I wrote a blog about my thoughts and predictions for UFC 221 before the event took place and am now going to review those predictions as well as the overall event.
I predicted a Luke Rockhold win and was surprised with Yoel Romero's KO win as Romero was seemingly injured as we saw him limp off the stage after the weigh-ins, this combined with a difficult weight cut made Luke Rockhold a heavy favourite in my eyes.
What really influenced the Romero vs Rockhold fight in my opinion happened in the first round, it became apparent that Rockhold would attack the seemingly injured leg of Romero with powerful kicks and after landing a few Romero checked one which seemed to hurt Rockhold and made him think twice making him very hesitant this gave Romero the chance to explode on Rockhold and eventually obtain a KO.
I predicted Jingliang Li to win but it seems Jake Matthews has returned to form and rocked Jingliang Li multiple times with punches and got a clear decision victory, Jingliang Li seemed a bit desperate and resorted to some rather unorthodox (and illegal i might add) techniques.
I made my predictions prior to the weigh-ins otherwise i would have reconsidered as the size difference was apparent and Safarov was noticeably smaller than Pedro, i thought Safarov would be able to use his wrestling but Pedro was far too strong and submitted Safarov with a nasty kimura, i'm glad Safarov tapped when he did because it looked as though something was about to break.
Bouts like this would validate the argument for additional weight classes because Safarov looks small for the light-heavyweight division, there is quite a large jump from middlewieght (185lbs/84 kg) to light-heavyweight (205 lbs/93 kg) and a super-middleweight (195lbs/88 kg) division would suit Safarov i think, but if that was to happen i think it would need to happen at all weight classes for continuity.
I predicted a Ben Nyugen win in this one and thought that Nyugen would dominate the stand up, though i still believe Nyugen is the more adept striker he did not seem to be able to find his groove and in the 3rd round was caught with a perfectly timed spinning back fist that knocked him down where he was subsequently choked out, kudos to him though for not tapping.
So after all is said and done i managed to predict 8 out of the 12 bouts correctly though i got some completely wrong, the results of the full card are as follows:
Main card
Yoel Romero def. Luke Rockhold via third-round KO (1:48) (live blog)
Curtis Blaydes def. Mark Hunt via unanimous decision (live blog)
Tai Tuivasa def. Cyril Asker via first-round TKO (2:18) (live blog)
Jake Matthews def. Li Jingliang via unanimous decision (live blog)
Tyson Pedro def. Saparbek Safarov via submission (kimura) (R1, 3:54) (live blog)
Undercard
Dong Hyun Kim def. Damian Brown via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Israel Adesanya def. Rob Wilkinson via second-round TKO (3:32)
Alexander Volkanovski def. Jeremy Kennedy via second-round TKO (4:57)
Jussier Formiga def. Ben Nguyen via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 1:43)
Ross Pearson def. Mizuto Hirota via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)
Jose Quinonez def. Teruto Ishihara via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2)
Luke Jumeau def. Daichi Abe via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 28-27)
Post-Fight Bonuses
Below are the post fight bonuses where all mentioned receive an extra $50,000 for their efforts
Fight of the Night
Jake Matthews vs Jingliang Li
Performance of the Night
POTN: Jussier da Silva
Performance of the Night
POTN: Israel Adesanya
Below is the post fight press conference which i always find interesting though Luke Rockhold was not present.
