There wasn’t too many big names on this card, it was a Fight Night after all. UFC305 Du Plessis vs. Adesanya is next Saturday, August 17th at RAC Arena in Perth. Australia. That leaves us here, with a true filler card.

Nonetheless, HERE. WE. GO!

Prelims

The prelims kicked off with a fight in the women’s strawweight division, between Stephanie Luciano and Talita Alencar. Alencar got to work early with a high kick straight to the dome of Luciano. It appeared to land clean but Luciano ate it with a grin. Talita stayed busy for much of the first but struggled to find the range with a huge disadvantage in both height and reach. Stephanie stayed on the outside and was precise in the little offense she threw. She did land a hard knee to the body of Alencar, but she seemed unfazed. Luciano landed another knee late in the round, that bloodied Alencar’s nose.

Alencar opens the round trying to secure a couple takedowns. The first ended right back on the feet and the second with a reversal by Luciano, who welcomed her opponent back to her feet. Started seeing a lot of swagger starting to show from this point from Stephanie. With Alencar expected to have the better grappling, I think the early wins in that department, for Luciano, gave her the confidence to start letting her limbs go.

Luciano floated around Alencar for the next round and a half, laughing at her, pointing at her, shrugging her off, and simply just playing with her food as she sniped her way to a unanimous decision. Stephanie Luciano is one to watch climb the ranks. Nice movement, precision striking, and loads of confidence.

Next we had a fight in the men’s featherweight division, between Youssef Zalal and Janro Errens. This was a quick one. Errens came out swinging with dangerous intentions, but the only thing he could find was air. Zalal was showing efficient movement.

We had an eye poke that caused a momentary stoppage, but it was all Zalal the action resumed. He secured the takedown, easily transition to the back and locked in the body triangle. Jarno stood up and it was a wrap, literally… Youssef Zalal, WINNER, by standing rear naked choke.

Let’s keep it moving. In the men’s heavyweight division, Brazilian Jhonata Diniz squared off against Karl Williams. Both guys came ready to bang, each wobbling the other in the first. Diniz getting the better of most exchanges, really knocking Williams equilibrium off a few time throughout the fight. The story of this one was Jhonata’s leg kicks though, he ate up Williams all night. He started mixing kicks high and low to end the second. Williams shows some fight in the third, after getting rocked by a head kick, wresting Diniz to the ground. Knowing he needed the finish, he just help him there, tried to flurry at the end, but too little, too late. Diniz wins by unanimous decision.

Featured Prelim

The women’s bantamweight fight between Karol Rosa and Pannie Kianzad was more interesting. It filled the featured prelim slot well, even though it was pretty lopsided. Kianzad came out energized but quickly became neutralized by the calf kicks of Rosa, she was landing them at will. Pannie had no answer, she tried to slide out of the way a bunch, but I guess she hasn’t been taught how to check? No clue, but she took what had to be over 50 leg kick over 3 rounds. Kianzad was compromised halfway through the first, but by the grace of Rosa, she managed to not get stopped. Karol looked good start to finish in this one, I’m a big fan of the leg kicks. She bloodied up Kianzad with elbows, cut her above the right eyes, and left her likely unable to walk for a couple days. Karol Rosa, WINNER, unanimous decision.

Main Card

Our first fight of the main card is a men’s bantamweight fight, between Toshiomi Kazama and Charalampos Grigoriou. It was clear from the start, the plan for Kazama was to take this one to the canvas. Kazama spent the better part of the first half of the round trying to drag his dance partner to the ground, up and down they went a few times. He then landed a knee to the head of Charalampos. He started to throw it when the hand was clearly down, but the review shows the hand just coming off the ground before the strike lands.

Toshiomi lost the position but that didn’t deter him, right back to the grappling. He turned into a spider monkey, took the back of Grigoriou and dragged him to the ground. Looked to transition to an armbar and got reverse, quickly getting back on top and finishing the round there.

Charalampos went out with reckless abandon in the second, not wanting to deal with the relentless takedown attempts from Kazama. It worked in his favor as he dropped his opponent. Grigoriou just guard and drops some heavy elbows, appearing to maybe knock Kazama unconscious a couple times. Toshiomi bides his time, let the cobwebs clear and let Grigoriou gas out. Kazama goes for the triangle choke…quick tap. Toshiomi Kazama, WINNER, triangle choke.

The next 3 fights were pretty uneventful. The first between Yana Santos and Chelsea Chandler in the women’s bantamweight division. Yana looked fast and strong throughout this one. Assortment of kicks, showed some power dropping Chelsea, and showed that she won’t be bullied by the bigger fighter (Chelsea missed weight for this bout). Good showing for her, Chandler never got anything going. Yana Santos, WINNER, unanimous decision.

The next fight between fellow bantamweights, Chris Gutierrez and Quang Le was back and forth. Le got the first takedown as he caught a kick from Chris, back to their feet pretty quick. Nice leg kicks and jabs from Gutierrez is the talk of the first round.

Le takes the second with some nice mixing of the strikes and multiple minutes of ground control time. But the third was again, uneventful. Lots of leg kicks and stuffed takedowns for Gutierrez who was the WINNER, by unanimous decision.

The welterweight fight between Danny Barlow and Nikolay Veretennikov was a snoozer with neither fight really wanting over the fight. Barlow landing the better shots throughout, but nothing to write home about in the split decision win for, Danny Barlow.

Co-Main

The co-main was a men’s featherweight bout between Damon Jackson and Chepe Mariscal. Jackson landed a bunch of beautiful knees throughout this entire match, even with all the clinching and control time, the knees win Jackson the first. Chepe takes the second with tons of pressure nice judo throws and some really nice ground and pound, some looking to land behind the head. Verbal warnings given but no stoppage in action. More clinching from Mariscal, pretty boring plan, but he followed it nonetheless. It leads him do a knee that drops Damon, leaving him compromised, but Chepe can’t secure the finish. He does however secure the win, via unanimous decision.

Now, for the moment I know you probably skipped too! Yup, the MAIN. EVENT. OF. THE. EVENING!

Main Event

Your main event is a rematch in the men’s heavyweight division between Marcin Tybura and Sergey Spivac

Sorry to disappoint, but this one was fast and we didn’t get to see much, y’all. Spivac opened and landed with a nice 2-1, stopping Tybura. Both men exchange leg kicks before Spivac easily gets Marcin to the ground and takes the back as they roll. Tybura reverses and ends up on top of Sergey.

We all saw it, but don’t think people thought he would go for it. Sergey shows off some damn good dexterity, especially for a big man, gets his hips up and rolls Tybura into a tight armbar and gets the quick first round finish. He’s finished 15 of his 17 professional wins.

Summary

As I started out saying, wasn’t much of a card to get excited about out, but I’d say there was some fighters who grew their stick in this one. For the inaugural “Miko’ Mover” award, the award I give to the up and comer who makes the biggest jump on my must watch list, I present Stephanie Luciano!

Spivac made such quick work of Tybura, who will surely relinquish that #8 ranking, I don’t think I need to see that trilogy any time soon. What say you? Let me know in the comments!