UFC London Main Event and Co-Main Event Recap

UFC London wasn’t a bad card. Many fans dismissed it and thought it wasn’t going to be a good fight card. Manuwa and Blachowicz put on one of the best fights of 2018 so far. In the main event Volkov upset Werdum. Now it’s time when I recap the big fights of the card, and predict what fights we might see next.

WERDUM VS VOLKOV: Alexander Volkov proved he’s a real contender after his performance in London. Volkov was a huge underdog but won via KO. Standing at 6,7 it’s no shock that the reach advantage of Volkov was a huge factor in this fight. He kept landing punches on Werdum, and we saw the effect of those punches as Werdum’s eye started to swell. Werdum did score a couple takedowns, and I thought the fight would end via submission because of Werdum’s ground skills. Volkov stayed composed and got back to his feet multiple times. As the fight went on Volkov’s takedown defense got better and better. Finally at the start of round 4 Volkov landed a huge uppercut on Werdum, which dropped him. Volkov followed that up with a huge punch on the ground. That punch shut Werdum’s lights out and Volkov picked up the biggest win of his career. After his win in London Volkov set himself up for a huge fight next. The fight that makes the most sense for Volkov is the winner of Blaydes vs Overeem. A matchup between Volkov and the winner of that fight will determine the next title contender. For Werdum this loss will drop him a couple of spots in the rankings. The fight we should see next is a rematch against Mark Hunt. Hunt is coming off a loss against Blaydes. A rematch between Werdum and Hunt would be a fun fight. Who ever loses that fight will most likely never be a title contender again. Reason being both fighters are veterans and coming close to the end of their careers.

MANUWA VS BLACHOWICZ: Jimi Manuwa and Jan Blachowicz put on the best fight of the night. This fight was in front of Manuwa’s home crowd and Blachowicz came into this fight as the underdog. Round 1 started and Manuwa came out throwing so big punches. Blachowicz stayed composed and dropped Manuwa midway through round one. Manuwa did a good job of recovering and he lived to fight another round. Round two Blachowicz continued to out strike Manuwa and was using his jab great. The London native Manuwa showed a lot of heart and threw a massive head kick at Blachowicz which landed clean. Blachowicz showed his durability and he only staggered as the round ended. Round three there were some good exchanges. Blachowicz was still the more efficient striker and even scored a takedown. Blachowicz ended up winning the fight via unanimous decision. The fight that should be next for Blachowicz is a match up against Ilir Latifi. Latifi just got a win against Ovince Saint Preux via submission. This would be a fun fight, and the winner would get one step closer to a title fight. For Manuwa the fight that makes the most sense for him next is a rematch against Ovince Saint Preux.

Stephen Caloggero (@steveo_calo)