The best and worst from UFC 244: Masvidal vs. Diaz

#2 Best: The tremendous Thompson vs. Luque fight

Stephen Thompson's fight with Vicente Luque was tremendous

When UFC President Dana White announced the bonus awards for this show it came as no surprise to hear that the Welterweight bout between Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque had been awarded as Fight of the Night, netting both combatants an extra $50,000.

Sure, there were a lot of great stoppages on this card, but this fight was clearly the best on offer in Madison Square Garden.

Luque actually started off quickly, hitting ‘Wonderboy’ with some excellent leg kicks and even stunning him with some punches, but once the fight went into the second round, Thompson appeared to find his range, and then he really took over. Luque was knocked down and badly hurt in both the second and third round, but ‘The Silent Assassin’ hung tough and continued to fire back.

Try as he might though he couldn’t catch ‘Wonderboy’ cleanly, and the fight ended with Thompson’s hand raised. This was a big win for him – his first since his victory over Jorge Masvidal in 2017, coincidentally also in Madison Square Garden – and those fans who were writing him off as a relevant contender at 170lbs can think again.

As for Luque, he’ll undoubtedly bounce back; he showed himself to be tough as nails and Thompson was always a bad stylistic match for him, but he probably gained a bunch of fans with this performance regardless. Basically this was win/win for everyone.