UFC 208 wasn't the most action-packed card, but it did provide some memorable moments Saturday night at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The night produced the crowning of the first ever women's featherweight champion in Germaine de Randamie, as the Dutch kickboxer beat Holly Holm via unanimous decision in a close bout. MMAjunkie provided the final scores in a tight bout.
With such a close decision, refereeing played a role in this fight. Twice de Randamie threw punches after the bell, landing a serious right hand the first time after Round 2 and failing to connect with anything in Round 3. Still, no points were deducted despite the event happening twice.
As Jon Anik noted via Ariel Helwani, a deducted point for either event would have triggered a draw:
Despite the controversy, the UFC named a new champion and de Randamie didn't just make history as the first champion of the division, but also joined an elite club of two Dutch mixed martial artists, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Between the bells de Randamie had her way in the striking game. While Holm was active on the outside de Randamie consistently landed destructive counter right hands. The UFC provided a perfect example for the second round:
After the bout, de Randamie addressed the fighter that was on everyone's mind during this fight: Cris "Cyborg" Justino. The former Strikeforce star was in attendance for the fight and de Randamie experessed interest in a future fight with the MMA star:
The set up to a future championship fight between de Randamie and Cyborg wasn't all that went down. UFC 208 was a somewhat bizarre card, but there were some redeeming qualities to be found including the potential last fight for Anderson Silva and several ranked fighters in action.
Here's a quick look at the results and closer look at each of the main card fights.
- Germaine de Randamie def. Holly Holm by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
- Anderson Silva def. Derek Brunson by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Ronaldo Souza def. Tim Boetsch via submission (kimura) at 3:41 of the first round
- Glover Teixeira def. Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
- Dustin Poirier def. Jim Miller by majority decision (30-27, 28-28, 29-28)
- Belal Muhammad def. Randy Brown by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Wilson Reis def. Ulka Sasaki by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Islam Makhachev def. Nik Lentz by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-27)
- Rick Glenn def. Phillipe Nover by split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
- Ryan LaFlare def. Roan Carneiro by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 29-28)
Anderson Silva vs. Derek Brunson
Although it was headlined by a UFC title fight, UFC 208 might just be remembered for Anderson Siva's final fight. The former middleweight kingpin flirted with retirement after defeating Derek Brunson via unanimous decision.
If Silva does decide to walk away from the sport at 41 years old, this decision might be considered a retirement gift.
This was a fight marked by sporadic action and although the rounds were close, there were those who felt the fight was closer than the scorecards indicated. Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting especially took umbrage with the 30-27 scorecard in favor of The Spider:
The performance had flecks of vintage Silva, but not much of the magic that used to make him the pound-for-pound king of MMA. Brunson, however, was able to find succes in multiple aspects of the fight including consistently landing hard punches in the clinch.
In the end, it wasn't enough for the judges to give him the decision. The Spider's bursts weren't consistent, but were effective enough to steal some rounds.
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Tim Boetsch
After seven consecutive decisions to start the card, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza got the first finish of the night when he finished Tim Boetsch via submission in the first round.
Coming into the fight as the massive favorite, Jacare was in a tough situation. A win was expected, but a loss would have been devastating to his title hopes. Once the fight hit the mat, there was no doubt the end was near.
Souza effortlessly passed into mount then locked up a kimura that forced the tap and drew the end of the fight. As Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie noted, it put the criminally underrated Souza third on the list of all-time stoppage wins in Strikeforce and UFC history:
After the win he wasted no time in calling out current middleweight champion Michael Bisping:
It's getting harder and harder to deny that Souza is deserving of a title shot. He is 7-1 since making the move to the UFC from Strikforce with six of those wins coming some form of finish.
That's the kind of streak that is hard to ignore and it won't be surprising to see if Souza's next fight is for the strap.
Jared Cannonier vs. Glover Teixeira
In case you were wondering if Jared Cannonier was ready to take on the upper echelon of light heavyweight contenders Glover Teixeira answered your question on Saturday night. The Brazilian manhandled Cannonier for all three rounds to pick up the unanimous decision victory.
Cannonier—who was making just his second appearance in the light heavyweight division—had his moments. He was able to rock Teixeira at the end of the first frame, but in the end the veteran's jiu-jitsu game was simply too much.
It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. Teixeira certainly didn't create many highlights in dominating the fight from top position, but he did show that he's still capable of dominating against lesser competition.
He also succeeded in setting another prospect back in the light heavyweight division, as noted by Chad Dundas of Bleacher Report:
It was also an important bounce back win for Teixeira after losing in 13 seconds to Anthony Johnson his last time out. Recovering from that loss to earn a title shot will require more than a win over Cannonier, but it's a step in the right direction.
Dustin Poirier vs. Jim Miller
The UFC couldn't have picked a better matchup to kick off the pay-per-view portion of the card than the lightweight scrap between Jim Miller and Dustin Poirier.
The two 155-pounders are known for putting on exciting fights and they didn't disappoint when paired up. The fight included many exciting exchanges, including this one the UFC posted:
Overall, Poirier's striking proved to be an advantage. He was able to land the cleaner, more effective punches more often than not in the exchanges. But Miller's toughness was on display as he absorbed everything Diamond threw at him and continued to bite down on his mouthpiece and return fire.
Miller himself had some success with heavy leg kicks to the lead leg of Miller, but was unable to turn that into anything other than a major inconvenience for Poirier.
Miller's performance was enough for one judge to see the bout as a 28-28 draw, but the other two judges each gave Poirier the nod to cap an exciting kickoff to the rest of the evening.
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