Seattle once again makes history for the UFC. The Emerald City had the largest gate in UFC History for a North American fight night and proved why it is one of the best and most marketable cities in all of sports. Over 17,000 people attended the sold-out Climate Pledge Arena for a night of wild fights that left the audience shocked and amazed. Seattle did not disappoint and produced one of the best cards that the UFC has seen in a long time.
UFC Seattle Recap:
Terrance McKinney vs Kyle Nelson: Lightweight
Terrance McKinney adds another first-round KO to his resume after dropping Kyle Nelson with a head kick just 24 seconds into the opening round. There is a reason that McKinney is one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC at the moment, and he once again proved why. When you tune in to a McKinney fight, you are going to see fireworks one way or another. It is becoming the expectation that Terrance will finish a fight in the first round, and there is no reason to doubt that after his performance against a very talented Kyle Nelson.
Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Yousri Belgaroui: Middleweight
Yousri Belgaroui put on a masterclass in kickboxing with his eventual round three KO of Mansur Abdul-Malik via knee. His distance management and striking ability were on full display throughout the fight, and it gave Abdul-Malik serious problems. Abdul-Malik never got comfortable whatsoever because Belgaroui kept mixing up his attacks, leaving Mansur on the back foot. It seemed like Belgaroui could not miss with his jab, and once that was established, everything fell into place.
As Belgaroui put the pressure on, Abdul-Malik started to gas out as the fight prolonged. Yousri took full advantage and poured on massive combinations as well as massive knees and elbows in the clinch that started to be the beginning of the end. In the third round, Belgaroui hit Abdul-Malik with massive punches that had Mansur trying to desperately escape. It all came to an end when Belgaroui landed a knee square to the jaw of Mansur, which knocked him out cold to end the fight. Yousri displayed world-class level striking in this fight and is going to be a dangerous opponent for anyone in the middleweight division moving forward.
Julian Erosa vs Lerryan Douglas: Featherweight
Lerryan Douglas just put the featherweight division on notice in his UFC debut with his brutal demolition of Julian Erosa in the first round. Lerryan Douglas demonstrated power that seemingly is only matched by Ilia Topuria for someone of his size. Every punch that Douglas landed on Erosa was devastating, including his jabs, which might be one of the most powerful jabs in the UFC at the moment.
It didn’t take long for Douglas to start teeing off, and he stunningly battered Erosa for one of the wildest finishing sequences that fans could witness. What was even more amazing was that Erosa kept getting back up and tried to fight, displaying an iron chin for as long as he could before the damage caught up to him. Douglas is going to be a problem for featherweights with his striking and startling power, and he is just getting started.
Michael Chiesa vs Niko Price: Welterweight
Michael Chiesa retired on his terms in his home state in front of his hometown crowd in exactly the way that he described he would. In the lead-up to the fight, he laid out exactly how he would win the fight and what he would do to get it done. Get Niko Price down to the ground, take his back, and submit him. And he did exactly that to perfection. Chiesa and Price exchanged for only moments before Chiesa got a takedown on Price.
He took his back and tried to lock in the choke. Price, however, in one last-ditch effort, slammed Chiesa onto his head and neck, but Chiesa held on. With the body triangle still locked in and Price’s neck exposed, Chiesa locked in a rear-naked choke that made Price tap within seconds. It only took Michael Chiesa minutes into the first round to achieve his dream retirement and walk into the sunset on his terms. The career of one of the staple veterans of the UFC, who had many great victories under his belt, came to a close, and the UFC made a video package remembering his career for his home state to bask in the glory with him. Congratulations to Michael Chiesa for an amazing career.
Alexa Grasso vs Maycee Barber: Women’s Flyweight
What Alexa Grasso did to Maycee Barber will be talked about for ages and will go down as one of the nastiest finishes in not only women’s MMA but MMA as a whole. Two of the very best female fighters went toe to toe in a fight that had some unfinished business between the two. Barber was on a seven-fight win streak and had been dominating her opponent, while the former champion, Alexa Grasso, was coming off a tough loss to Natalia Silva and was looking to get back into the win column. The fight did not disappoint as from the first second the bell rang, both women wanted to exchange.
Although Grasso is known for her grappling and submission, she will strike with the best of them, and she and Barber went back and forth on the feet, landing some good shots. The fight was close until Grasso landed a massive one-two combination that put Barber out. That was not the end, though, because as Barber fell to the ground, Grasso locked in one of the most brutal and quickest rear-naked chokes that you will ever see to complete the finish. It actually looked like a snake capturing prey with how fast and lethally Grasso deployed the choke to an already unconscious Barber.
Things actually got quite scary because something was seriously wrong with Barber when the submission was released, and she lay motionless and staring off into space for a dangerous amount of time. She would eventually come back and be able to get up on her own power, but the arena was silent as it looked like a serious situation could have unfolded. Fortunately, everything cleared up, and Grasso took home the round one victory in the most brutal fashion in modern MMA history, and she could have just punched her ticket back to title contention.
Israel Adesanya vs Joe Pyfer: Middleweight
With Joe Pyfer’s round two TKO over Israel Adesanya, he became a top-five middleweight overnight and is hunting a title opportunity. This was a great fight to watch as you had the former two-time middleweight champion, who is one of the greatest fighters in UFC history and maybe the best striker the sport has seen, taking on the young bull who has the power and ferociousness to defeat anyone.
Adesanya started the fight off looking as good as he always does, with amazing distance management and striking on display. He was punishing Pyfer’s inside and outside low kicks and landing good shots to the face of the American. The striking advantage was clearly on the side of Adesanya, who was taking control of the fight slowly as time went on. Pyfer did get a nice takedown to end the first round, though, which shifted momentum his way a little bit. In the second round, Adesanya continued to wear Pyfer down and would even hurt him at one point.
The beginning of the end, however, was when Izzy started to brawl. Adesanya is at his best when he is striking from distance and counterpunching, but in this instance, he tried to tee off on Pyfer, who is too powerful to play that game. Pyfer stunned Adesanya with a left hook and then followed up with some more nice shots before shooting in for a takedown and getting Izzy down to the mat. From there, Pyfer locked in a body triangle and delivered decent ground and pound strikes that had Adesanya uncomfortable.
As Adesanya tried to escape, he rolled over, and Pyfer jumped into full mount and unleashed massive shots on Adesanya, who had nowhere to escape. Pyfer continued his barrage before the fight was stopped, and Joe took home the TKO win against an all-time great. Pyfer is now likely in the top five rankings of the middleweight division and is not too many fights away from fighting for the title. He proved how dangerous he is and that he is coming for the top spot amongst the middleweights.
