UFC 307

Prelims

One of the most interesting fights of the night came in the Prelims between the women’s strawweight bout. Marina Rodriguez fought Iasmin Lucindo to a split decision. Before the bout, Lucindo was favored, being ranked #14 to Rodriguez #6. Throughout the match, Lucindo had more ground time and takedowns at some points holding down Rodriguez. Rodriguez had more strikes in each round but Lucindo’s ground time and some domination on the floor kept her ahead with her somewhat taunting and action.

Performances of the Night

In the Early Prelims of the night in the Light Heavyweight bout, Ryan Spann and Ovince Saint Preux lasted only one round. Ryan Spann submitted Saint Preux in the first round and deservingly got the performance of the night. Spann was favored to win before the match coming into the fight 21-10 with 13 wins by submission and 16 first-round finishes. Saint Preux came in at 27-17 with 12 wins by knockout and 14 first-round finishes. The submission came by a huge hit leading Saint Preux to the ground and Spann grappling into a chokehold.

The other performance of the night went to Joaquin Buckley against Stephen Thompson. Buckley won by KO/TKO in the third round and was also favored before the match. Buckley came into the match at 19-6 with 14 wins by knockout. Stephen Thompson came in 17-7-1 with eight wins by knockout and five first-round knockouts. The KO/TKO came by a strike from Buckley with a right hook to the center of Thompsons face knocking him out with the refs stoppage.

Main Card

For the main cards to start off came a women’s bantamweight bout between Ketlen Vieira vs Kayla Harrison which ended in a unanimous decision going to Harrison. Next was Roman Dolidze vs Kevin Holland with Dolidze winning by KO/TKO in the first round. This match ended early due to stoppage because of a rib injury to Holland after wrestling on the ground. After that match, there was Jose Aldo vs Mario Bautista ending in a split decision going to Bautista. Aldo surprised putting up a huge fight against Bautista and going back and forth every round. The fight came down to significant strikes and time.

The final two matchups of the Main Card come from the Women’s bantamweight title bout and Light heavyweight title bout. In the women’s bout, it contained champion Raquel Pennington vs #1 Julianna Pena which ended in a split decision. Pena took the belt from Pennington with a brutal fight put up from both sides. Coming down to ground time and the strikes leading and with Pennington not putting enough power behind her strikes to cause Pena real problems.

In the fight of the night champion Alex Pereira fought Khalil Rountree Jr. ending in the fourth round with Pereira winning by KO/TKO with another title defense. This fight was magnificent to see Pereira go the distance and Rountree put up such a good fight. Pereira was favored heavily before the fight and everyone had a sense this could end early due to his previous fights but Rountree Jr. put up good strikes and good rounds. Pereira struck back making Rountree Jr. bleed and hurt ending in a TKO but Alex had a lot of appreciation towards Rountree Jr. after and said this was one of his toughest fight.