Fight night in calgary lives up to the hype
Hometown favourite Dawodu turns on Saddledome crowd with stunning victory
So, that was fun.
On Saturday night Dana White delivered on his promise and repaid Calgary for the UFC’s disappointing first foray to the city back in 2012.
The UFC Fight Night: Calgary card really did have a little bit of everything.
Both Albertans who competed won.
Jose Aldo brought the crowd to its feet with a thrilling TKO of Jeremy Stephens, and in the process reminded everyone why he’s considered an all-time great.
Finally, in the main event, Dustin Poirier collected a highlight-reel second-round TKO of Eddie Alvarez.
It was a fun, action-packed card with plenty of results that are significant to the upper tier of several UFC weight classes.
That’s all anyone can ask for from a fight card. The UFC put its best foot forward on Saturday, and gave Calgary a spectacular show.
Here are five take-aways:
1
WELL DONE
Official attendance at the Saddledome was 10,603, so nowhere near a sellout.
But this wasn’t a pay-per-view, it was a Fight Night — traditionally the second tier of UFC events — and the gate of $1,705,686.25 was pretty solid, all things considered. It’s also worth wondering what attendance would have looked like if the event hadn’t been held less than two weeks after the end of Stampede.
The fans in the arena were loud and boisterous, as they always are in Canada.
With shows in Moncton and Toronto before the end of the year, the back-half of 2018 could be a fun stretch for mixed martial arts in Canada.
Calgary got it off to a strong start, and it’s not going to take six years for the UFC to return again.
2
STICKING AROUND
It was possible that if Hakeem Dawodu had lost on Saturday night, his short-lived UFC career would have been over.
Instead, the Calgarian put on a brilliant performance in front of a delirious hometown crowd and bounced back nicely from a firstround loss in his UFC debut with a unanimous decision win over Austin Arnett.
Afterwards, Dawodu was clearly emotional, and how could he not be?
The win secured him more fights in the UFC and proved he belonged in MMA’s most prominent and competitive promotion.
He also got to perform on the biggest stage in his hometown. That’s a big moment for everyone.
Canadian MMA fans have been talking about Dawodu for a long time now, and Saturday’s victory over Arnett means we can all get back to plotting out his rise in the featherweight division.
3
SO GOOD
Poirier almost certainly won’t be the next man to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight belt. That’s going to be Conor McGregor. Expect an announcement very soon.
But Poirier needs to be considered among the very upper tier of elite lightweights right now. He’s absolutely deserving of a title shot, whether he gets one or not.
He’s earned performance bonuses in four of his last five fights and hasn’t lost since a bad night in 2016 against Michael Johnson.
All of his opponents have been super skilled, too, and there was nothing surprising about the thrilling way he dispatched Alvarez on Saturday night.
That’s just what Poirier does and he deserves the chance to win the belt he has spent his entire life working toward.
4
UNBELIEVABLE
There were arguably two emotional crescendos on Saturday night’s fight card.
The first came when Dawodu was in the octagon, and the other when Jose Aldo silenced his doubters with a stunning TKO win over Jeremy Stephens.
After a couple years in which he’s faced questions about whether he was past his prime, Aldo stood and traded shots with one of the featherweight division’s heavy hitters.
He survived a few massive blows from Stephens, and then landed two vicious body shots that crumpled the American.
His teammates rushed the cage as soon as the fight was over while the crowd went absolutely crazy.
A hero in his native Brazil, Aldo has always been one of the good guys of the sport. After a few hard years, he deserved this moment. 5
OCANADA
John Makdessi won fight-of-thenight honours for his barnburner against Ross Pearson, and the two Albertans — Hakeem Dawodu and Jordan Mein — both took home victories.
The night didn’t go quite as well for the rest of the Canadians, as Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Randa Markos and Alexis Davis all dropped decision losses.
That’s sort of representative of where we’re at with Canadian MMA right now. There’s lots of talent, but fighters seem to be moving up the rankings slowly.
But the Canadians batted .500 as a group on Saturday, and all things considered, that’s not too bad.
The fans in the arena were loud and boisterous, as they always are in Canada.