Recap: UFC: Brunson v Shahbazyan

Recap: UFC: Brunson v Shahbazyan

Brunson v Shahbazyan: Derek proved all the haters wrong last night. The Derek that ran at Whittaker like a wild man and got KO'd is a thing of the past. He showed patience and mixed up his strikes with takedowns beautifully. It was his best overall performance of his career inside the octagon. His coach for the past couple of fights, Henri Hooft, is in the top two coaches in MMA right now next to Trevor Wittman. He never tries to reinvent a fighter but rather add some skills and techniques that will raise their game to the next level. Edmen will learn from this. He started to gas after the first round and it was pretty much over after that. I think you have to chalk that up to inexperience. At 22 years old, he should take time off and pick his next fight wisely. He has bright future and will be a problem for years to come.

Best of the Rest: This was by far, one of the weirdest nights and weirdest 36 hours leading up to the fights I have seen in my short time covering MMA. First of all, the ball shots were at an all time high. I lost count but I do believe we hit double digits. We also lost 12 potential bouts due to a plethora of reasons ranging from fighters getting COVID, fighters having weight cutting complication, and fighters passing out minutes before they are supposed to make the walk to the octagon. We saw the first unanimous draw without a point deduction in UFC history with the Gutierrez v Durden fight. There were other notable performances last night as well. Jennifer Maia submitted Calderwood with an armbar at the end of the first round. It seems like she will get the next title shot at 125lbs against Valentina Shevchenko. Vicente Luque looked great against Randy Brown. At 28, he already has 12 UFC wins, which is an amazing feat. I would look for him to fight someone ranked next. He called out Nate Diaz but we all know that is not going to happen.

Looking forward in the world of the UFC, the contender series makes it return this Tuesday. I always enjoy watching these because you can feel the tension in every fighter trying to make an impression on Dana and matchmakers to get that contract. The next fight night card is Saturday with the main event being Lewis v Oleinik, should be a fun one.👊  

Favorite Tweet of the Night: 

https://twitter.com/Gundeathpunch/status/1289744684856705025