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#4. Davey Grant deals with Louis Smolka in the night’s best fight overall
Last night’s ‘Fight of the Night’ award went to Katlyn Chookagian and Amanda Ribas, but while that clash was decent enough, it’s arguable that the bout which produced the most explosive action was Davey Grant vs. Louis Smolka.
However, the likelihood is that the UFC didn’t go with that fight primarily because it was somewhat one-sided in Grant’s favor. Smolka hung tough, but always looked outgunned by his British foe, and in the end, it came as no surprise to see him put away in the third round.
The first round saw Grant do the majority of his damage, as he hurt the Hawaiian with some nasty calf kicks and then dropped him with a stiff jab. Smolka’s toughness allowed him to hang in there and survive the stanza.
‘The Last Samurai’ did a little better in the second round, as despite eating more clean strikes, he was able to take Grant down and attempt a couple of submissions on ‘Dangerous Davey’, although he did not come close to finishing.
In the third round, though, Grant got back to business – and when he dropped Smolka with another low kick, he was quick to pounce, knocking him completely out with an explosive combination of punches on the ground.
#3. Ryan Spann gets back into UFC title contention with a quick submission
When he took out Misha Cirkunov with a flurry of punches just over a year ago, it looked like Ryan Spann would quickly make his way into contention for the UFC light-heavyweight title. ‘Superman’ was 5-1 in the octagon, had finished three of his opponents, and looked like a red-hot prospect.
A bad loss last September to Anthony Smith threatened to completely derail him, though, and in the eyes of many fans, the bloom was off his rose. However, after last night, it’s safe to say that Spann should be considered back in UFC title contention.
In what was a wild – and admittedly, sloppy – fight, ‘Superman’ was able to take out the dangerous Ion Cutelaba, latching onto a high-angled guillotine choke to force him to tap out after some truly frenetic action.
This was the very definition of an explosive submission as there was hardly any set-up; Spann simply pounced on Cutelaba’s neck as he stood, locked up the choke and violently forced him onto his back for the tapout.
Detractors would probably say that Cutelaba played into Spann’s hands with his tactics, but even so, ‘Superman’ dealt with a very difficult opponent in impressive fashion here, and should be rewarded with another big fight next time out.
