair to say that his knockout win over Nikolas Motta made him one of last night’s biggest winners.
Miller set a record for the most bouts in the promotion’s history with 39. The victory also gave him the most wins in the history of the lightweight division and the most finishes too. He also tied Donald Cerrone for the most wins (23) in the promotion’s history.
However, it’s the nature of the victory that was most impressive for ‘A-10’. Miller was clearly expected to attempt to take the dangerous Brazilian striker down. Instead, he fought fire with fire, stood with him, and ended up finishing him with a brutal right hand.
Quite how much longer Miller can continue to compete at this level is anyone’s guess. He has won his last two bouts, but before that, he appeared to be firmly on the way down, thanks to consecutive losses.
On his current form, though, he’s definitely more than a handful for any of the lower or mid-level fighters in this division. If he feels healthy enough, there’s no reason why he can’t fulfil his goal of competing at UFC 300 – whenever that show goes down.
#1. Jamahal Hill – defeated Johnny Walker in a UFC light heavyweight bout
It’s pretty easy to say that by anyone’s standards, Jamahal Hill was the biggest winner at last night’s UFC event. Not only did he pick up a huge knockout win over the dangerous Johnny Walker, but he also did it in his biggest spotlight yet.
‘Sweet Dreams’ wasn’t supposed to be in the main event spotlight. He was only thrust into the spot when the fight between Rafael Dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev had to be postponed.
However, the wild charisma possessed by him and Walker meant that the new headliner felt completely natural. When it came down to the fight, the two light heavyweights delivered in spades.
Both men went toe-to-toe, shrugging off their early caution. When they threw huge haymakers at the same time, it was Hill who landed first. He crushed Walker with a shot to the temple that stiffened him up, causing him to fall into the fence in comical fashion.
The win moved Hill’s overall record to 5-1 – ignoring a ridiculous overturned result for a positive marijuana test. It’s clear that with his range, knockout power and unorthodox skills, he’s one of the most dangerous 205 lbers in the promotion now.
Who should Hill face next? A clash with Dominick Reyes or Volkan Oezdemir might work. Nevertheless, it’d be a must-see fight based on this evidence. Overall, ‘Sweet Dreams’ was definitely last night’s biggest winner.
