UFC Fight Night 208: Five Things We Learned
UFC Fight Night 208 was another great night of bouts at London’s O2 Arena. The card was not quite as entertaining as the UFC’s last trip to London, but there are still a handful of small takeaways from the fights. Here are five things we learned at UFC Fight Night 208.
1. Lightning strikes twice
It is no secret that MMA is a crazy sport. Wild things happen from time to time. However, at UFC Fight Night 208 we learned that sometimes wild stuff happens more than first. First off, in the main event, Tom Aspinall lost after suffering a freak knee injury only 15 seconds into his fight with Curtis Blaydes. This comes only a week after Brian Ortega lost to Yair Rodriguez due to a first-round injury. On top of that, Molly McCann was able to earn a knockout via a spinning elbow against Hannah Goldy. This is the second fight in a row that she won in that fashion. I don’t know about you, but I was not expecting to see a repeat in either of these outcomes. Regardless, we saw lightning strike twice in two different situations.
2. Hermansson is a better striker than he is given credit for
I will be the first to say that I underrated Hermansson’s striking heading into this bout against Chris Curtis. In our preview for UFC Fight Night 208, I mentioned that I thought Curtis would be able to out-strike Hermansson. However, Hermansson looked good on the feet against Curtis. Most importantly, he was able to maintain enough distance to ensure that Curtis could not get his boxing going. From there, he landed a good array of kicks that did some damage. While Hermansson is not a tremendous striker he has certainly made improvements and has rounded out his game.
3. Paddy Pimblett has something you cannot teach
When Paddy Pimblett entered the UFC, he was known for his finishing ability. So far, he has displayed that skill in the UFC. With that being said, he took it to another level at UFC Fight Night 208. In the second round of his fight with Jordan Leavitt, Pimblett found himself down on the scorecards. However, he quickly flipped the script by landing a massive knee while his back was against the cage. Shortly after, he sealed the deal by getting a rear-naked choke finish. First of all, the knee that he landed was from a position that rarely results in power strikes. Plus, the rear-naked choke came while Pimblett had Leavitt’s arm trapped in a body triangle. Both of these are uncommon techniques, but they worked well for Pimblett. Needless to say, Pimblett proved again that he is one of the most unique fighters on the roster, but Leavitt is by far the best fighter that Pimblett has even shown this skill against.
4. Alexander Gustafsson should retire, again
I want to start this by saying I really dislike telling a fighter when it is time to hang it up. However, it is brutally clear that Gustafsson should not compete again. He has already retired once, but he unretired about a year later. Since coming out of retirement, he has lost two fights by finish. In addition, his knockout loss to Nikita Krylov at UFC Fight Night 208 came in a little over a minute. While prime Gustafsson was a tremendous fighter, it is clear that now he will never return to that form.
5. Molly McCann can make a run in the women’s strawweight division
As I mentioned before, Molly McCann was able to get a spinning elbow knockout against Hannah Goldy. In this fight, McCann proved that she is a high-level fighter. She did a good job of establishing the range early and began to land a lot of powerful strikes. Her power and overall balanced skill set will propel her to success in the women’s flyweight division. I know she has lost to ranked competition in the past, but she seems to be improving from fight to fight. In the future, she may be able to make a run as she fights ranked competition.
