UFC 277 was brutal with devastating TKO’s all around the card. RDX presents a breakdown of some of our picks from the fantastic fights that happened on Saturday and the clashes that are coming up because of them. With a renewed double champ, a new flyweight interim champ and a questionable stoppage to top it all off, UFC 277 was a resounding success.
Amanda Arrives Like She Never Left
Juliana Pena fights her heart out against Amanda Nunes. She fought a true brawl against “The Lioness” Amanda Nunes, however Amanda came with a bold southpaw strategy and broke down the attack of Pena from every angle. After five brutal rounds of explosive fighting from Amanda, Pena was left bloodied with brutal damage to her forehead.
By the end, Amanda reclaimed her double champ status. Dana White brought her belts to her, the flyweight and bantamweight titles, which she adorned with pride once more. Amanda went on to say she would finally be heading back home since Covid began almost three years ago to spend some time with family. On the other hand Julianna was urgently sent to the hospital to see a surgeon for the rather wide strip of skin missing from the center of her forehead.
The chatter for Valentina Shevchenko and Amanda Nunes has already begun for the Lionesses’ next fight but she hasn’t made any fight announcements yet and retains her status as “One Of”, if not “The Greatest Women’s MMA Fighter Of All Time”.
An Old Friend Keeps Shocking The World
Brandon Moreno Vs Kai Kara-France was RDX Sports and the UFCs fight of the night. Brandon “The Assassin Baby” Moreno from Mexico versus Kai “Don’t Blink” Kara-France from New Zealand was spectacular. Both fighters were extremely well matched and had tactics for each other’s styles.
Kai and Moreno threw incredible shots at each other with abundant flurries from both sides. Kai Kara France seemed to be catching Morena throughout the match with more significant strikes. Even though the scorecards seemed to show an equal grading for both fighters.
Moreno took a hard elbow from Kai that bloodied the Mexican fighter’s cheek as well. However, the Assassin Baby strikes again with a surprise liver shot kick. Kai was sent reeling to the ground in the third round. After, Kai recoiled into the cage floor clutching his sides because of the pain, Moreno went in for the finish and found it in quick fashion.
Afterwards Moreno And Kai both showed a lot of respect to each other with a bow in the center of the stage. In the post fight interview Moreno confirmed his desire to fight Deiveson Figueiredo as early as possible and convert his freshly won interim flyweight title into a complete one. He announced the fourth installment of the rivalry between him and Deiveson would be coming in December.
Bad Stoppage Or Early?
The Heavyweight battle between the giants Derrick Lewis and Sergei Pavlovich was a really quick fight. The match ended in the first round from a TKO called out by the referee. Sergei came out with a jab that was countered by Lewis with a hook and that began an all-out brawl between the two fighters. Sergei with a significant reach advantage made Derrick look like a sloppier fighter, preventing many of Lewis’ punches from hitting.
One of these punches from Sergei dropped “The Black Beast” Lewis’ head first towards the ground. However, as he was coming back to his feet, referee Dan Miragliotta called the fight over. And indeed from the ref’s angle it looked like Derrick hit the ground face first. Derrick, however, was still coming back up and taking many punches to the head while doing so, hence making it a very important damage minimizing stoppage.
Dana White had this to say:
“I think it was too soon, but to be fair – I think Miragliotta’s a great ref – the way that he fell, probably nine out of the 10 people in this room would’ve jumped on him and stopped the fight, including me,” White told reporters, at the UFC 277 post-fight news conference. “I like the ref, but I wouldn’t really debate that it was an early stoppage. That was definitely an early stoppage.”
Twitter had this to say:
This was a bad stoppage!!!!
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) July 31, 2022
You don’t stop that in Texas
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) July 31, 2022
That's definitely an early stoppage
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) July 31, 2022
That was weak as hell. Let em fight ref!!
— Kevin Lee MTP (@MoTownPhenom) July 31, 2022
Yeah get all this bs reffing out of y’all system before next week!!!#UFC277
— Jamahal Hill (@JamahalH) July 31, 2022
I’m sad?! The Beast coulda definitely gotten right up and landed a fight changing bomb. Early stoppage 😭 big dannnn miroglosbaba
— Al Iaquinta🗽 (@ALIAQUINTA) July 31, 2022
RDX was astounded by the spectacular performances brought by the brilliant fighters at UFC 277. Each fighter showcased extremely technical skill, dexterity and strength in the face of serious pressure and resistance. RDX was supremely impressed by The Assassin Baby victory and will be eagerly awaiting his potential match-up coming in December.
