UFC Fight Night 72 was the UFC’s fourth event in a seven-day span, so you can forgive fans for not giving this card much attention in the lead-up to it. Yes, it was the UFC’s first show in Scotland, but with so many other shows happening in the last week, it kind of got lost in the shuffle despite being a decent card on paper. And it played out that way, as well, as it was a pretty solid event for the most part, one that featured 12 fights, many of them showcasing European fighters. Now, let’s rate the card. The opening two Fight Pass bouts were awesome. Daniel Omielanczuk brutally knocked out Chris de la Rocha to start the card off with a bang, and then Jimmie Rivera followed it up by knocking out Marcus Brimage. Both knockouts were excellent, and on many other cards may have been in the running for “Performance of the Night” bonuses, but when you’re the first or second fight of the night, unless you land a spinning wheel kick or something crazy it’s hard to get a bonus when so many other fights are left to go. And unfortunately for Omielanczuk and Rivera, that’s exactly what happened. The televised prelims were pretty good as well. Robert Whiteford kicked things off with a brutal knockout of Paul Redmond which was one of the better finishes of the night. It was followed it up with a bit of a stinker between Teemu Packalen and Mickael Lebout, but fortunately for the fans Ilir Latifi made everyone quickly forget about that fight with a brutal knockout victory over Hans Stringer. The “main event” of the prelims between Patrick Holohan and Vaughan Lee didn’t feature a finish, but it was a decent little scrap, and as a whole the prelims were good. The main card was pretty good, too, although not great. Things opened with a beautiful knockout by Stevie Ray on Leonardo Mafra, but the Leon Edwards vs. Pawel Pawlak fight wasn’t very entertaining. Fortunately for the fans, Joanne Calderwood and Cortney Casey put on a show in the next fight, with each woman going all out in a three-round, Fight of the Night-winning effort. That was followed up by a beautiful submission win over Joseph Duffy. Unfortunately, the co-main event between Ross Pearson and Evan Dunham wasn’t the most entertaining fight as what looked like a striker’s delight on paper turned into a wrestling match. The main event was the opposite, as most expected Michael Bisping and Thales Leites to engage in a wrestling-heavy affair, but Leites instead decided to stand and bang with Bisping, but despite hitting the Brit with some heavy shots, ultimately lost the decision on the judges’ cards. Overall, I’d give UFC Fight Night 72 a 7/10 rating. The prelims were very good for the most part and helped prop up the score, because the main card wasn’t as good as I expected it to be outside of a few cool finishes and the Calderwood vs. Casey fight. This was a solid card, but nothing special, although we have been spoiled in recent weeks with some awesome cards. Next up, UFC on FOX 16. Let’s see how that plays out, because on paper, it looks like it could be one of the best cards of the summer.
