UFC traveled to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee this past weekend for UFC Fight Night 108. MMA enthusiasts were treated to a main card with six exciting fights between some of the best in the business.
Let’s start with highlights from the first fight of the card: A welterweight bout between Jake Ellenberger and Mike Perry that has everyone talking. Ellenberger and Perry were looking to get back into the win column after both suffering losses in December. The first round started with a strong attack by Ellenberger. However, Perry decided to end the fight early in the second round with a strong elbow to the head that resulted in a KO of his 13th ranked welterweight competitor.
Lightweights Joe Lauzon and Stevie Ray met in the octagon for the second fight of the card. The first round belonged to Lauzon. He had impressive elbows and was able to take Ray to the ground. Although Ray started out slow, he finished out the last two rounds strong and landed his fifth UFC win with a majority decision. Lauzon seemed to run out of energy after the first round, and Ray was able to take advantage and rally in the second and third rounds. Lauzon had five takedowns, but could not finish Ray on the floor.
In the third fight of the night, John Dodson proved to be too quick for Eddie Wineland. The fight went the distance, but Dodson was able to capitalize on some of his opponent’s mistakes with his quick punches. It was Dodson’s speed that allowed him to gain the unanimous decision victory over Wineland.
The fight between Ovince Saint Preux and Marcos Rogerio De Lima was the second of the night to end early. De Lima controlled most of the first round, forcing Saint Preux to defend for the majority of the five minutes. OSP came out strong in the second round and began attacking. Both fighters were giving leg kicks, but OSP caught De Lima and was able to get him to the floor. OSP finished off De Lima with a Von Flue choke after two minutes and 11 seconds. OSP was coming off a three fight losing streak, so this was a nice comeback for the thirty-four year old.
Al Iaquinta proved to be too much for Diego Sanchez in the co-main event. It had been two years since Iaquinta was last in the octagon, but it didn’t seem to matter as he took care of Sanchez in the first round after ninety-eight seconds. Thanks to a right hook on Sanchez, Iaquinta was able to drop his opponent to the floor and secured the victory with a knockout.
The real drama unfolded after the fighters left the octagon. Iaquinta was upset that he didn’t receive a $50,000 bonus. He was already unhappy with the UFC over his contract, so you can see how this was just adding fuel to the fire. Iaquinta took to twitter to share his thoughts on the situation. You can check out his tweets here. Let’s just say he isn’t really fond of Dana White or UFC right now.
The fight of the night saw featherweights Cub Swanson and Artem Lobov battle it out in the octagon. Swanson went into the fight being favored, but Lobov didn’t let that determine the fight. Both fighters were coming off three fight win streaks and were looking to make it four in a row. Lobov, the friend and training partner of Conor McGregor, came out strong in the first round and found a lot of shots early. But, Swanson found his rhythm in the second round and dominated the rest of the way. Fourth ranked featherweight Swanson won the fight by unanimous decision.
UFC is back in action on May 13th in Dallas, Texas, where we will see Junior dos Santos and Stipe Miocic square off in the main event at UFC 211. We will also be treated to a title fight between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade. The main card starts at 10 p.m. eastern.
