#ufc300

Ran out of room so if it’s Andrade-Rodriguez or Miller-Green, feel free to comment.

If Yan Xiaonan was even a semi-competent wrestler/grappler, she'd be champ right now. She was clearly the better striker in this one. Anytime she got extended time on her feet, she was lighting Zhang up. I think we all underestimated the size difference here cause Yan was huge next to Zhang. Big and strong with a really stiff 1-2 that she used to catch Zhang anytime she tried to close distance or kick the leg. For as bad as her grappling is, Yan has evolved into a really solid technical striker with some pop. Dropped Zhang twice in this one.

But this fight came down to the wrestling skills of Zhang. Repeatedly, she was able to take Yan down. Almost at will. She took her down at the end of the 1st and locked up a RNC with like 15 seconds left that appeared to put Yan to sleep. The bell forced a break and Yan managed to stumble to her feet after prompted by Herzog so the fight continued. Then Zhang got her down in the 2nd round early and spent most of the round pounding Yan from mount or back mount. At one point Zhang landed like 20 unanswered shots, but Yan kept moving so Herzog let it play out. And to her credit, she managed to get back up to her feet before the round ended. The third was much stronger for Yan as Zhang was gassed from basically finishing her twice. Spent the round getting countered, swinging at air, and getting dropped by Yan. Zhang got dropped again in the early part of round 4 but managed to get a takedown near the fence and rack up a lot of GnP (like 70 strikes). Same in the 5th to lock up the fight.

Was it rad as hell? Yeah!

Jim Miller is just made of different stuff. The fact he didn't get finished here is crazy. Ate some huge shots. Ate a lot of shots actually.

Green is one of the best jabbers in MMA. He throws it without any tells. He uses to stop forward attacks and blitzes. And more impressively, he throws it to take away time and space. Those awkward moments when two fighters are circling around one another? Jab. After a big exchange? jab. As he's exiting range? jab. Throws a front kick? Follows it with a jab. The hands down style is literally just incentive for people to step in, swinging recklessly so he tag them with the jab. It's great stuff. Miller, despite his big power late in his career, isn't really able to snatch initiative. Whenever he tried, he was out of range. Except for those shots late in the 1st and 3rd where he seemed to have hurt Green.

On a night with one of the greatest finishing sequences of all time, this one was up there. For different reasons.

Hill throws a body kick that goes low and hits the cup. Herb Dean jumps in to give Pereira time to recover but Pereira waves him off. Pereira than proceeds to KO Hill immediately with the very next punch he throws, a left hook that splits the guard. He follows up with some GnP and the fight is over. Not much to mention before hand. Hill was trying to pick off Pereira but it seems Pereira was just building reads while slowly pressing Hill to the cage.

Banger. Just a straight banger.

Amazing, fantastic fight between two of the best lightweights on the planet. Do Bronx was his typical Do Bronx self. Did a great job of using the long limbs to threaten submissions and fight up from the bottom. Countered a body kick from Tsarukyan in the first with a kick to the plant leg that sent him to the floor. Tsarukyan attempted to shoot from the vulnerable position and Oliveira jumped the guillotine. Held on to it for a solid minute before Tsarukyan was able to escape, but ended up in mount landing occasional GnP. Tsarukyan had a much better 2nd round as his striking was looking crisp. Nothing fancy but landed some nice jabs and went back to the kick. Eventually got deep in on a body lock and was able to tabletop one of Oliveira's legs for a takedown. Spent the rest of the round hammering Oliveira from inside the guard with elbows as he attempted to hold on. Third was the contentious round. Personally thought Tsarukyan did more than enough in the first 4 minutes of the round. Not a ton of damage but Oliveira was just fighting out of bad positions until he managed to throw Tsarukyan off his back with like 40 seconds left and went all in on a D'arce. I don't think he was actually all that close to securing the sub, but some people felt he deserved the round for it.