The UFC returned to Florida tonight as some of the best fighters in the world came to Jacksonville for UFC 273. The event was headlined by two championship bouts, but it was the earlier fights that stole the show, including an instant classic between two of the best in the welterweight division.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the night and break down the three fights we looked at in our UFC 273 preview.
Prelim Highlights
In one of the first fights of the night, Mike Malott impressed in his UFC debut by knocking out veteran Mickey Gall. Malott picked Gall apart on the feet, landing punch after punch as Gall really didn’t show any head movement. Gall did manage to get in a few good shots himself though and seemingly broke Malott’s nose. However, with a little over a minute to go in first round, Malott caught Gall with a left hook while he was moving forward and dropped him, ending the fight almost instantly. It was as good a debut as Malott could hope for.
In a meeting of ranked women’s bantamweights, Raquel Pennington got the better of Aspen Ladd in a hard fought battle that went the distance. Ladd was the aggressor but it was Pennington who was landing more with her counters. She also did a great job of defending Ladd’s relentless takedown attempts and even when she did end up on the mat, she managed to defend and work her way back to her feet. Ladd controlled the third round but it wasn’t enough to get the decision and instead it was Pennington who picked up the win after taking the fight on just nine-days notice.
In an early Fight of the Night candidate, middleweights Anthony Hernandez and Josh Fremd went back and forth in an all out war. In the first round, Hernandez looked to overwhelm the newcomer early with relentless pressure, and while he weathered the early storm, Fremd was eventually put on his back and controlled. Then, in the second round, Fremd turned the tables and put Hernandez on his back for the majority of the round. In the third though, Hernandez took over once again and controlled the round. Even in the loss though, it was an impress UFC debut for Fremd, who managed to escape what felt like a dozen tight submission attempts from Hernandez and took the fight the distance, where Hernandez was awarded the decision.
One of the best up-and-comers in the sport, Ian Garry, put on a strong showing once again against Darian Weeks. It wasn’t the typical blowout victory we’ve seen from Garry before, but it was good to see him overcome some adversity as Weeks really pushed him in the early going. Eventually though, Garry’s striking advantage really shined through and he managed to chip away at Weeks en route to a decision victory, improving his record to a still perfect 9-0.
Main Card Highlights
The opening fight of the main card saw technical battle between Mark O. Madsen and Vinc Pichel that resulted in a decision victory for Madsen. The olympic wrestler looked to have improved his striking game, landing some strong leg kicks as well as a few good punches in the early going. Pichel though opened up in the second, landing some good strikes of his own and even managed to take Madsen down for the first time inside the octagon. Madsen score a takedown of his own early in the third though and held Pichel down for the duration of the fight to lock up the win.
Ranked women’s strawweights Tecia Torres and Mackenzie Dern put on a show in the next contest, with each fighter showing off some really impressive techniques. Torres landed some big strikes in the first including a couple of strong tae kwon do-style side kicks to the body in the first round. In the second, Dern showed why she is one of the most feared grapplers in the sport, getting Torres in some really dangerous positions as she looked for a variety of submissions. Torres defended perfectly though and got to a third round where we saw both fighters throw everything they had left, resulting in a pretty epic battle. They fought to a split decision which went in Dern’s favor, but certainly could have gone either way.
Khamzat Chimaev def. Gilbert Burns
The energy in the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena took a big step up for this one. Chimaev has quickly built a reputation as one of the sport’s biggest stars and everyone knew this was going to be his biggest test to date. Chimaev said he wanted to be tested and Burns obliged in a big way. It looked early on like this was going to be another one-sided victory for Chimaev as he pressured Burns, scored a takedown and dragged him across the mat. Burns turned the tide though and held his own on the feet, even dropping Chimaev late in the second round with a huge right hand. The crowd kept the energy up for the whole fight and both guys really seemed to feed off of that as they both looked exhausted in the third round but never stopped throwing, putting on an incredible show. After three rounds, Chimaev earned a very hard-fought decision victory. Khamsat Chimaev is for real and the rest of the welterweight division has been put on notice. We could be talking about a fight between him and Kamaru Usman soon.
My pick: Chimaev via 2nd round knockout
Result: Chimaev vis decision
Aljamain Sterling def. Petr Yan
The first time these two met, the result was a disqualification due to an illegal knee. Prior to that though, Yan controlled the fight and appeared to be way ahead on the scorecards. Tonight was a very different story. The two fought a very close round but in the second, Sterling scored a takedown and took Yan’s back. Yan defended well but was never able to shake Sterling off of him. That was punctuated by Sterling doing the exact same thing early in the third and controlling that whole round. Yan turned the tides in the fourth though and beat Sterling on the feet while also finding himself in some advantageous positions on the floor. He then managed to keep that going in a much closer 5th round. They fought to what was sure to be a very close decision and after one of the most tense decision announcements in recent memory, Sterling was crowned the undisputed bantamweight champion and I’ve never been happier to be wrong with my pick.
My pick: Yan via 4th round knockout
Result: Sterling via decision
Alexander Volkanovski def. Chan Sung Jung
Jung has a big fanbase as he has been a very exciting fighter for years now. Volkanovski has been a dominant champion and hasn’t lost a fight in years. Both of those things are great, but one of them puts a fighter in a different class and it was clear from the jump that Volkanovski was the stronger of these two fighters. He was able to land a bunch of crisp combinations at will and credit to Jung as he was able to withstand the champ’s shots but that’s not enough to win a fight. Volkanovski dropped him in the third round and landed some big shots on the floor but Jung survived the barrage and made it out of the round. The commentary team began to question whether or not he should come out for the fourth round, but you don’t earn a nickname like “Korean Zombie” by giving up. Early in the fourth though, Volkanovski began teeing off again and referee Herb Dean wasted no time putting a stop to the fight. It’s another dominant performance for the champ and 21 wins in a row. It’s hard to imagine there being a challenger left that can really give him a hard time.
My pick: Volkanovski via decision
Result: Volkanovski via 4th round knockout
The UFC will return to ESPN on Saturday, April 16th for UFC Fight Night: Luque vs. Muhammad. Be sure to check back for a preview of the event.