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

#3 Best: The sheer violence of the prelims

All of UFC 244's prelims - including Shane Burgos vs. Makwan Amirkhani - were fantastic

UFC 244’s main card was a mixed bag; the fights between Darren Till and Kelvin Gastelum, and Derrick Lewis and Blagoy Ivanov had their moments, but they were still somewhat slow, meaning the pay-per-view was largely saved by the other three fights. The prelims, though? They were absolutely fantastic.

We started things with red-hot Heavyweight contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik destroying former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski with a clean left hook, showing scary power and timing in one package.

Next came an eye-opening knockout from Edmen Shahbazyan, as he took out Brad Tavares with a head kick, affirming himself as perhaps the hottest prospect to watch right now at 185lbs.

We’ve already mentioned the exciting fight between Corey Anderson and Johnny Walker, but perhaps the best prelim on offer was the Featherweight clash between Shane Burgos and Makwan Amirkhani. ‘Mr Finland’ came out aggressively and took the fight to Burgos – almost submitting him with a choke – but Burgos managed to weather the storm and then took over with his violent striking style, finally putting a cap on things by finishing him in the third round.

If there’s been a better set of televised prelims in 2019, I can’t remember them. Anyone watching on ESPN2 was treated to some insane action last night, and the UFC has to be happy too – this was the perfect lead-in to one of their biggest cards.