Probably the weakest overall fight card in UFC history went down last night in Salt Lake City and, as we so often see, those terrible cards end up being pretty fun. Now, you were probably busy either living life or watching the Olympics (which have been super fun thus far), so I can’t blame you for tuning into a card that consisted of zero guys you’ve heard of. Don’t worry, though! We have you covered.
Here’s everything you missed at UFC Fight Night: Salt Lake City.
Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres are Really Fun to Watch
The final seconds tick away and these guys BROUGHT IT!! What a fight between @BruceLeeroyGlow & @PanteraUFC! #UFCSLC https://t.co/X34iEKYsuV
— #UFCSLC (@ufc) August 7, 2016
Yair Rodriguez throws a lot of head kicks, spinning backfists and spinning head kicks. Alex Caceres throws lots of wild strikes and has an awesome afro. Put them together in a main event and what do you have? Magic.
For 25 minutes, we got wild striking exchanges, fun grappling battles and just a whole lot of pure explosiveness. Both dudes went for it and went of it hard, but Rodriguez ended up handing Caceres a disappointing decision loss. Notes:
- This fight was super fun. Go watch it. Right now.
- It’s a great win for Rodriguez, who is a guy the UFC is banking on being successful as they push into Mexico. This main event victory helps to legitimize him. He’s not top-10 yet, but he’s not far off either.
- Rodriguez is basically guaranteed fun. I don’t know who he’s fighting next, but I hope whoever it is, they throw down soon.
Teruto Ishihara is a Boss
This guy is somebody to watch going forward. Photo off Ishihara’s Twitter/@teruto_ko.
Teruto Ishihara loves two things in life, fighting and the sweet embrace of attractive women. I’m not sure how things panned out for the latter, but he did great with the former in Salt Lake City. Opposite some jobber named Horacio Gutierrez, he posted a picture-perfect knockout with a gorgeous left hook. Notes:
- Ishihara is quickly becoming one of the best characters in the UFC. He has an insane, woman-hungry gimmick that he plays up as hard as possible. That helps him to stand out in a boring featherweight division.
- He’s not just a fun gimmick, though. His knockout of Gutierrez was very, very sexy as he cleanly chinned Gutierrez with a left hand. He’s just 25 years old, too, so look for him to just keep getting better.
Cub Swanson is Back in the Win Column
Cub Swanson got a boring win in Salt Lake City. Screen grab by @Dblunderhooks on Twitter.
Cub Swanson is a darn good fighter, but he really needed a win at Fight Night: Salt Lake City. While it wasn’t pretty…he got it. Facing old-ass Tatsuya Kawajiri, he came out on top of a slog of a fight, working his way out from underneath Kawajiri for long enough to score points standing. Notes:
- Swanson’s super fun but the fact he had any trouble with Kawajiri isn’t a good sign. He has been a top-10 name for a long time, but he’d get smoked by anyone near the top of the division at this point.
- Kawajiri…man it’s sad to see what has happened with him. He’s a fun throwback from PRIDE, but hasn’t been given fun fights like we’ve seen for fellow geezers like Takanori Gomi and Diego Sanchez. He’s been putting over younger guys a lot lately, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if he got cut.
Polish bruiser Marcin Tybura probably won knockout of the night with this killer headkick. Screen grab by us.
The Best of the Rest
- There was no post-fight press conference. Feels weird. I assume it’s because of a lack of media turnout due to a combination of the Olympics an the fact that Salt Lake City sucks.
- Marcin Tybura killed Viktor Pesta dead, as you saw above.
- Maryna Moroz and Danielle Taylor had basically the 2016 equivalent of Quarry vs. Starnes. Moroz walked forward throwing punches. Taylor walked backwards doing nothing. Moroz, thankfully, took the win.
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