UFC Fight Night 65 took place last night (Saturday, May 9, 2015) at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia, and overall the card was exciting as it featured a significant amount of upsets. Overall from a betting perspective, three favorites and eight underdogs won based on the closing odds at Several Bookmakers. There was also one fight that ended at a dead even pick’em Here’s a quick recap for each fight. Favorites That Won In the main event of the evening, heavyweight Stipe Miocic laid a tremendous beating on Mark Hunt. Miocic worked the distance early but moved on to some big takedowns and ground and pound, dishing out a ton of punishment on the New Zealand native. Hunt’s face wore it and the fight likely should have been stopped much earlier than it was, but Miocic did his job and refused to let up the beatdown en route to a late fifth round TKO victory. Miocic was victorious at -225 (Bet $225 to win $100) while Hunt was stopped at +205 (Bet $100 to win $205). In a middleweight contest, Sam Alvey made quick work of elder statesman Dan Kelly, putting the judo specialist away early in the first round after hurting the Aussie multiple times with heavy strikes. Alvey easily cashed as a -345 favorite while Kelly was knocked out as a +315 dog. In women’s strawweight action, Bec Rawlings dominated Lisa Ellis to cement herself in the division. Ellis scored an early takedown but Rawlings eventually reversed it after an ill-advised armbar attempt and put a hurting on Ellis in the stand-up before finishing Ellis via rear naked choke when the fight returned to the canvas. Rawlings brought home the bacon as a -210 favorite while Ellis closed as a +190 underdog. Underdogs That Won In the co-main event of the evening, Robert Whittaker absolutely crushed Brad Tavares, scoring a knockout in just 44 seconds against the Hawaiian. Whittaker landed a heavy shot on Tavares early and didn’t let up, going after the American with heavy shots which put a quick halt to the contest. Whittaker moved to 2-0 at middleweight as a +120 underdog while Tavares failed to deliver as a -130 favorite. In light heavyweight action, Sean O’Connell destroyed Anthony Perosh with a blistering first round standing TKO. O’Connell landed several heavy shots in an early flurry and never let up, hammering Perosh hard with a plethora of big shots which forced the referee to step in. O’Connell scored a slight upset at +125 while Perosh couldn’t get anything going as a -135 favorite. In the opening bout of the main card, lightweight James Vick pulled off a big comeback upset over Jake Matthews. Matthews seemed to be in control of the fight but a big pair of knees opened up an opportunity for Vick to latch a guillotine choke onto the top Australian prospect. Vick remained undefeated as a +170 dog while Matthews lost for the first time at -185. In the main event of the preliminary card, Dan Hooker shocked the world when he knocked out top featherweight veteran Hatsu Hioki. Hioki seemed to be in control after securing top position and working his distance strikes but he wasn’t defending the southpaw attacks and Hooker made him pay with a left head kick that rendered Hioki unconscious after some follow-up ground and pound. Hooker pulled off a huge upset as a +255 underdog while Hioki was knocked out for the first time in his career as a -280 favorite. In a middleweight battle, Brad Scott survived early trouble against Dylan Andrews to score a second round TKO victory. Andrews dropped Scott twice in the first round but was unable to put him away, eventually fading and succumbing to strikes on the ground from Scott. Scott mounted a comeback as a +115 dog while Andrews couldn’t eek it out as a -125 favorite. In women’s strawweight action, Alex Chambers stole one late against Kailin Curran. Curran had pretty convincingly won the first two rounds and was on her way to winning the third after scoring a takedown but Chambers latched on a Kimura and transitioned to an armbar which forced a tapout with just two minutes left in the fight. Chambers pulled off a huge upset as a +220 favorite while Curran couldn’t close it out as a -240 favorite. In welterweight action, Brendan O’Reilly won an ugly decision over veteran Vik Grujic. Both men ran out of steam quickly but O’Reilly was able to secure a few takedowns as the fight wore on and he was able to secure a sloppy decision victory. O’Reilly won as a +125 underdog while Grujic couldn’t pull it off at -135. In the opening bout of the evening, flyweights Alp Ozkilic and Ben Nguyen put on a show for one round. Ozkilic started strong with some heavy body shots but Ngyuen was the superior striker overall and he began to pour it on as the round closed, eventually dropping Ozkilic and forcing the referee to step in with just one second remaining. Nguyen surprised oddsmakers as a +200 underdog while Ozkilic lost his third straight fight as a -220 favorite. Pick ’em Fights In a welterweight contest, Jonavin Webb gave Kyle Noke all that he could handle, landing some pretty heavy shots on the feet and outworking Noke on the ground while showcasing some excellent movement and foot speed throughout. In the end, though, despite an overwhelming consensus of fans and media on Webb, the judges sided with Noke via split decision. Both fighters closed at -105.
