UFC Fight Night 127: Werdum vs. Volkov (3/17/2018) - London, England, United Kingdom (O2 Arena)

[Elsalvajeloco]

UFC Fight Night 127: Werdum vs. Volkov 
March 17, 2018
London, England, United Kingdom (O2 Arena)

Fabrício Werdum (249) vs. Alexander Volkov (246) - Volkov, KO (punches), R4 (1:38)
Jimi Manuwa (205) vs. Jan Błachowicz (205) - Błachowicz, DEC (unanimous)
Tom Duquesnoy (135) vs. Terrion Ware (136) - Duquesnoy, DEC (unanimous)
Leon Edwards (170) vs. Peter Sobotta (171) - Edwards, TKO (punches), R3 (4:59)

Fight Pass Preliminary Card:
John Phillips (185) vs. Charles Byrd (184) - Byrd, SUB (rear naked choke), R1 (3:58)
Danny Roberts (170) vs. Oliver Enkamp (171) - Roberts, KO (punch), R1 (2:12)
Danny Henry (146) vs. Hakeem Dawodu (145) - Henry, SUB (guillotine choke), R1 (0:39)
Paul Craig (204) vs. Magomed Ankalaev (205) - Craig, SUB (triangle choke), R3 (4:59)
Kajan Johnson (155) vs. Stevie Ray (156) - Johnson, DEC (split)
Mark Godbeer (238) vs. Dmitriy Sosnovskiy (238) - Sosnovskiy, SUB (rear naked choke), R2 (4:29)

Event Bonuses ($50,000):
Performance of the Night: Paul Craig
Performance of the Night:  Alexander Volkov
Fight of the Night: Jimi Manuwa vs. Jan Błachowicz

Attendance: 16,274
Gate: $2,028,431

Cancelled Fights:
Dmitry Poberezhets vs. Mark Godbeer - Injury to Poberezhets
Rustam Khabilov vs. Kajan Johnson - Inury to Khabilov
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Alex Reyes - Injury to Reyes
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Jack Marshman - Injury to Dos Santos
Jack Marshman vs. Brad Scott - Marshman Removed Due Weight Cutting Concerns
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Nad Narimani  - Haqparast Removed Due Eye Infection

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Nad Narimani aka the reason why Paddy Pimblett isn't in the UFC right now.

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Haqparast vs. Narimani was scratched due to Haqparast coming down with what sounds like a case of pink eye.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Paul Craig was literally six seconds away from a clear unanimous decision loss and likely the end of his UFC career and snatched a last second triangle choke for the win. That was crazy.

Credit to Goddard for being in the absolute right position as well.

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Someone check on Dan Hardy

 

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Danny Roberts just escorted Enkamp to the gates of Valhalla

 

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Jan Błachowicz did a good job of controlling that fight after failing to finish Manuwa. That momentum was turning fast after round one.

[Elsalvajeloco]

For a guy isn't particularly great at one thing, Volkov stays calm under duress. That's clearly what won him the fight against Werdum. Werdum was getting those takedowns and positions easily early on. However, on the feet, Volkov just slowly worked him over to the point where Werdum's eye was swollen shut. Once Werdum botched that armbar after that back take, he just seemed resigned to his fate. He didn't even have to trade with Volkov in the fourth round. His spirit was pretty much broken, and he rathered get knocked out than pursue takedowns he wasn't going to get. Volkov's composure was just amazing. You rarely see such a measured approach in the higher weight classes. I mean you saw a bit of it in the co-main where Blachowicz jabbed and one-two'd his way to a win in the final round so Manuwa wouldn't knock his head into the fifth row with a hail mary left hook. However, Volkov's performance was really impressive from start to finish. He took over once Werdum ran out of steam and didn't force anything.

I wonder how that style would look against an Overeem, Ngannou, Velasquez, or Derrick Lewis. Besides Overeem, all those guys look to come out and steamroll their opponent. It just so happens that anyone of the latter three could be Volkov's next opponent. Can he beat those type of fighters by playing the strategical chess match? 

[Hail Sabin]

Volkov can't start slow against those 4 guys or else he will get knocked out. 

Watched the show while watching Kentucky vs. Buffalo and Tennessee vs. Loyola Chicago on mute.

Some great fights through out the card I think the best two were Ware vs. Fire Kid and the co main event. 

[TheVileOne]

At least Volkov gets some relatively young blood into the title picture. The heavyweight division needs that.

[John E. Dynamite]

Watching Werdum overestimate his own intelligence is such a bittersweet thing. It's led him to the highest of highs and the most confounding of lows. But tonight felt like a little more than that - cardio compromised, chin starting to go. Nobody's ever "done" in HW but I don't see him climbing the ladder again when he could just chill out and be a tri-lingual company man.

Special props to John Phillips for looking that awful. Mounted in twenty seconds against a big welterweight making his UFC debut after you came in the favorite. 

[Liam]

I can't be the only person who thought Duquesnoy was a lucky boy to get the decision?

[Elsalvajeloco]

On 3/18/2018 at 4:29 AM, Liam said:

I can't be the only person who thought Duquesnoy was a lucky boy to get the decision?

I felt Terrion Ware's reaction when the winner was announced was partly warranted especially the 30-27 scorecard. No way did Duquesnoy win all three rounds.

IMO It looked a lot like the Duquesnoy-Stamann fight except Duquesnoy never really landed a series of strikes that made you feel like it's tit-for-tat. He would land something here or there, but Ware was doing the much better work with much more consistency.

This is another fight (after the O'Malley fight) where Ware pushed the pace better than his opponent and really didn't get any credit for it. He should conceivably be at least 1-1 in those two fights. 

That's what sucks when you're the career opponent fighter. You have to damn near decapitate whoever you're against just to win a round. Anyway, I wonder should Ware stay on the roster will they put against another high profile prospect. He's not one those guys who automatically falls down everytime he gets hit hard so they need someone like him to test these young fighters. However, the possibility of an upset is there. He could be the bantamweight equivalent of Darren Elkins. 

[Hail Sabin]

Pretty much fighting Ware is the proving ground for young prospects it that division. 

[twiztor]

got a chance to catch the main card last night. thoughts:

Leon Edwards should not have won by TKO. he didn't throw anything in the few seconds before the ref stepped in. good on him, but that should've been a UD win.

Duquesnoy got a gift on this one. i had him down 2-1, and how in the hell did he win rd3 on one judge's card?

Manuwa looked pretty good, but Blachowicz looked as good as he's ever been. Do they start slotting him in the Gustafsson role now that Gus is MIA?

Werdum looked great on his transitions on the ground. He seemed to effortless roll for the back, or slip into positions that Volkov couldn't handle.  Unfortunately, he looked mediocre on the feet after catching a couple punches with his face. Volkov fought an excellent fight, especially after he stopped playing the grappling game and stuck to standing, where he had the sizable advantage. Late in the fight, Werdum gave in to desperation and exhibited some of his worst traits that we haven't seen lately (flopping down and inviting his opponent into his guard, to name one). Excellent win for Volkov. Who he gets next should be interesting.

[Elsalvajeloco]

30 minutes ago, twiztor said:

Leon Edwards should not have won by TKO. he didn't throw anything in the few seconds before the ref stepped in. good on him, but that should've been a UD win.

The reason why I don't have a problem with the stoppage is the ref warned Sobotta to do something. Even though Edwards wasn't throwing hard strikes to Sobotta enough to elicit the ref's warning, I'm not expecting the referee to rescind it just because there isn't long left in the fight. It's the same as if a referee steps in to stop a fight and then at the last second decides to jump out. You have to be decisive. Either you're going to stop it or you won't. Sobotta wasn't doing anything to move out of that position. Strange as it may be, the referee made the right decision.