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2023 was a very successful year for the UFC and the first card of the new year kicked us off with a banger. As some may know, at UFC 295 (Volkanovski V. Makkhachev 2), had a main card bout with the same light heavyweights. The fight was looking good but then Ankalaev landed a knee to the head of a grounded Johnny Walker. The referee paused the action to call the ringside doctor to check on Walker, who, when asked the question "Where are you?" He responded with "In the desert." This answer was not good enough for the doctor, so he called off the match. The match ended in a no contest. These two were looking forward to fighting again so when we found out they were headlining the first card of the new year, the people at FightingYo got excited.
The main card kicked off with a Heavyweight bout. Former champion, Andre Arlovski facing off against Waldo Cortes-Alvarez. The fight was relatively slow throughout the entire match. In the first round, Cortes was pushing Arlovski back with blitzes that were connecting. The first round ended with a little bit of a dog fight at the end but nothing else notable happened. In the second round, Cortes was taunting and getting in the head of Arlovski but landing decent boxing combinations that led to a right cross that stunned Arlovski. In the final round, there was more of the dame with blitzes from both sides, but Arlovski got stunned by another right cross but that's about it. The fight ended with Cortes winning via UD, 28-29 across the board.
Our second fight was between two future contenders, Phil Hawes, and Brunno Ferreira. The fight was a defensive showcase for Hawes on the feet with his slick head movement. Ferreira landed a takedown and had good pressure on top from side control for the better half of a minute. Once they stood up, Hawes' timer was ticking as he was tagged and stunned by two pinpoint right crosses. The second one, connecting right on the temple of his opponent, knocked him down, and then follow-up strikes finished the fight.
The last fight before the Co-Main Event was a Bantamweight brawl, between Ricky Simon and Mario Bautista. The first round kicked off with a good display of footwork from Bautista as he opted for more of a hit-and-run style of fighting. Simon, a wrestle-first fighter, was looking for takedowns throughout the fight. He got one in the first round and landed in side control but couldn't do much with it as Bautista got up. The second round starts with Simon looking good, landing good shots, and mixing in his level changes. Bautista was ready for all of it with good head movement and even better takedown defense. The final round started with Bautista working the body but eventually, a slam from Simon to get some control time on the ground. Eventually, Bautista worked a standup and peppered Simon with good body shots and won him the round. Bautista won UD with the scorecards, 30-27/ 30-27/ 29-28.
Our Co-Main Event featured a fan favorite, Jim Miller, facing off against an upcoming star, Gabriel Benitez. The first round started with both men giving hard leg kicks and exchanging some combinations. Miller was landing good blitzes as Benitez was looking for a level change and not a striking superclass. In the second round, Miller landed some good combinations but followed with a takedown to keep the fight on the ground for the better half of 2 minutes. With 50 seconds left, Miller fell into back control and was looking to sink his hooks and then a choke, which he was unsuccessful. In the final round, both were fatigued but Miller was landing good crosses that were splitting Benitez's defense. Miller then landed a textbook double-leg takedown and worked to get the back. Couldn't get the choke, so figured a neck crank would be good enough. Miller, with this win, extends the UFC fights record to 43 and the UFC wins record to 26.
Now to our Main Event, Johnny Walker V. Magomed Ankalaev. The first round showed off Johnny Walker's unorthodox fighting style and Ankalaev's patience in his striking. Nothing notable happened in the first round. In the second round, Ankalaev was pressing forward and landing more shots up close. Then the nail in the coffin, Ankalaev landed a right hook to the temple and then followed with one ground shot that would have taken Walker's head off had there not been a cage to stop it. Walker immediately grabbed his nose in pain and had no question about the stoppage. This fight secured a title shot against Alex Pereira in 2024 for Magomed Ankalaev which may be his first title defense.
The UFC kicked off the new year with a banger of a card and next weekend is looking to be quite a show for us. As in Toronto, we have the Middleweight title on the line with Sean Strickland defending his title for the first time against Dricus Du Plessis in a grudge match. And the vacant Women's Bantamweight title is up for grabs between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva. This card is looking to be a great fight for both of these divisions and us at FightingYo are excited to see the outcome.
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