UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs Shevchenko 2 was a reasonable success but was plagued by mediocre performances and poor officiating. There was no fight of the night but there were five performance bonuses. Charlie Campbell, Roman Kopylov, Loopy Godinez, Daniel Zellhuber and Raul Rosas Jr all received $50,000 as a reward for their performances.
Josefine Knutsson (-750) vs. Marnic Mann (+490)
Result: Josefine Knutsson by unanimous decision (30-24, 30-25, 30-27)
Knutsson surged in the odds before this fight for good reason. Marnic Mann held a poor account of herself in this fight. She landed less than 10 significant strikes and looked outmatched on the feet and in the grappling. Her spinning backfist in Round 3 was genuinely the worst display of MMA I’ve seen in years. Knutsson should have finished this fight on the feet but decided to clinch instead. While Knutsson looks like an exciting addition to the division, Marnic Mann is very far off from winning a UFC fight.
Charlie Campbell (-500) vs Alex Reyes (+360)
Result: Charlie Campbell by KO/TKO (Left Hook and Right Straight, R1 3:38)
Campbell pressured Reyes early. Reyes was doing well on the backfoot early, but Campbell was able to find him and hurt him within the first two minutes. Remembering the Chris Duncan fight, Campbell stayed patient and looked for a safer finish, which he found at 3:38 in R1. Look for Campbell to add a spark to the lightweight division. I’d like to see him fight Terrance McKinney next.
Tracy Cortez (-122) vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (+100)
Result: Tracy Cortez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Tracy Cortez showed much improved boxing in this fight and utilized an educated jab to really hurt Jasudavicius. Jasudavicius realized she was outmatched by Cortez and tried to make the fight sloppy and dirty to grit out a win. I thought she won the second round on heart alone, but she slowed down in Round 3 which gave Cortez the win.
Edgar Chairez (-265) vs Daniel Lacerda (+210)
Result: No Contest (R1, 3:47)
Chairez was dominating Lacerda on the feet for most of the first round before latching up a standing D’arce choke on Lacerda. The ref checked Lacerda’s hand to see if he was still conscious, Lacerda realized this and let his arm go limp, which caused the ref to stop the fight. Lacerda insisted he wasn’t out and complained his way into a No Contest. Biased commentator Dominick Cruz, who is still harboring animosity for his Henry Cejudo fight, was cheering on Lacerda for forcing a No Contest in a fight he lost. Chairez obviously would’ve won and Lacerda should be cut.
Roman Kopylov (-325) vs Josh Fremd (+250)
Result: Roman Kopylov by KO/TKO (Liver Punch, R2 4:44)
Kopylov dominated Josh Fremd thoroughly. He was totally ahead of Fremd in the striking and Fremd had no hope of taking Kopylov down with poorly executed single-leg takedowns. Kopylov hurt Fremd early and often, finally finishing the fight with a gorgeous liver shot. Fremd didn’t just roll over though, which he can be proud of. Give Kopylov Chris Curtis next.
Loopy Godinez (-480) vs Elise Reed (+350)
Result: Loopy Godinez by submission (Rear Naked Choke, R2 3:38)
In perhaps the easiest fight to predict on the card, Godinez destroyed Elise Reed everywhere and hurt her on the feet before slamming her and latching up the Rear-Naked Choke. Godinez deserves a ranked opponent.
Fernando Padilla (-260) vs Kyle Nelson (+205)
Result: Kyle Nelson by unanimous decision (28-29, 28-29, 27-30)
In the first hint that the judging tonight might be awful, judge Sal D’Amato inexplicably awarded Kyle Nelson round one which he obviously lost. However, Padilla did lose rounds 2 and 3. Padilla is a lanky, tall fighter with a long reach who decides to fight like he’s 5’4. His entire offense was waiting for Nelson to enter his space to try and counterstrike. Nelson succeeded in being the rangier fighter and out-pointing Padilla. Padilla showed a good chin and speed but just didn’t fight like he needed to and lost in front of his home crowd.
Daniel Zellhuber (-280) vs Christos Giagos (+220)
Result: Daniel Zellhuber by submission (Anaconda Choke, 3:26 R2)
Zellhuber got hurt early and was knocked down by Giagos. Zellhuber left his chin open for the overhand right all night, but eventually Giagos, who is old, started to break down late in the fight and the 24-year-old Zellhuber was able to hurt him and cinch up the Anaconda Choke. If Zellhuber can’t evade the overhand right he’s in for a rough time in the lightweight division.
Raul Rosas Jr (-800) vs Terrence Mitchell (+520)
Result: Raul Rosas by KO/TKO, (Punches from Mount, 0:54 R1)
Terrence Mitchell rushed at Raul Rosas in the opening seconds of the fight with his eyes closed and was caught by a left hook by the retreating Rosas. He recovered well but because he is so physically weak, Rosas was able to get on top of him and slide into Mount and finish the fight. Mitchell should be cut.
Kevin Holland (+122) vs Jack Della Maddalena (-150)
Result: Jack Della Maddalena by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 28-29)
What we expected to be an exciting fight was a glorified sparring match. Neither fighter was able to really damage the other. Holland had a low-power volume approach against Maddalena. JDM stayed on the outside and preferred to pick his shots and find combinations. I thought Holland outworked JDM enough in the first two rounds to get the win, the judges disagreed however and JDM got the unimpressive win.
Alexa Grasso (+142) vs Valentina Shevchenko (-176)
Result: Split decision draw
What we’ve learned from these two fights is that Valentina is probably a better MMA fighter than Alexa Grasso. Out of the 45 minutes these two fighters have fought, Shevchenko has probably won about 35 minutes. In this fight, Shevchenko’s mistakes were ultimately her undoing. Shevchenko won Round 1 on all judges’ scorecards by using body kicks against Grasso’s orthodox stance and limiting damage. In Round 2, Shevchenko was winning handily again until Grasso caught her and knocked her down, spending the rest of the fight on her back and unequivocally giving Grasso the round. In Round 3, Shevchenko took Grasso down for most of the round, an unambiguous round for Shevchenko on all scorecards. At this point, every judge has the fight 29-28 to Shevchenko. Round 4 is the swing round. The round was largely uneventful, and Shevchenko was winning most striking exchanges and showing more effective grappling. The most important moment of Round 4 came when Shevchenko was attempting to exploit the rules by dragging her hand on the ground. Grasso drilled her with five unanswered knees to the head, which Shevchenko complained about. Two judges gave this round to Shevchenko, which means that Shevchenko was up 3-1 on two scorecards and had probably won the fight. Round 5 was dominated for the first 3.5 minutes by Shevchenko and it wasn’t even close until Shevchenko made the poor decision to go for a head and arm throw which landed her on bottom position. Grasso spent the remaining minute of the round raining down strikes on Shevchenko’s head and nearly finishing her by Rear Naked Choke. One judge, Mike Bell, awards a 10-8 in round 5 to Grasso, which leads to the split draw. Both fighters complained about the decision. I thought Shevchenko won but ultimately she only has her own stupidity to blame. Mike Bell should never judge again though.
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