UFC 208 took place on Saturday night from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The main event featured Germaine de Randamie beating Holly Holm by a controversial unanimous decision to become the first UFC women’s featherweight champion. The co-main event featured the return of former middleweight king Anderson Silva who also picked up a controversial unanimous decision victory over Derek Brunson.
Out of the ten fights on the card, only one fight had a stoppage, which was BJJ phenom Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza submitting Tim Boetsch in the first round.
Yes, fights do have winners and losers with the occasional draw. But, here at MMA Imports, we are bucking conventional wisdom. We are going old-school and going street-fight rules in where it is how you look at the fight’s conclusion.
Here are our winners from UFC 208:
– Ryan LaFlare vs. Roan Carneiro: This kicked off UFC 208. In the first two rounds, LaFlare controlled the fight using a mix of body kicks and straight left hands including the second round where he almost finished the Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist. In the final round though, Carneiro, who fight out of American Top Team Atlanta, went to work and was able to get top position after stuffing an attempted takedown from LaFlare. He was pounding out LaFlare but couldn’t get the finish and the hometown native won by unanimous decision. But, if you look at them after the fight, you would say “Jucao” got the win.
Winner: Roan Carnerio
– Rick Glenn vs. Phillipe Nover: The featherweight showdown kicked off the preliminary portion of UFC 208 on Fox Sports 1. Nover used his unique striking to overwhelm Glenn in the first round. But, “The Gladiator” tore the former “Ultimate Fighter” apart with sharp elbows and knees in the last two rounds to secure the split decision victory. Unlike the judges in New York, the unanimous winner belonged to the American.
Winner: Rick Glenn
– Islam Makhachev vs. Nik Lentz: Not too much to describe here as Makhachev used his superior wrestling to overwhelm Lentz for all three rounds. It showed in the scorecards as there were two 30-25 scores. Wrestling with minimal punches and no marks on your face means in this case, both Makhachev and Lentz come up short.
Winner: Draw
– Wilson Reis vs. Ulka Sasaki: This fight was almost a carbon-copy of the previous fight. Sasaki used his five-foot ten inch frame in the first round to pepper Reis with straight lefts and rights but to minimal damage. Reis figured it out in the second round and third rounds, using his wrestling and ji-jitsu to stifle Sasaki, who couldn’t get anything off for the remainder of the fight with little striking from both fighters. Technically, Reis won the fight but not with out criteria.
Winner: Draw
– Belal Muhammad vs. Randy Brown: A weird fight in where Muhammad controlled the fight on the feet, shattering Brown’s legs with thunderous leg kicks and then with the fight in hand, took down Brown to pound him down with strikes. Brown had an occasional counter-strikes which did little damage. In the final minute of the fight and on his back, Brown got in top position and rained down shots on Muhammad. The Illinois native won the fight but the “Looking For a Fight” alum won the war.
Winner: Randy Brown
– Dustin Poirier vs. Jim Miller: No doubt this was the “Fight of the Night” and it wasn’t even close. The first round had Miller and Poirier playing rock-and-sock-em robots which had Poirier staggered at the end of the round. “The Diamond” came out for the second round and proved to be the better striker, throwing more accurately and connecting on the harder shots. Miller came out in the third round and went to work on the legs of American Top Team fighter which left Poirier worse for the wear. Poirier won the fight by majority decision and won the war as Miller had scratches and marks all over his left leg and under his right eye and the recent father barely had a mark on himself.
Winner: Dustin Poirier
– Glover Teixeira vs. Jared Cannonier: All Teixeira from the outset as he wanted no part of the power of Cannonier. Going into the fight, the former light heavyweight title challenger had the better grappling and used it through the fight to grind out the victory. When Cannonier got the fight on the feet especially near the end of the first, he battered the Brazilian and even snapped his head back and wobbled him. Even though Teixeira won the fight, Cannonier won the war on the streets.
Winner: Jared Cannonier
– Ronaldo Souza vs. Tim Boetsch: Heading into this middleweight fight, it was going to go one of two ways: “Jacare” submitting Boetsch or “The Barbarian” knocking out the top middleweight contender. After getting wobbled by a sharp left hook in the first minute of the fight, Souza got the fight to the ground. It was only a matter of time before the fight would end and Souza got ahold of Boetsch’s arm and snapped it like a twig to score the only finish of the night.
Winner: Ronaldo Souza
– Anderson Silva vs. Derek Brunson: The co-main event featured the return of the greatest fighter of all-time against the rising Brunson. We seen more flash than actual substance in the showdown. Brunson was more effective, landing short uppercuts while him and Silva were in the clinch. “The Spider” would come in with occasional knees, kicks and jabs. Neither guy did anything that really put the other in significant danger and came out unscathed. Silva won the fight by unanimous decision but let’s be honest, no one won here.
Winner: Draw
– Germaine de Randamie vs. Holly Holm: It was expected to be a battle on the feet with Holm being an 18-time world boxing champion and de Randamie sporting an undefeated record of 36-0 in kickboxing and won ten Muay Thai world championships where she also went spotless in 47 career fights. The Dutch striker did connect on the more powerful shots including two after the bell shots in the second and third round. Holm had her moments in the fight, connecting on a beautiful head kick near the end of the third round and landed numerous combinations throughout the fight and Holm appeared to be more content in trying to get the fight to the ground where she proved to be unsuccesful. “The Iron Lady” not only won the fight but the war as she came out unscathed and Holm was pretty busted up.
Winner: Germaine de Randamie
Give us your thoughts. Did we nail it or would you change it up?
