Event UFC Fight Night 89: MacDonald vs. Thompson [Results]

Rory to bellator now?

 

what a great night! well except for the main event where Rory seemed to think he could outstrike or keep up with Thompson and when he couldn't he didn't have a plan B. Rounds 1 and 2 were pretty uneventful, I thought Rory may have taken one of those rounds but 48-47... yikes.

it was f'kn hot there. Apparently the AC was on but the number of ppl there + the lights meant it was doing jack shit. Once the sun was down they opened up the doors to the outside, but they only cooled down the concourse where all the vendors and washrooms are. Before the fights my buddy and I walked abound the arena and it's a small arena that sits underneath the football stadium stands so on one side ther's 20 rows of seats and then the concrete for the stadium seats. There are glass doors that walk you out to some seats at field level. the concours there was really close to the cage (100 feet or less I'd say) and we stood there for a while but got told we couldn't stay for the fights.
After Jo-Jo's peculiar win (wtf was the ref up to? I still don't know why they halted the fight.. was Letourneau kicked in the throat?) I walked around again from my cheap seats (2nd row from the to on the higher side of the arena, and ended up back behind the short side, close to the action. I texted my buddy and he was along side of me 1 round into the OAM fight. We watched the rest of the event from there. Great view

and yes there are idiots throughout the arena chanting idotic things... some neanderthall shouts 'FHINP' when Jo-Jo and trouble were fighting.. classy.

best chant of the night 'we-want A-C!' by a large precentage of the fans.... did I mention it was hot? My forearms where sweating when I had them on my arm rests.

 

My thoughts on each fight


Ali Bagautinov def. Geane Herrera via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

THIS is how you start of a card. Lots of action, great scrambles, Ali was dictating a lot of the fight, but Geane was game and had Ali in a night triangle in the 2nd. This is one of those really good fights that go the distance. They got a great cheer because they delivered what ppl want in an undercard fight. This was carrying FOTN in our books for a long time...

Colby Covington def. Jonathan Meunier via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 0:54
and this fight let the air out after the first. Meunier did not have the grappling to stop the TD, not could he get back up, he defended well but he spent 80% of the time on his back. It wasn't terrible but slow and dominanted by Colby.

Randa Markos def. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
This was a very solid fight, kinda one of those amateur boxing matches with a bit of grappling. Randa tasted some of Lybarger's powere and kept going forward. You could see Lybarger's head snapping back quite often. I think giving her a round was generous... she was more active but not more effective. This does not make Markos a contender because her pace is still too slow.

Elias Theodorou def. Sam Alvey via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
BOOOOOOOOO sorry was still caught up in the moment with the crowd. This was actually even less active than the main event... that is all.

Joe Soto def. Chris Beal via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:39
this was an okay fight. Not terrible exciting until Soto got it to the ground and kept it there. Beal was meh.

Krzysztof Jotko def. Tamdan McCrory via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:59
OMFG! Jotko has some nice striking.. Tamdan has to agree because he clearly won't remember it. He was down for 2-3 mins and wobbly during the results announcement too.

Misha Cirkunov def. Ion Cutelaba via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 1:22
Huge pop for Misha, he was really popular (all Canadian fights got cheers to some degree of course) and he delivered. I don't think Ion offered much offence at all. Misha has some promise.

Jason Saggo def. Leandro Silva via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Saggo was pretty good, Silva is another fast and twichy Brazillian who doesn't seem to do much. kinda a meh fight

Joanne Calderwood def. Valerie Letourneau via TKO (body kick and punches) – Round 3, 2:51
been a fan of Jo-jo since her time on TUF and now that she trains at Tri-Star I have hope she'll move up the rankings too really good fight, marred by the axe-kick top slip, the weird I got kicked in the throat (maybe?) fight delay/stoppage and then the 'that kick hurt so much I just turned away but the ref didn't stop the fight so Jo-jo did what she had to. did it look that odd on tv?

Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:28
good action in this fight, OAM and elisa don't really excite me as prospects and this fight didn't really change my mind. OAM is a pretty solid grappler so he could go far though. I think Gouti should stick around for a while he looks like he can match up with some guys pretty well with his striking

Steve Bosse def. Sean O’Connell via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
How the hell did O'Connell absord all that damage and survive?!?! How the hell did Bosse recover from that blow in the 1st? Not the most technical fight in the world but the crowd went ape shit. every fight cards needs a war like this!

Donald Cerrone def. Patrick Cote via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:35
I thought mixing it up in a brawl-ish scenario was a baaaaad idea for Cerrone, He absorbed Cote's powered and was just way more technical. Those takedowns were great. You can really appreciate the level these guys are at vs the undercard fighters. Cote should consider staying at 170 IMO.


Stephen Thompson def. Rory MacDonald via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 48-47)
What can you say, the crowd was dying to get excited for Rory, they tried to chant him into action but after a while they just got upset at the lack of action on both fighters parts. It seemed like Rory had one plan to strike with Stephen and when that failed he had no back up plan... it was disappointing to say the least.

Still $5/fight for my seats I abondoned during the main card was a sweet night. I'd do it again... even if I only got home at 2:20 in the morning... an hour I haven't seen in god knows how long.