The UFC Octagon made the trip to Edmonton, Canada for UFC 215 celebrated at the Rogers Place Arena. Even though the main card lost 2 big fights (Junior Dos Santos vs. Francis Ngannou and Demetrious Johnson vs. Ray Borg), the action in all 5 of its fights had something worthy of mention.
The first fight of the card had all the ingredients to become a contender for Fight of the Night. Jeremy Stephens welcomed Gilbert Melendez to the featherweight division and we all expected a slug fest. But ‘Lil’ Heathen had a different plan, instead of brawling with ‘El Niño’, Stephens masterfully destroyed Gilbert’s leg over the course of 3 rounds. Although Melendez showed tremendous heart by not giving up, his leg took a lot of damage.
https://twitter.com/DiarioMma/status/906709600828891136
After that, we had the opportunity to watch how Ilir Latifi face planted hot prospect Tyson Pedro. The pressure of the European fighter was too much for the Australian to overcome and he ended up losing his first professional fight by unanimous decision.
Espectacular azote de Latifi, Tyson Pedro aterrizó de cara! #UFC215 pic.twitter.com/iTo7Y8cg3S
— Diario MMA (@DiarioMma) September 10, 2017
Then it was the turn for the flyweights who got bumped to the main card after Ray Borg was removed from the card. Henry Cejudo put on what has probably been the best performance of his career to date and stopped Wilson Reis in the second round.
https://twitter.com/DiarioMma/status/906723785767878657
In the co-main event of the evening, former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos made a serious statement towards a possible title shot as a welter. The Brazilian dominated Neil Magny and submitted him in under four minutes with an arm triangle.
https://twitter.com/DiarioMma/status/906728789606105089
Finally, people were probably not impressed by the main event of UFC 215. Amanda Nunes defeated Valentina Shevchenko by split decision in a very tactical fight that had very few moments worth highlighting. It was a very close fight but with little excitement. Perhaps the most exciting moment came at the end of the final round when both fighters seemed to get in an altercation.
https://twitter.com/DiarioMma/status/906741936337416192
