The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 134

UFC Fight Night 134 from Hamburg, Germany, was hardly 2018’s most anticipated card going in. Low on name value from the off, it also saw both its main event and co-main event changed due to injuries, and for the most part was filled with fights that didn’t exactly pique the imagination.

With cards like these, the best that fans can really hope for is a bunch of exciting fights and fun finishes, and unfortunately yesterday’s show didn’t really deliver that.

There were a couple of high points, but they were buried in the mire for the most part. Here are the best and worst moments from Fight Night 134 – unfortunately a card so un-memorable there’s only two of each.

#1 Best: Smith freshens up the 205lbs division

Two big wins at 205lbs have Anthony Smith on the verge of title contention

Last night’s main event was supposed to see former UFC and PRIDE champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua facing off against recent title challenger Volkan Oezdemir, but instead, Shogun found himself faced with Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith, who was coming off a knockout of another former UFC champion in Rashad Evans. Given Smith’s spotty record, this looked like a chance for Shogun to inexplicably find himself back in title contention.

It wasn’t to be as Smith absolutely destroyed the Brazilian, stunning him with a front kick to the jaw and then knocking him unconscious with a barrage of violent punches and elbows. It was the biggest win of Smith’s career by far, and although it’s hard to call him a legitimate title threat given Evans and Rua are both inching towards retirement (Evans has in fact retired since), Light-Heavyweight is a thin enough division that another win could see Smith capture a remarkable title shot.

Smith has some really bad-sounding losses on his record and was knocked out by Thiago Santos at Middleweight as recently as February, but we’ve seen in the past that a move up in weight can change a fighter’s career trajectory – don’t forget that current Middleweight champ Robert Whittaker lost two of his last three fights at Welterweight, and Alistair Overeem was very inconsistent at 205lbs before his move to Heavyweight.

If nothing else, Smith is now a man to watch at 205lbs and in a thin division, that’s only a good thing.

#1 Worst: 10 decisions?

The show was full of dull fights like Stefan Struve vs. Marcin Tybura

The UFC Fight Night series on Fox Sports 1 in the US already has a bad reputation for being a slog to get through, largely due to the poor pacing from the channel as they attempt to cram in as many commercials as possible. Last night’s show though was a slog for an entirely different reason – namely nine of the ten televised fights going the distance.

I’m not saying that a fight needs a violent finish to be entertaining – in fact, the majority of fights that are recognised as classics – Griffin vs. Bonnar, Rua vs. Henderson to name two – went to the judge’s scorecards. But last night’s show was crammed full of dull decisions, ones where the result never seemed in doubt and yet the winning fighter just couldn’t do enough to pick up a finish.

Sure, Nasrat Haqparast vs. Marc Diakiese and Danny Roberts vs. David Zawada weren’t bad fights, but let’s be honest, nobody is going to remember Glover Teixeira vs. Corey Anderson, Stefan Struve vs. Marcin Tybura and Vitor Miranda vs. Abu Azaitar in a couple of weeks, are they?

When a show is as low on name value as this one, the last thing you want is a long stretch of decisions. Fight Night 134 ended up tying the record for most decisions on any UFC card, and that made it a challenging watch.

#2 Best: Grant vanishes inside The Bermudez Triangle

Manny Bermudez used his trademark triangle choke to finish Davey Grant

The Bantamweight fight between Davey Grant and Manny Bermudez was relegated to the Fight Pass prelims and thus was largely flying under the radar, but given Grant usually puts on exciting fights and Bermudez looked like a prospect to watch after winning his debut impressively, perhaps more focus should’ve gone on it.

As it turned out, outside of Anthony Smith’s knockout in the main event, Bermudez was probably the most impressive fighter on this card. He dropped Grant with a right hand within seconds of the fight beginning, instantly pounced on the downed Brit and slapped on a mounted triangle choke before rolling over to tighten it to force a tapout.

Bermudez has the nickname ‘The Bermudez Triangle’ and right now he’s living up to it – his last four fights have been finished by that particular submission technique. And given he’s now 13-0 with just two of those wins going the distance, he’s clearly a man to watch at 135lbs. Expect the UFC to give him a major promotional push next time around.

#2 Worst: Marc Diakiese might be a busted prospect

Is Marc Diakiese now a busted prospect?

Just over a year ago, British striker Marc ‘Bonecrusher’ Diakiese was considered one of the best prospects on the UFC roster. At that stage he was 3-0 in the UFC, had moved to the US to train with American Top Team, was coming off one of the best knockouts of 2017 over Teemu Packalen, and had signed a new, lucrative contract with the promotion. A loss last July to Drakkar Klose was a tough pill to swallow, but most expected him to bounce back.

Unfortunately, a year on from the loss to Klose, it looks like Diakiese is a busted prospect on the level of a Brandon Thatch or Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. He looked painfully outgunned in a December loss to Dan Hooker and was dispatched via guillotine choke, and last night’s loss to Nasrat Haqparast was arguably even more disappointing.

Haqparast – looking like a miniature Kelvin Gastelum – simply gave Diakiese no respect at all, walking through his strikes to deliver clubbing blows of his own, and by the end of the second round it looked like the Brit was being hurt in every exchange, and struggled to get to his feet following the buzzer.

It was a good win for Haqparast but it could well be the end of the line for Diakiese in the UFC, which is absolutely sad. He’s clearly a fantastic athlete who has a lot of potential, but it looks like he can’t cope with an opponent who’s willing to pressure him hard. If he can close that hole in his game then there’s a chance for him still, but right now it isn’t looking good.