The best and worst from UFC 222

#1 Worst: Soukhamthath snatches defeat from the jaws of victory

Andre Soukhamthath threw away a chance to finish Sean O'Malley

The UFC will likely be thankful for a few things after UFC 222, and one of them is likely the poor fight IQ of Andre Soukhamthath. Hot prospect Sean O’Malley was clearly the man who the promotion were getting behind going into the fight between the two last night, and for the first two rounds, O’Malley lived up to his end of the bargain by thoroughly dominating Soukhamthath in all areas.

In the third round though, a head kick thrown by O’Malley didn’t quite land cleanly and caused what appeared to be a serious injury to his right leg. O’Malley couldn’t even put his full weight on the leg and seemed ripe for the picking from Soukhamthath.

But rather than look to finish him on the feet – or simply back off to allow the referee to spot O’Malley’s injury, which would’ve forced a stoppage, he instead took him down – twice – and rode out the fight from top position.

Naturally, O’Malley picked up a unanimous decision due to his dominant first two rounds, and in a comical scene, was interviewed by Joe Rogan while lying on the ground having his injured leg treated. It was a well-earned win, but realistically, Soukhamthath threw the fight away by going for those takedowns and not capitalizing on O’Malley’s injury.

Quite what he was thinking we’ll probably never know, but he’s only got himself to blame for this loss. Sure, he was overmatched from the start – O’Malley looks like a fantastic prospect to watch – but in MMA you have to snatch up any opportunity given to you and Soukhamthath simply didn’t do that last night.