UFC Vegas 87 Rozenstruik V. Gaziev

Our last card before a legendary PPV in UFC 299 was a banger, to say the least. From flying knee knockouts to 30/25 decisions, it was a night to remember.

We start with Matt Schnell facing Steve Erceg. Erceg coming off of a victory at UFC 295 which is when these two were supposed to meet, but Schnell had to pull out due to a back infection. These two flyweight contenders went in ready to throw. The fight started with both men looking for the finish, but Erceg was looking great with his amazing boxing and cut Schnell open early in the first round. Later they went blow for blow stunning each other with precision strikes that led us to the bell to end the first round. The second round did not last very long as Erceg connected with a picture-perfect left hook that knocked Erceg out cold. This performance netted him a POTN bonus to go home with.

The second fight was between upcoming star, Umar Nurmagomedov and future star Bekzat Almakhan. This was the heaviest favorite of the night with Umar looking at a -1400 betting favorite, and he did not disappoint. In the first round, he got nailed with a powerful overhead that knocked him down, but still managed to get a single leg and still took the round 10-9. The rest of the fight was all Umar who had 11:26 of control time in a 15-minute fight with a perfect takedown ratio of 5/5. He won the fight Unanimously and no one was surprised.

The fight before the Co-Main Event was another Flyweight bout between Muhammed

Mokaev and Alex Perez. This was one of the most entertaining fights we have seen in a long time with many turning points on the ground and multiple showings of elite striking. Mokaev was starting with early pressure and was keeping Perez at bay with his striking. The fight displayed Mokaev's commitment to his takedowns as he shot for 20 yet only connected on 3 of them. The second round had a great and dominant display from Perez showing his top-level takedown defense. This, along with all of the rest of his game, won him the second round. When the stakes were high, Mokaev came through with another display of dominance winning the last round and winning the fight on the scorecards 29-28.

The Co-Main Event was a Light Heavyweight fight between Vitor Petrino and Tyson Pedro. This was a high-stakes fight, as Petrino was looking to stay undefeated and Pedro was looking for a way to bounce back into the rankings. Unfortunately for Pedro, it did not go his way. Petrino put on a show, putting his ground game and strikes on display showing that he is a title contender. There wasn't much action from Pedro's corner and on two scorecards he lost all three rounds. The winner was Petrino and Tyson Pedro retired in the octagon after a lustrous career in the UFC. We all wish him luck in his endeavors outside the Octagon.

To the Main Event, we had Jairzinho Rozenstruik facing off Shamil Gaziev. This fight was put to see if Gaziev's hype train is all, or if he deserves to be put in there with the best of the bigs. Gaziev started strong looking to finish the fight early as many were not sure if he could go five rounds with the veteran Rozenstruik. He showed good pressure which won him the first round. The rest of the fight was downhill for Gaziev as Rozenstruik knew he just needed to wade out Gaziev and he would get the victory. Rozenstruik sought this opportunity and found it, dominating in the next three rounds. He put on a show of striking and pressure showing he's still one of the best. After the fourth round, Gaziev told his corner he couldn't see which caught the attention of referee Marc Goodard who called the doctor in. The doctor called the fight off netting Rozenstruik the win via TKO.

This was a great card to segway into fight week for UFC 299 happening right here in the 305. We are all so pumped for this card and can not wait to see it go down. Thank you for reading and I will catch you guys on the Punchline this Tuesday.