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VIDEO: A spinning grenade, a knee and two exhibition kicks to the head! UFC 291 offered nine finishes, Pereira looks to challenge Prochazka

Since its announcement, UFC 291 has been seen as the strongest card of the year so far. The predictions were correct. Fantastic fights, many early finishes or name an opponent for Jiri Prochazka. It was all on display at another numbered gala.

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1 year ago

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Since its announcement, UFC 291 has been seen as the strongest card of the year so far. The predictions were correct. Fantastic fights, many early finishes or name an opponent for Jiri Prochazka. It was all on display at another numbered gala.

Prelims

Already the prelims card offered very interesting names. The whole tournament was opened by Miranda Maverick, who stayed in the cage until the third round, but in that round she delivered the first ending of the evening when she finished a successful armbar.

The second round already offered a bit more of a highlight moment. It was taken care of by Uros Medic, who defeated Matthew Semelsberger in the third round by first catching him with a spinning punch and then finishing what he started on the ground.

But the gala evening with its wonderful moments did not end there. On the contrary. The best was still to come. The third fight was dominated by Jake Matthews, who took Darrius Flowers in two rounds for a classic rear-naked choke.

What followed was a breathtaking moment that brought to mind the now legendary knockout by Leon Edwards, who finished Kamara Usman with a memorable highkick. It was imitated by Roman Kopylov.

This finish was delivered at 0:33 of the second round. The Russian fighter thus turns his record around after two losses at the start of his UFC career and has three wins in a row.

CJ Vergara and Vinicius Salvador were the standouts on the night, as their bout was one of two that ended on points. The former scored the win, as all the scoring judges saw it that way.

At the end of the prelims card we saw the first first round finish, courtesy of rising Brazilian star Gabriel Bonfim. He needed only one minute and 13 seconds to lose to Trevin Gilles via guillotine.

The main card

Holland’s display against Chiesa

The first fight of the main card delivered an outstanding spectacle. The always entertaining Kevin Holland took on Michael Chiesa, who despite a two year layoff was a top 12 welterweight. The former was the slight favourite.

And it really wasn’t boring. Holland showed great defense against takedowns, which he has obviously worked on, he was dangerous in the standup, and Chiesa didn’t like his punches. Then one knee landed to the head and Holland was able to go for the win.

He finished his opponent at the D’arce Choke in 2:39 of the first round. He claimed a move up the rankings and it will be interesting to see who the UFC assigns to his next fight.

Ferguson lost for the sixth straight time

Without two months almost a year later, Tony Ferguson has reappeared in the UFC cage. As an underdog, this legend and until recently one of the organization’s most feared fighters was challenged by Bobby Green.

It was a question of what form Ferguson would present himself in. He had five losses to his name, taking incredible blows in his fights with Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler in particular.

Green was a slight favourite, he may not be one of the top fighters in the UFC, but he has his quality and the scalp of Ferguson was a big motivation. Unfortunately for nostalgia lovers, Ferguson lost. Surprisingly on a submission with a few seconds left in the fight when he got put to sleep.

While Tony registered his sixth straight loss in the UFC and is beginning to wonder if the organization should release him for his own good, Bobby is enjoying his first ever win on a submission during his storied UFC career.

Lewis scores a finish along the lines of Masvidal

The third fight offered a heavyweight duel. Looking to snap a streak of three straight losses, slugger Derrick Lewis was challenged by Marcos Rogerio De Lima. And that the fans would have to wait a long time for the finish? No.

Lewis, as the division’s recent top contender, wasn’t waiting for anything. He landed a knee right after the fight started, added some hard punches on the ground, and it was over. The 38-year-old veteran notched his 18th win in the UFC, 14 of them by KO/TKO. Outstanding record.

Prochazka is likely to fight Pereira

Two former champions, one of whom was about to make his welterweight debut. Jan Blachowicz was looking to welcome his Brazilian rival in style, but Alex Pereira withstood a tough first round in which the Polish fighter dominated and attempted a choke, and then started to get going.

But it wasn’t a one-sided spectacle in the next two rounds either. Glover Teixeira’s charge looked fresher, but the Pole was still dangerous, plus he delivered a takedown in the third round despite being very tired.

The duel ended on points, and even the judges were not unanimous in the result. However, two saw Pereira win by the closest possible margin, only one saw Blachowicz win.

This means that Pereira will probably be the next opponent of Jiri Prochazka, with whom he could and should fight for the welterweight title.

Gaethje claimed the KO of the Year award

The BMF title fight closed out the main event. It featured two fantastic fighters who had a rematch. Dustin Poirier won in 2018, so now Justin Gaethje had something to give back. It was going to be a hell of a fight, but in the end it only lasted two rounds.

An attractive first round could have gone either way, with both fighters landing good shots, landing some nice combinations. But the second one lasted only a minute. Gaethje’s leg shot out and he was able to finish his star opponent with a kick like the aforementioned Edwards.

Source: UFC, Twitter, Tapology

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