The UFC 277 took place on Saturday, July 30, in Dallas, Texas, promoting two title fights as the main event of the night: the interim flyweight title between Brandon Moreno and Kai Kara-France (to the displeasure of current flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, who won the belt earlier this year against Moreno himself) and Amanda Nunes' rematch against Julianna Peña for the women's Bantamweight belt. Three other great fights completed the main card.
The first bout was between the Russian Magomed Ankalaev, who was on an eight-fight win streak in the light heavyweight division since his debut with a loss in the UFC (the only defeat of his MMA career), against the experienced American Anthony Smith, also in a good momentum after three consecutive victories. Both fighters in the top 5 of the division.
They started the fight exchanging leg kicks and trying to control the center of the ocatgon. Magomedov was more effective with his low kicks that Smith even limped to his corner at the end of the first round. With his leg probably injuried, Smith had to change his strategy in the second round and tried to takedown the Russian. However, he executed a move so risky that the Russian ended up on top, striking him and working his ground and pound to finally end the fight with a TKO. With this victory, Magomed has notched his impressive ninth consecutive win in the light heavyweight division and is closer than ever to get the title shot.
The next fight was in the Flyweight division between Brazilian Alexandre Pantoja and former title challenger Alex Perez, two skilled fighters both on the feet and on the ground.
Pantoja, or rather "The Cannibal" as he is called, lived up to his nickname and right as the fight started, he was agressively striking his opponent. Perez tried to react and the beginning was with a lot of back-and-forth action. Still in the first minute of the fight, Pantoja went in for a takedown and jumped on Perez back. Attempting to choke his opponent, Pantoja put pressure on Perez's chin, who couldn't resist and had no choice but to tap to his neck crank. A surprisingly quick and brutal victory that even earned Pantoja the Performance of the Night bonus.
The third fight of the main card ended even faster. Derrick Lewis faced Sergei Pavlovich in the Heavyweight division in a bout that lasted less than a minute.
Sergei was controling the center of the octagon, but was Lewis that took the initiative striking first and proposing an early exchange with the Russian. Sergei didn't back down and his aggressive sequence of punches shook Lewis, who went to his knees to recover himself while being punched and then got back to his feet. But the referee had already stopped the fight by TKO.
The result was very controversial, as Lewis although in a difficult situation, still seemed to be good and conscious in the fight. To me, the referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight too early. Anyway, it was another victory for the Russians, who did very well that Saturday night.
Then, one of the most anticipated bouts of the event: Brandon Moreno vs. Kai Kara-France, for the interim flyweight belt and therefore the fight that would define the next opponent of the champion Deiveson Figueiredo for the title unification.
They previously fought at UFC 245 with Moreno winning by unanimous decision
The fight started slowly, they both measuring their ranges. In the first two rounds Moreno had the advantage. He was more aggressive, knew how to use his reach to control the distance, and landed more significant strikes on his opponent. Also, he did an impeccable head movement work as well as defended Kara-France's low kicks, undermining his shot attempts.
However, the third round started better for the New Zealander. After defending a body kick attempt, Kara-France got a takedown on Moreno. Standing over him, Kara-France landed an elbow and a sequence of shots that left Moreno bleeding. Nevertheless, Moreno managed to get up and the fight continued.
Kara-France was surely winning the third round, but before the end, Moreno landed a left leg kick to the body of the New Zealander, who went down. It hadn't been Moreno's first leg kick, but this one left Kara-France visibly in a lot of pain. Moreno then immediately landed a barrage of strikes on his opponent until the referee stopped the fight by TKO. Thus, Moreno became UFC champion again, albeit interim.
And finally the main event of the night with the women's Bantamweight at stake. Juliana Peña defending her belt for the first time, against Brazilian Amanda Nunes seeking for revenge.
In the first rounds, Amanda showed a great stand-up, constantly switching stances and confusing her opponent. She landed a few strikes while backpedalling and got 3 knockdowns in the second round. Peña could not close the distance and was being totally dominated by the Brazilian.
In the third round, Peña tried to engage in a striking exchange, but Amanda takedown her and performed well the ground and pound to severely punish her.
The last two rounds gave a little more excitement to a fight that, although it was indeed one-sided, could have ended tragically for Amanda. This is because she chose to take the fight to the ground and this opened some gaps for Peña to look for submission attempts.
It was evident though that Amanda was in control of the fight with her ground and pound, throwing some elbows and even nearly finishing Peña with a choke late in the fifth round. Great victory for Amanda Nunes, who was superior in all five rounds on the feet and on the ground, by unanimous decision: 50-45 / 50-44 / 50-43, becoming again double champ in UFC.
Well, the UFC 277 was indeed a great show! I can't wait to see the next fights of the Russian Magomed Ankalaev and the Brazilian Alexandre "The Cannibal" Pantoja, who made a huge statement on Saturday night.
Also, I'm looking forward to the end of the Moreno-Figgy series which is currently tied 1-1-1. As for a possible trilogy between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Peña though, I don't think that makes much sense given the clear superiority of the Brazilian, and to be honest I would rather see another Amanda vs. Shevchenko bout.