11 games, 8 early finishes and some great battles! Volkanovski knows the name of his next challenger. What did the UFC on Long Island look like?

UFC on European time? Not very common, however, on Saturday it happened. While it wasn’t a numbered tournament, it was still a very attractive card to watch. The main event seemed to decide the next challenger to champion Alexander Volkanovski, with Michelle Waterson and Miesha Tate in action.

Prelims

The Prelims card may not have been very interesting to the casual viewer through the names, however the quality of the matches was of a good standard right from the start. However, the first premature ending wasn’t seen until the third bout.

In the first bout, Emily Ducote defeated Jessica Penne by unanimous decision on points. It should be mentioned that while Penne may have been hurt by the defeat, it was certainly more so than her left leg, which her opponent kicked badly.

The second bout was dominated on points by Dustin Stoltzfus, who took on Dwight Grant, who showed him what exemplary takedowns are supposed to look like.

The third bout brought the first early finish, taken care of by Dustin Jacoby, who defeated Da Un Jung in the first round.

The fourth duel of the card offered some drama. Although Bill Algeo won that one, he had his work cut out for him to prevent Herbert Burns from beating him on a submission. Algeo himself, however, entertained the crowd and won by TKO in the second round.

The penultimate bout of the prelims card did not end on points either. Ricky Simon took Jack Shore to the submission in the second round.

Punahele Soriano and Dalcha Lungiambula provided the last fight. Following the pattern of the previous duels, this one ended prematurely, again in the second round.

The main card

Murphy dominated the girls’ war to start, Burgos showed a hard chin

Right from the start of the main card, we got to see the top of women’s MMA. Former champion Miesha Tate, looking to make one more run at the UFC title, challenged women’s flyweight number three Lauren Murphy. However, she pulled the short end of the stick throughout the fight and deservedly lost on points.

Murphy had the upper hand in all the rounds and it also took its toll on Tate’s face, who lost her second fight in a row.

The second main card bout was the imaginary dark horse on the card and lived up to its billing. While the first two rounds were entertaining, Shane Burgos had the upper hand. However, in the third round he proved he could take an incredible amount of punches.

While the first two rounds were fairly even on strikes, the third round was clearly dominated by Charles Jourdain as he landed over 90 significant strikes. Two judges saw Burgess win on points, one saw a draw.

Schnell had an epic turnaround, Jingliang modestly emulated him

The match of the night? One of the best, for sure. Matt Schnell took on the first Tibetan in the UFC, Sumudaerji. The first round already suggested we had something to look forward to, but the second round was absolutely phenomenal.

Sumudaerji was destroying his opponent in the standup. He was able to roll him up and send him to the ground a few times, but due to the difference in his ground skills, he didn’t have the courage to go to the ground to finish him. And he could only regret it later.

For Schnell performed an awesome reversal when he got Sumudaerji to the ground, got into a full mount and unleashed an avalanche of punches. He opened up the Tibetan like a can of worms. And that he managed to turn the position around? The American deployed a triangle and put him to sleep. Excellent show.

Just as Schnell had done to turn the match around, so did Ji Jingliang, but in a much more modest version. Muslim Salikhov was clearly the better man in the first round, faster, hitting better. The Chinese couldn’t find a recipe for him.

But in the second round something seemed to change. Jingliang improved his accuracy and shook Salikhov a couple of times before finally sending him to the ground where he was able to finish his turn in peace.

Waterson fell again

The main preliminary bout of the evening featured another of the icons and breakthrough fighters of women’s MMA, the popular Michelle Waterson, taking on Amanda Lamos, one of the most dangerous fighters in the UFC.

The Brazilian had the height advantage, and it was clear that she was better in terms of strength as well. So Waterson kept a lot of distance in the first round, trying to threaten mainly with her kicks and not get hit. She did that well. In addition, she took the fight to the ground and kept it there until almost the end of the round.

Waterson had the same tactics in the second round, however, a takedown attempt cost her the win. Indeed, Lamos quickly registered the attempt and once she defended it, she grabbed a guillotine, which she only released when the former Invicta champion tapped out. The Brazilian is back on a winning streak as the American lost for the second straight time.

Volkanovski will challenge Rodriguez

It was supposed to be a spectacular fight, all UFC fans were looking forward to it. Both Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez are among the most attractive fighters not only in their weight class.

At the same time, the fight was about who would be the next challenger to the undefeated Alexander Volkanovski. Ortega would be fighting him for the second time, and for Rodriguez it would be his first ever title fight.

Once the fight began, neither fighter was waiting for anything. They both went all in and it was a great show. Unfortunately, it lasted just over four minutes and ended in the worst possible way – injury.

Rodriguez attempted a submission and Ortega dislocated his shoulder trying to get out of it. He was therefore unable to continue the fight. Both fighters agreed to a rematch, no matter how Rodriguez’s fight with the champion Volkanovski turns out.

Source: UFC, Twitter