All nine finishes from Salt Lake City last night at UFC 291
We had an epic event of fights last night in Salt Lake City at UFC 291, an event that turned in nine finishes out of 11 total fights. Now, we did lose an intriguing welterweight matchup between no. 7 ranked Stephen Thompson and no. 15 ranked Michel Pereira, but the card was still as good, if not better than any we’ve seen this year.
Starting things off in the women’s flyweight division Miranda Maverick (12-5) submitted Priscila Cachoeira with a beautiful armbar at 2:11 of round three to begin the night, before Uros Medic (9-1) and Matt Semelsberger (11-6) went to war in the early preliminary main event of the evening, this one ending via TKO, Medic the victor at 3:26 of round three.
No doubt about it! @FearTheMAVERICK gets the tap in R3 #UFC291 pic.twitter.com/vOOA1i0Bkv
— UFC (@ufc) July 29, 2023
Uros Medic with the spinning back ELBOW 🤯 #UFC291 pic.twitter.com/UzY9AQADt2
— UFC (@ufc) July 30, 2023
Opening up the preliminary card was welterweight talent Jake Matthews (19-6), who was originally slated to face Miguel Baeza at this event. However, Baeza was forced from the bout just over one week ago and was replaced by promotional newcomer Darrius Flowers (12-6-1).
Flowers came out guns blazing in search of the early knockout, but Matthews stayed composed and used that nasty front snap kick of his to keep the distance and slow his adversary down en route to a rear naked choke finish at 2:37 of round two.
Jake Matthews forces the tap in round 2️⃣#UFC291 LIVE on ABC and ESPN 🍿 pic.twitter.com/LqrQ6Lkbqh
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 30, 2023
Next up we had a middleweight clash between a pair of dangerous strikers in Roman Kopylov (11-2) and former kickboxer Claudio Riberio (11-4). It’s surprising Kopylov didn’t get a Performance of the night award in this one, because his striking was so slick, precise, powerful, and just flawless, and it aided him in his head kick KO victory at :33 of round two.
KOPYLOV’S NASTY HEADKICK DROPS RIBEIRO 😱#UFC291 LIVE on ABC and ESPN 🍿 pic.twitter.com/ZX8Gb4hUC3
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 30, 2023
Of Kopylov’s 11 career wins, this was his 10th knockout.
Our preliminary main event of the evening came in the welterweight division between Gabriel Bonfim (15-0) and Trevin Giles (16-5), and this one didn’t last long. Bonfim showed off his skill and strength by ragdolling Giles en route to his guillotine choke submission victory at just 1:13 of round one.
Bonfim now has 12 submission victories in 15 career wins, his other three coming via knockout. Still at just 25 years of age, turning 26 next month, the sky is the limit for this young phenom. He’s starting to look like the Brazilian Shavkat Rakhmonov, who also has a 100% finish rate at 17-0.
15-0!
Gabriel Bonfim is a star on the rise #UFC291 pic.twitter.com/cmfyrIbnm8
— UFC (@ufc) July 30, 2023
Opening up the main card last night was a welterweight showcase between the returning Michael Chiesa (18-7), who hadn’t fought in nearly two years, and Kevin Holland (25-9). Following the jump from 155 lbs to 170 lbs, Chiesa rattled off four-straight victories from 2018 to 2021 prior to losing his last two going into this fight.
On the contrary, Holland made the move from 185 lbs to 170 lbs during Chiesa’s absence and went 3-2 at welterweight in that time. Chiesa tried desperately to get Holland down to the mat, who was piecing him up handily on the feet. After eating a nasty knee up the middle, Chiesa shot in for a fifth time, only to be locked up into a D’Arce choke and submitted at 2:39 of the opening round, showcasing his third-straight defeat.
KEVIN HOLLAND BY SUBMISSION 😨@Trailblaze2top submits Chiesa in Round 1! #UFC291 pic.twitter.com/5x3pJL3uOT
— UFC (@ufc) July 30, 2023
For as stellar of a grappler as Chiesa is, this was also his fifth submission defeat, and his third defeat via D’Arce choke. It’s quite surprising considering how dominant of a grappler he’s been in the past, having submitted high level BJJ black belts such as Jim Miller, Beneil Dariush, and Carlos Condit.
Former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson (25-9) and fellow longtime 155 lb staple Bobby Green (30-14-1) went to battle in the next fight; Ferguson looked good for the first three or so minutes of the opening round, even stunning and dropping Green midway through it.
However, Green found his timing not long thereafter and began to clip Ferguson with his combinations at will, though Ferguson’s chin held up well. Ferguson tried initiating grappling exchanges a couple times, ending up on his back each time. The first time he did this was in round two, where he ate a lot of heavy hammerfists from bottom.
This also happened at the end of round three, where he was ultimately choked unconscious with an arm-triangle choke at 4:54 of the round. This was just Green’s second submission victory inside the octagon, his first came via rear naked choke in his UFC debut back in 2013.
Ironically enough, that one also came in the final minute of the fight, as he choked out Jacob Volkmann at 4:25 of round three.
Man what a sight. Bobby Green submits Tony Ferguson. Damn. pic.twitter.com/UfQylBDGNw
— MartialMind 🇳🇬🇺🇲 (@MartialMind1) July 30, 2023
Green also extended his record for the most significant strikes landed in UFC lightweight history; he went into this fight with exactly 1,500 and left with a total of 1,626.
Derrick Lewis (27-11) landed a flying knee on Marcos Rogerio de Lima’s (21-9-1) chin right out of the gate in our feature fight of the evening, and it only took a few more follow up shots to secure the stoppage victory at :33 of round one. He again broke the record for most knockouts in UFC history with this victory.
DERRICK LEWIS CAME FLYING IN 😳#UFC291 LIVE on ESPN+ PPV pic.twitter.com/XLXJXYvK8r
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 30, 2023
Then we had our main event of the evening, a BMF championship rematch between former interim champions Dustin Poirier (29-8) and Justin Gaethje (25-4). Gaethje utilized his leg kicks early on, as he did in their first fight, and as we expected he would.
Gaethje proceeded to set up a beautifully timed and placed head kick that saw him KO Poirier stiff at 1:00 of round two. Skip to 7:30 of this video to see the knockout.
These two BMF’s are now 1-1 against one another, each man having knocked the other out. Just another parallel to add between these two.
Of course, there were also two more fights last night that didn’t showcase finishes, as CJ Vergara (12-4-1) defeated Vinicius Salvador (14-6) via unanimous decision in the preliminary co-main event, and former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira (8-2) defeated no. 3 ranked former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz (29-10-1) via split decision in his divisional debut in the co-main event of the evening.
Which was your favorite fight last night at UFC 291?
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