As the world of combat sports prepares for UFC 264, the promotion put on an impressive Fight Night event. This past weekend gave us UFC Vegas 30, which emanated from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and had an earlier start time. The event had an impressive 13-match fight card and, from start to finish, the event delivered quality fights. Also, new UFC Flyweight Champion Brandon Moreno was in the building! There wasn’t a shortage of talking points from this card.
The prelim card served quite a mixture of fighting styles and saw matches end in KO/TKOs, submissions, as well as decisions. An explosive match at welterweight saw Warlley Alves suffer a second round knockout loss at the hands of UFC debutant Jeremiah Wells. Elsewhere on the card, Marcin Prachnio put his karate on display when he served Ike Villanueva a nasty liver kick, which subsequently led to his knockout victory at the beginning of their second round. The feature prelim match saw Danilo Marques and Kennedy Nzechukwu slug it out in their light heavyweight fight. The African Savage had the touching story of his mother’s illness as his motivation, and this paid off early in the third round when Nzechukwu claimed the victory via TKO. Once that was all said and done, the main card was set to begin. That also proved to have quite a bit in store for fans.
All eyes were on the main event between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov but the most explosive fight actually happened halfway through the show. Andre Fili and Daniel Pineda were set to put on a fight at featherweight and they did not hold anything back. The fight was hard-hitting from round but, unfortunately, an accidental eye-poke from Fili would end the fight prematurely. It was at the beginning of the second round when the incident occurred and, upon evaluation by the doctor, it was decided that Pineda could not continue. As it was still early on in the fight, instead of scoring and deciding on a winner, the fight was called as a No Contest. Frustration was evident from both fighters and the camps but there was also understanding. Pineda admitted that he was on the losing end prior to the accident but immediately expressed his desire for a rematch down the line.
Ovince Saint Preux was initially set to take on Maxim Grishin but, as a result of Visa issues, he withdrew and was replaced by Tanner Boser. There would be a bit of controversy in their fight when Boser seemingly grabbed the fence for leverage. This incident happened moments before Boser would get the KO victory. This immediately started a debate on Twitter as to whether Boser should have been given the win or not. Boser believes he did nothing wrong. OSP has made the decision to file an appeal with the Nevada Athletic Commission to contest the incidents which led to the finish.
To close out the night of fights, we saw Ciryl Gane take on Alexander Volkov. Gane certainly had quite a bit to prove, in addition to strengthening his campaign to challenge for Francis Ngannou’s Heavyweight Title. The match would eventually end in a Unanimous Decision for Gane, with the judges scoring the contest 50-45, 50-45, 49-46. The UFC heavyweight division could definitely provide some interesting match-ups in coming months.
Marcin Prachnio and Kennedy Nzechukwu both got performance of the night and the fight of the night was given to the Raoni Barcelos vs. Timur Valiev match-up. Next weekend is an off weekend, in preparation for the next pay-per view. This fight night definitely delivered quite a captivating set of fights putting a spotlight on the talents within the UFC.
Looking ahead, UFC 264 will give us a stacked card with a rubber match at the top of the card. Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor will face off for a third time in what may be the decider of their rivalry. That pay-per view is set to take place from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 10th.
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