Besides the main event, there were a lot of exciting fights tonight.
There was an exciting fight between Da'Mon Blackshear and Jose Johnson in the men's bantamweight division. Da'mon Blackshear was a man on a mission. He walked Jose down like a zombie and then finished the fight in the always rare and exciting 'Twister' submission. That submission is just straight up disrespectful and vicious. The bear hug of death.
It's the third Twister finish in UFC history! I'll keep my eye on Blackshear going forward, very impressive.
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Terrance McKinney looked very impressive, showing what he is really capable of when he's on point. He's had some losses recently, this was a much needed win and he got it done by knockout in less than 90 seconds. I think he's a dangerous, young guy in the lightweight division.
Khalil Rountree easily puts Chris Daukaus away by knockout in round one. He is seriously powerful, and a real championship threat in the light heavyweight division. This is his fourth win in a row. He seems pretty cool on the mic too, I'm becoming a fan.
Cub Swanson wins an extremely questionable decision over Hakeem Dawodu.
This was a fantastic fight, let's just get this out of the way. Truly just pure entertainment and Cub did fight very well and really brought the fight the whole time. But Hakeem was patient and landed more overall.
I was impressed by the aging Cub honestly. While Hakeem landed more, that might be the only thing he did better, which is obviously big, but Cub did some good work too. Cub seemed more active and urgent. It felt like he was bringing the fight more. And he landed a lot on Hakeem.
Cub is a real dog in there, he really oozed confidence, and did not fight badly at all. I think Cub's confidence in there and the fact that he ended rounds 2+3 well, may have got him the win. Cub finished round two with a flurry of strikes and finished round three with a takedown. Interesting, and super fun fight.
Even Cub himself thought he lost, but when he re-watches I don't think he will feel as bad about his performance. Hakeem struck well, but it was arguably a bit passive, Cub initiated everything, and held his own in the exchanges he initiated. I think there's something to be said there in terms of who won or lost. Cub pushed the action and never really got hit with anything hard, while I feel as though Cub did land a lot of hard shots.
Many will say it's a robbery that Cub won, but it was a good, close fight.
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RDA is still game as heck and is nearly impossible to finish. He got out worked and beat pretty convincingly by Vicente Luque.
The fight itself was pretty boring if I'm being honest. A lot of clinch work and grappling. Nothing else to even report.
Luque is good, RDA is getting old. Luque could fight for a title soon and RDA is a very nice win to add to his already stellar record.
