UFC 332 it was a very fun night of fights.
Relatively few fight fans anticipated this much ahead of time. The main event between Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong was widely staked, and UFC CEO Dana White didn’t exactly help the situation can’t remember any details about “The Joker” at the start of fight week. The topic of the week was Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Furya boxing match that doesn’t happen until December.
Then the fights started.
It must be admitted right away that UFC 332 was ordered strangely. The earliest “Prelims” card featured several of the biggest names on the entire card: Rafael dos Anjos, Marvin Vettoriand Johnny Walker is better known to the average fan as Chaos Williams or Ateba Gautiereven if these vets are all long in the tooth.
Anyway, the familiar faces immediately put on a show. Court McGee and “RDA” was violently taken to pasture. Jacob Smith continued to argue his status as the middleweight’s hottest prospect with a terrifying stoppage, and Walker introduced himself by kneeling in the heavyweight ranks. Mick Parkin in the face … then makes a worm next to his convulsive body.
Even the earliest “Prelims” had a sole decision between Vettori and Vettori Ismail Naurdieva raucous and enjoyable clash. The momentum did not abate in the next set of preliminaries, which resulted in four knockouts in four matches. Here, however, the map falls apart a little on closer inspection.
Headlining the “Prelims” was a great matchup, a battle between quality prospects Imanol Rodriguez and Alden Coriatwo young flyweights who mostly win by knockout. Someone’s ascent was stopped, and Rodriguez’s explosive offense ensured that he would continue to climb. The 26-year-old Mexican standout stabbed Coria in the stomach with a vicious blow, causing a literal scream of agony.
Unfortunately, the other three fights were absolute squash matches. The UFC is literally picking random heavyweight picks off the roster Anthony Wint to crush the Hulk. Marcus McGhee – who fought Peter Yan not too long ago and is 6-1 in the UFC – beating a debuting opponent on short notice. Damian Pinas is clearly a special talent and yet he took a step back to smoke Andrei Pulyaev after the award-winning pro kickboxer was awarded three months ago.
It’s lazy matchmaking, but it got the desired results.
Fortunately, booking big prospects to eliminate “smaller” competition occasionally backfires. Ask Ateba Gautierwho was widely expected to blow through the lightly bruised Roman Kopylov to open the main map. Instead, Kopylov outclassed him at range and knocked him out just three minutes into the fight – the shoe was completely on the other foot!
Roberto Soldic vs. Chaos Williams was as violent as a fight could be without causing a standoff. Then Esteban Ribovics settled his quarrel King Green repeatedly punching him in the face, causing three separate blows en route to a standstill. Payton Talbott effortlessly deleted Deiveson Figueiredowhich stopped the Brazilian great in quick fashion to set the event’s all-time UFC knockout record. Additionally, UFC 332 featured the most first-round knockouts in promotional history.
The main event couldn’t live up to the viciousness that preceded it, but it was still a decently competitive and scrappy affair. There wasn’t a bad fight all over the card, just one relatively uninteresting mismatch… that still made for great highlight clips for future promos.
I don’t think anyone who tuned in for the entire UFC 332 fight card regretted the experience.
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