The Ultimate Fighting Championship was live from Austin, TX this past Saturday night with UFC Fight Night 57, which was headlined by a five round featherweight contest between Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson. After the event concluded, the UFC awarded $50,000 to two fighters for ‘Performance of the Night’ and two fighters for ‘Fight of the Night’. The lines to wager on these props were available at Several Bookmakerss. Oleksiy Olynyk earns Performance of the Night (formerly, Knockout of the Night) Jared Rosholt has Olynyk hurt on the feet several times throughout the couple minutes of action, but the Ukrainian covered up and survived every onslaught, ultimately coming back to put Rosholt out cold with a 1-2 combination during an exchange on the feet. The right hook hit him, and the left put his lights out, giving Olynyk his second straight win inside the Octagon, both of them in impressive fashion coming inside of the very first round. Other noteworthy T/KOs: – Doo Ho Choi defeated Juan Puig via TKO at only 18 seconds into the very first round of action, and the Korean lightweight looked tremendously impressive in his Octagon debut. Frankie Edgar earns Performance of the Night (formerly, Submission of the Night) Edgar came through with arguably the single best performance of his professional mixed martial arts career against Cub Swanson in the headliner of this past Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 57 in Austin. He dominated the Jackson-Winklejohn MMA product throughout the fight, ultimately finishing him with a neck-crack in the very tail end of the fifth frame, simultaneously setting the record for latest finish in UFC history. Edgar is now 2-0 since his bid for the featherweight gold, with both victories coming inside the distance, and he hopes he has done enough to earn a second shot. Only one man potentially stands in his way: Conor McGregor. Other noteworthy Submissions: – Akhbar Arreola defeated the veteran Yves Edwards via armbar submission in the very first round of action, likely serving the “ThugJitsu Master” his walking papers from the promotion. Paige VanZant and Kailin Curran earn Fight of the Night for delivering the most entertaining women’s strawweight bout thus fur inside the Octagon. It was very impressive promotional debut for VanZant, who defeated fellow newcomer Curran via TKO in the third round of action. The first round of action was closely contested and very entertaining, and in my opinion, it was also the single best round on the entire fight card and what won the girls this bonus. The first round was close, but Curran badly faded in the second and was dominated the rest of the way until ultimately being stopped via TKO in the second half of the third and final round of action. VanZant really made some noise in the division and I look forward to seeing her again. Although Curran came out on the short end of this one, I think it’s safe to say that she also has a future in this newborn UFC division. Other noteworthy fights: – Roger Narvaez defeated Luke Barnatt via split decision on the judges’ scorecards to pick up his first win in the UFC. The first couple of rounds were close, but it was all Narvaez in the third, as he rocked and nearly finished the Brit, who was in survival mode for the majority of the frame. It was a big win for the Mexican, and one of the more entertaining bouts on the preliminary card. – Ruslan Magomedov defeated Josh Copeland via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards to go 2-0 inside the Octagon. It was an impressive outing by the Russian, who used his superior technical striking to outpoint the former RFA heavyweight champion. Both fighters were trying to put each other away throughout the fight, and although there was no finish, this heavyweight scrap proved to be quite entertaining for all three rounds. – Matt Wiman defeated Isaac Vallie-Flagg via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards in arguably the most entertaining bout of the evening. It was a back and forth battle that saw both lightweights have their moments, but it was ultimately “Handsome” who got the better of the exchanges inside the clinch and on the mat to pick up the nod from the judges. – Joseph Benavidez defeated Dustin Ortiz via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards to become 2-0 inside the Octagon. Benavidez was looking for the finish throughout the fight, but Ortiz’s chin held up, and he showed a great amount of heart throughout the fight. It was an entertaining scrap in the UFC’s flyweight division, and one that left fight fans looking forward to both of their next outings.
