My latest column at MMAOddsbreaker.com is my Rating the Card article, where I will take a look back at all the major MMA events and recap the event and then give my overall score of the card. For this instalment the column, we will look at UFC Fight Night 64. UFC Fight Night 64 kicked off with a terrible fight in the lightweight division that saw Taylor Lapilus take home a unanimous decision over Rocky Lee. Ugh, is all I can say about this one. Lee tried to take Lapilus down but couldn’t, so Lapilus stayed standing and landed some mediocre strikes and won a decision. I did not enjoy watching this fight, although it was both fighters’ UFC debuts so I guess you can cut them a little slack. Rating: 2/10 Next was Steven Ray making his UFC debut on enemy soil against the Pole Marcin Bandel. Ray looked great in this fight, beating Bandel up on the feet and on the ground before earning a second-round TKO stoppage with his ground and pound. The Scot is a good fighter and I’m excited to see him compete again. Rating: 7/10 Then it was Aleksandra Albu taking on Izabela Badurek in both fighters’ UFC debuts. The two female strawweights had a boring first round, but in the second round Albu was able to latch onto a guillotine choke during a bad Badurek takedown attempt and win the fight. Overall, not a great fight, but the finish was pretty damn cool. Rating: 5/10 Up next was a heavyweight bout between Anthony Hamilton and Daniel Omielanczuk. This was a pretty ugly fight that mostly took place up against the fence, and while Hamilton did earn the win, neither fighter should be happy about their performance in this one. Rating: 3/10 Then it was a featherweight fight between Damian Stasiak and Yaotzin Meza, a fight I wasn’t looking forward to that actually turned out to be really good. The fight mainly took place on the mat where both fighters exchanged sweeps, reversals and submission attempts for 15 minutes, with Meza ultimately earning the decision. This was a good fight and I never thought I’d say it, but I’m excited for Meza’s next fight. Rating: 7/10 A middleweight bout between Sergio Moraes and Mickael Lebout then took place, and it was not the fight anyone was expecting. Most expected Moraes to roll and get the sub, but Lebout held his own and made it close on the cards, although Moraes ended up winning the decision. Still, a bad fight. Rating: 2/10 Then Bartosz Fabinski took on Garreth McClellan in a middleweight bout, and it was pretty boring. Fabinski just took down McClellan repeatedly over the course of three rounds while McClellan did next to nothing. Bad fight. Rating: 2/10 The final fight of the prelims saw Leon Edwards take on Seth Baczynski in a welterweight contest. It was expected to be a competitive fight but turned out anything but as Edwards flattened Baczynski in just eight seconds. It was a fun knockout, for sure, but really wasn’t much of a fight at all. Rating: 6/10 The opening main card bout saw a huge upset take place as Maryna Moroz pulled off a sensational armbar over Joanne Calderwood in a women’s strawweight bout. I did not see this one coming, let me tell you, and neither did many others as Calderwood closed at over 5-to-1. This was a real breakout performance by Moroz, and she should get a title shot after such a fantastic performance. Rating: 7/10 Next up on the main card saw Pawal Pawlak battle Sheldon Westcott in a welterweight matchup. This fight was pretty bad to watch. Both men just pushed each other against the fence for three rounds and Pawlak won an ugly decision. For some reason the crowd enjoyed it, but as far as I’m concerned this was a bad fight. Rating: 3/10 Then the co-main event saw Jimi Manuwa take on Jan Blachowicz in a light heavyweight affair. I had high hopes for this fight, but like most bouts on this card it failed to live up to expectations. Manuwa won because he was more aggressive, but neither fighter should call themselves a winner. Rating: 2/10 And finally, the main event saw Mirko Cro Cop turn back the clock as he avenged an earlier career loss to take out Gabriel Gonzaga in a heavyweight matchup. Gonzaga owned Cro Cop on the ground in the first two rounds, but faded badly in the third round and paid for it by getting finished by strikes for the eighth time in his career. Not a great main event, but at the same time it was far from terrible. Rating: 6/10 Overall, I rate UFC Fight Night 64 a 3/10. It was just a terrible card any way you look at it, and while there were a few cool finishes, they couldn’t make up for the rest of what proved to be by far the worst event the UFC has put on all year long.
