UFC 295 was absolutely electric although the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight was cancelled Dana White did an incredible job making a high-action card filled with highlights and huge moments. Last week I wrote a story talking about who I believed would win and my predictions for the fights so before you read this go check that out! Now we can get into the fights and how I did on my predictions.
The first fight of the night was Diego Lopes vs. Pat Sabatini. I don’t mean to toot my own horn but this fight went down exactly how I believed it would. I said “If Sabatini tries to keep this fight on his feet Lopes will absolutely dominate in my opinion as Sabatini’s standup is lackluster.” and that is exactly what happened in this fight. Sabatini tried his very best to get the fight on the ground but couldn’t get it done and Lopes brutalized him on the feet making quick work of the fight scoring the knockout only a minute and a half into the first round.
The next fight was Matt Frevola (14) vs. Benoit Saint-Denis. This fight was another extremely quick one and went way different than I believed it would. Although I got my prediction right this wasn’t the all-out war I thought it’d be. There was some striking in the fight but for some of it, there was actually more wrestling than I thought for a minute and thirty-one second fight. But after getting out of a Frevola clinch, Saint-Denis landed a perfect head kick to the temple of “The Steamrolla” knocking him to the canvas and finishing the fight with a ground and pound proving to the division that he is on the come up and is a major threat to the division.
The only Women’s fight on the card was Jessica Andrade (5) vs. Mackenzie Dern (7). I decided to do some more research on this fight as I didn’t know much and I believe Mackenzie Dern opened the fight as the favorite. In my predictions I picked Jessica Andrade to win and that prediction was correct! In this fight Andrade won strictly because of her gameplan. She refused to go to the ground and grapple with Dern and instead every time she scored a knockdown she would wait for Dern to get back up. This strategy paid off and Andrade scored the knockout three minutes and fifteen seconds into round two.
Now going into this next fight I was super excited because these were the big ones and right now I was 3/3 on my predictions.
The Co-Main event of the night was a battle of the beasts Sergei Pavlovich (2) vs. Tom Aspinall (4). Going into this fight everyone knew it was going to end with a finish. However, despite this nobody was sure who was going to get the finish everyone knew was coming. Pavlovich was just obliterating every opponent he had previously faced and so had Aspinall however I picked Aspinall to win this fight. The finish came extremely quick like most other fights on this card happening in only a minute and nine seconds into the brawl, when Aspinall caught Pavlovich with a right hand to the jaw knocking him to the canvas and securing the interim heavyweight belt with a ground and pound. Aspinall is genuinely looking like the scariest fighter at heavyweight right now demonstrating unmatched movement and footwork along with his unbelievable power and ability to find opportunities in the standup.
The Main event was an incredible fight between two warriors. The Czech Samurai Jiri Prochazka (1) vs. Alex Pereira (3) The Brazilian Hunter. I chose Prochazka to win this fight and that would end up being my downfall on getting perfect predictions on this card. The fight opened up and Prochazka seemed to be dominating Pereira through the first round. When the second round hit Pereira decided to step up his game and the fight was looking pretty even. That’s when then most feared punch in all of UFC in Alex Pereira’s left hook connected with Prochazka’s chin stumbling him. The hunter pounced on the opportunity landing a flurry of unanswered punches to score the knockout four minutes and eight seconds into the second round crowning Pereira as the new UFC light-heavyweight champion.
Overall, I believe I did extremely well with my picks considering how many close fights were on this card going 4/5 even when choosing the underdogs to win. Stay tuned for the next UFC card where I will continue this series and hopefully go 5/5!
