So much for the best-conceived plans, huh?
The UFC learned this firsthand in its Saturday broadcast from the Apex facility, which missed its main event about 30 minutes before the main card at 4 p. m. And.
Former heavyweight challenger Derrick Lewis got rid of a five-round scheduled bout against Serghei Spivac “due to illness,” according to the UFC, which boosted a 205-pound co-starring potential between Kennedy Nzechukwu and Ion Cutelaba to the most sensible spot.
“We have bad news to share with you,” Brendan Fitzgerald said slowly on ESPN. “Our biggest event to oppose Derrick Lewis and Serghei Spivac. There’s a disease that’s not COVID or weight loss on Derrick Lewis’ side. “So our big occasion today has been cancelled. You hate to see it. “
Despite the promotion, the soft heavyweights remained locked in for two rounds.
Fitzgerald, Michael Bisping and Paul Felder occupied the announcers’ desk for ESPN’s production, while Heidi Androl worked in the room for the latest news and feature films. The definitive list of the real winners and losers of the program.
Scroll down to see what we discovered and leave an idea or two in the comments.
He had not planned a position at the big event.
But that didn’t stop Kennedy Nzechukwu from offering functionality at the big event.
The 30-year-old Nigerian-born light heavyweight had a short-term hand-to-hand combat contract and was battling Ion Cutelaba in the first round of his bout. However, he returned to his corner, listened to his recommendation of the team and temporarily put an end to things at the entrance of the moment.
“We made the right adjustments,” he said. I wasn’t in a position [when I came to the UFC], but I’m developing in the cage. “
The recommendation between rounds came in the form of an exhortation to use your knees by jumping in front of Cutelaba, an already heavy wrestling foe who was emboldened by his early success.
He stepped forward with his sights set on converting grades when Nzechukwu delivered a left knee at the exact moment that hit him on the right side of the head and left him reeling.
A belt-low shot from Nzechukwu followed in a subsequent exchange, but Nzechukwu rejected referee Keith Peterson’s offer for a break and connected on another knee that left Cutelaba nearly helpless from the more than 12-hit volley that rained down before Peterson intervened at 1:02. . of the second.
“It was wild,” Bisping said, “it was a beating. It all started with the flying knee. The incredible moment. “
The winner, who stepped up to 11-3 overall and 5-3 in the UFC, said his coach used code “second-round Texas” to hint it was time to deliver the decisive blow that after all sent Cutelaba to his third straight loss and lowered his octagonal record to 5-8-1 since 2016.
“When he threw me to the ground, I didn’t panic,” Nzechukwu said. “I knew I had to paint from there and recover. He called him [knee] in the back room. “
Bisping was obviously inspired by what he had seen of Jack Della Maddalena.
“This kid is a special talent,” the UFC Hall of Fame said. “The strength in those hands is at the next level. He’s in a position for something bigger right now. “
Given the functionality of Australian welterweight, it is not hyperbolic.
Della Maddalena ruled each and every moment of a brief important card match with Danny Roberts, connecting 33 of his 60 vital moves and knocking out his octagonal veteran opponent just 3:24 of the first round.
It’s the 26-year-old’s thirteenth straight win since the start of his career with two losses in 2016 and the third straight promotion since leaving Dana White’s Contender series in 2021.
Roberts, 35, has fallen to 7-6 in the UFC since 2015.
He has an overall record of 18-7 as a professional, but 5-6 since his debut at 13-1 through April 2016.
“Every challenge is different, and I will wait for one fight at a time,” the winner said, responding to Bisping’s query about calling up a ranked fighter. “I’m in a position to go back to Australia and have another fight [at UFC 284, scheduled for February in Perth]. To the first user they give me, I will probably say yes and follow my joyful path. “
Fitzgerald called it a “very fight. “
Bisping, laughing, called him “crazy. “
But whatever the express description, it would be an exaggeration to recommend that the three-way fit between Charles Johnson and Zhalgas Zhumagulov was, to say the least, unusual.
Flyweights were increased to the opening range of the main card after the Lewis-Spivac match was abandoned, and were combined with convincing actions intermittently amid delays due to a myriad of fouls that included staring duels and groin punches.
Zhumagulov visited a doctor after being shot in the eye early on. He then looked like he was about to give up in the first minute of round 3 after a low blow blocked the fight for over a minute. However, he kept going. , and Johnson temporarily shook off a blank kick to his opponent’s right knee after the touchdown.
Johnson spent the next few seconds standing as Zhumagulov advanced, but the first nevertheless regained sensation in his leg after several blows to the canvas.
“He’s 5’4, I’m 5’9,” Johnson said, downplaying the fouls and claiming the knee kick had touched a nerve. “It froze for a second, but I shook it and kept going. .
“This is the fight. That’s what we’re doing. “
He reached the last horn and was temporarily rewarded with a split resolution, garnering two 29-28 verdicts in his favor to void a block, even though Zhumagulov scored bigger moves and scored the only withdrawal of the fight.
The Kazakhstan venue stared at the announced resolution and slightly expressed Johnson’s conciliatory handshake. The winner, meanwhile, sought out UFC executive Mick Maynard and advocated for a busy long-term schedule.
“Put me here as much as you can,” he said. Me to fight the best. “
Official record will show bantamweight Miles Johns winning his first bout on the banner of his new educational team at Glory MMA in Kansas City, Missouri.
But just because the 28-year-old controlled a win over Vince Morales in his 3 rounds on the opening card doesn’t mean it went as planned.
Johns said he entered the fight two weeks ago and was ready for it by converting his home base and moving his circle of family across the country to work out at the much-heralded gym run by former UFC competitor James Krause.
And then, less than 24 hours before the first moves were released, Krause left.
“My coach, last night at the table, pulled out,” Johns told Bisping on the show, “and they said the UFC postponed it so he couldn’t be here in my corner. “
Instead, Johns was cornered through his father and brother, and ESPN Chalk David Purdum took to Twitter and said several appeals claimed the UFC had denied Krause’s credentials.
“Krause, a known bettor,” Purdum tweeted, “in the corner of a Cinco de Noviembre bout that was reported as a suspicious bet and is under investigation. “
The initial modified part of the map included 3 of the six women’s fights, and they are more likely to be among the ones other people will talk about in the future.
Flyweight Natalia Silva delivered a memorable finish in the first fight outside the parachute, running through two tactical rounds against Tereza Bleda before piercing the former Czech export undefeated with a setback that gave her an end shortly after in 1:27 of the third.
The shot caught on Bleda’s chin and stuck in his throat and was only the fifth time in the promotion’s history that a bout ended with a kick to the head.
It was Bleda’s first loss after six professional wins, adding one in the UFC, while Silva stepped up to 14-5-1 overall and saw his winning streak increase to 8 fights.
It’s a more modest winning streak for Vanessa Demopoulos at just 3 games in a row, but the Ohio-born strawweight nonetheless continued a stupendous rise with a frantic 3-round resolution against Brazilian muay Thai star Maria Oliveira.
Nicknamed the “little monster,” Demopolous outplayed his tallest and longest opponent in the first two rounds with a productive floor punch, then defended on the canvas in the third as Oliveira pressed hard to stop him standing.
Demopoulos jumped into Bisping’s arms when he finished his post-fight interview, following a trend he had with Joe Rogan after Silvana Gomez Juarez finished at UFC 270.
Main card
Kennedy Nzechukwu defeat. Ion Cutelaba KO (knee), 1:02, Round 2
Defeats of Waldo Cortés-Acosta. Chase Sherman by unanimous resolution (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Muslim heartbeat Salikhov. Andre Fialho by KO (kick), 1:03, Round 3
Late Jack Della Maddalena. Danny Roberts by KO (punches), 3:24, Round 1
Charles Johnson won. Zhalgas Zhumagulov through split resolution (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Preliminary map
Jennifer Maia won. Maryna Moroz by unanimous resolution (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Beats of Miles Johns. Vince Morales by unanimous resolution (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Late Ricky Turcios. Kevin Natividad via split resolution (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Vanessa Demopoulos beats. Maria Oliveira by unanimous resolution (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Late Brady Hiestand. Fernie Garcia by unanimous resolution (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Natalia Silva beats. Tereza Bleda by KO (kick return), 1:27, Round 3
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