UFC 299 was one of the most stacked UFC cards we have ever seen from the prelims to the main card. Starting off in the prelims Joanne Wood was able to defeat Maryna Moroz by split decision with two judges scoring the fight 29-28 Wood and one judge scoring the fight 28-29 Moroz. This was a huge wing for Wood because she was able to hang up the gloves after this fight and go out with a solid victory.
The next really solid fight in the prelims was Jailton Almeida vs Curtis Blaydes. Almeida’s fighting style is that of a wrestler, while he is able to land good hits with his striking he strays away from it and uses his takedown ability to his advantage. Blaydes is an extremely solid striker along with some solid wrestling capabilities. In round one of the fight Almeida was able to dominate Blaydes on the ground going 8 for 12 on takedowns. However early in the second round Blaydes was able to sprawl on Almeidas takedown attempt and land a solid uppercut. This rattles Almeida and Blaydes was able to reign down hammer fists to get the TKO.
Moving on to the main card we start off with a solid fight between Peter Yan and Song Yadong. Coming into this fight Yan was the favorite in this fight and he was able to show why he was the favorite. Yan was able to dominate Song in the striking game landing 99 significant strikes. Yan was also able to show off his takedown ability going 2 for 5 on takedowns. Yan ultimately won the fight by split decision
Onto to the second fight of the main card we have Gilbert Burns fighting Jack Della Maddalena. Burns has a very solid wrestling background while Maddalena has a very solid striking background. Burns was able to show off his wrestling going 7 for 11 on takedown attempts. However Maddalena was able to dominate Burns in the striking game with 67 significant strikes compared to Burns’ 27. This ultimately helped Maddalena win the fight with a TKO in the third round.
The next big fight in the main card was Dustin Poirer vs Benoit Saint-Denis. Both fighters are masters in their class with Benoit being a rising star and Poirer being a veteran in the lightweight division. Many thought that Benoit was going to be able to overpower Poirer with his striking and wrestling capabilities. Benoit was dominating Poirer going into the second round by doubling his significant strikes. However Poirer was able to land a solid combination that rattled Benoit and from there it was over for Benoit as Poirer kept hitting strike after strike until TKO.
The main fight of the night was Chito Vera vs Sean O’Malley. Both fighters are extremely solid strikers with little ground game so this made for a very exciting fight of just striking. Sean O’Malley is a very surgical striker being able to pull off strikes that no other fighter can. Vera has a very solid chin and is able to easily eat a lot of punches while still being able to give them himself. Sean was able to land an insane 230 significant strikes compared to Vera’s 89. This really shows the domination that O’Malley has over any other fighter in his striking. The fight ultimately came down to split decision with Sean O’Malley successfully defending his belt.
