UFC's Free Fight Night Card Was Full Of Some Pretty Insane Violence Last Night
Amidst chaos in the combat sports world, UFC Norfolk went out there and overdelivered on everyone’s already high expectations. High expectations for a reason, as this was a FREE CARD:
Honestly, you throw a title fight on there and it’s an instantly awesome pay per view. Anyway, let’s take a quick look at some of the barbaric human cockfighting that went down.
(Before I get into the main card I would like to note that Sage Northcutt looked very impressive and I think the sky is the limit for him. Team Alpha Male is a great fit, too, because he’s gotta improve on his wrestling and takedown defense which we saw none of last night)
Clay Guida kicked the night off scorching my boy Joe Lauzon, in a real depressing turn of events. As I’ve written here before, Conor McGregor and Joe Lauzon are my two. They’re in an upper echelon of fandom, that ride or die kind of fandom, for me. Seeing that uppercut connect after Joe was rocked hurt to watch. I hope he starts thinking of hanging the gloves up soon, or whatever he feels is best, I suppose. I appreciated Guida immediately making sure Lauzon was alright and apologizing for the referee letting the fight go on longer than he thought it should have.
Rafael Assunção had kind of a weird knockout over Matthew Lopez, where he missed a knee, missed a punch, and then a right hook connects right behind the ear and hits the “off” switch. He was OUT COLD instantly, and if you watch that clip, you’ll see that Assunção pulled back on his follow-up hammerfist, something most fighters wouldn’t have the composure to do in that moment. Total class act move.
I’m gonna take a line from my pal Coley here, and say Matt Brown knocked the everliving shit out of Diego Sanchez. I mean, dead guy.
Ol’ Kris Kringle lookin’ mothafucka adding an ice pack to Diego Sanchez’ wishlist.
Brown may retire after this fight, and says that’s the plan, but as DC pointed out, it’s kinda unlikely. Tale as old as time. Fighters can’t stay away.
Finally, in the main event of the evening, Dustin Poirier faced off against Anthony Pettis in a fight of the year candidate. Poirier’s had kind of a career resurgence type deal after losing to Conor McGregor (with one Michael Johnson sized road bump) and he’s quickly become one of my favorite fighters to watch. Every time he fights you get fireworks, and last night was no different. Him and Anthony Pettis engaged in a WAR.
The transitions, Poirier on top, Pettis on top, Poirier mauling Pettis on the feet, Pettis locking in super deep triangles that Poirier was slipping out of thanks to Pettis’ blood, AHHH! I LOVE VIOLENCE!!!
The fight came to an anticlimactic end in the third round when Anthony Pettis tapped out to a body triangle, but it certainly seems like he broke one of his ribs in the exchange, so it’s pretty god damn understandable. Doesn’t take anything away from either fighter, and hat’s off to them for an amazing main event.