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#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.
