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By: Dan Moore, MMATorch UK Contributor
"It all worked out in the end." That's probably the best way to sum up UFC on FUEL 9 last night. The doom and gloom mongers went to town earlier this week upon hearing the news that Alexander Gustafsson would have to withdraw from his main event fight with Gegard Mousasi. Yes, losing the very accomplished hometown hero was a major blow of epic proportions, but last night proved beyond doubt that one man doesn't make an event.
At no point was the arena ever at capacity last night. By the time the first preliminary fight started it was only half full. The crowd were into Papy Abedi vs. Besam Yousef as both are adopted Swedes, but their enthusiasm waned as the fight progressed. Both had nothing left in the gas tank by the mid-way point of the fight and although it wasn't awful, it was far from a classic. I scored it for Abedi but no one would have argued too much if Yousef had got the win instead.
Tom Lawlor sank in an absolutely superb guillotine choke on Michael Kuiper and on most other fight cards that would have earned him a nice little bonus. Kuiper was actually dominating him up to that point and had taken the first round. Ryan LaFlare manhandled Ben Alloway for 15 minutes and pretty much took their fight wherever he wanted it to go. After that performance I'm sure his next opponent will be a more stellar test for him. Alloway couldn't land the heavy right and once he knew that tactic wouldn't work again, he had no Plan B.
Conor McGregor is a superstar in the making and you heard it here first (you didn't but let's pretend you did anyway). I've been following him for a while now, and anyone who has seen his recent fights for Cage Warriors knows he has the potential to go far. Biggest question throughout the build up was whether or not he could do it against a better standard of opponent. Brimage was a great test, and the way in which McGregor won will have people talking about him for a while yet. Dana White confirmed last night that barring injury, McGregor will be on the Fox Sports 1 card in Boston this August.
Adlan Amagov looked impressive in his win over Chris Spang. His unorthodox striking, especially his kicks will be a tough puzzle to crack for whoever he fights next. Spang got the Octagon jitters and despite plenty of forward movement, he never let go or got into any kind of rhythm. Tor Troeng did exactly what everyone expected of him and made light work of Adam Cella who was clearly out of his depth. Someone in the press conference asked Troeng who makes it to the TUF finale taking place next weekend. He was going to divulge the top secret information until an alert PR lady spoiled the party and stopped him.
Those fans in Sweden sure do love Reza Medadi. Had Pickett vs. Easton not won FOTN, this one would have surely taken home the bonus money. Great back and forth fight which had Medadi seeing stars early on. It's hard not to like Medadi and root for him. He's intense and the (anaconda) choke that finished Johnson led to an eruption of noise in the arena I've never experienced before. It was a great way to finish the preliminary card fights.
Corassani vs. Peralta was another solid and enjoyable fight. Both guys had their moments during the fight but ultimately Corassani showed some excellent footwork which meant Peralta just couldn't get going, less for one flurry in the second round. Pablo Garza was the most disappointing fighter on the night and one who just didn't turn up again. For someone with such a far superior height and reach advantage, he did nothing to keep Brandao at distance. Brandao is as talented as they come; but for it to only take one takedown and then lock in the arm-triangle with ease, was extremely poor on Garza's part.
Pickett vs. Easton was terrific and the rightful recipient of fight of the night. Both were constant in looking for ways to take the advantage and Pickett even managed to slam Easton, which I'm sure hasn't been done before. Easton has such strange body movement and Pickett for a moment, just couldn't work him out. The stand and slug mode at the end of the third was the perfect finale for a great fight. Surely a fight with Michael McDonald is coming soon for the Londoner. He's lost to both Barao and Wineland in the last 18 months so he isn't getting a title shot without at least one more notable win.
Mitrione did what was expected of him and 19 seconds was about right for the finish. Nothing more to say about that one other than the fact De Fries won't be a UFC fighter for very much longer. Same could be said of Ryan Couture if the UFC throw him into another tough fight. He pressed Pearson up against the cage early on like a true Couture, but Pearson was just too good for him. The Englishman even revealed after that he suffered a suspected broken foot in the pre-fight warm up. That really doesn't say a lot for the capability of Couture. One more tough fight for him and he'll be looking for another job.
On to the main event and the only big winner to emerge from the chaos this week is none other than Ilir Latifi. No one expected him to go three rounds, and despite the obvious difference in ability to Mousasi, he didn't disappoint the fans in attendance. Putting on a determined and resolute performance. Mousasi was in a no win situation. Don't get me wrong, he fought smart and jabbed Latifi into a bloody mess. But the Swede was there for the taking in the later rounds, and let's be honest, there was little chance of Latifi actually finishing Mousasi, even if the fight did end up with Latifi on top looking to land bombs.
Mousasi said afterwards that he had an injury heading into the fight and that 95% of the UFC roster would have withdrawn. Fair enough if that turns out to be true, but I doubt many will be screaming out for Mousasi vs. Gustafsson anytime soon. All in all it was a fantastic night and I'd easily score the card 8.5 out of 10. Despite the pre-fight commotion, the fans in attendance went home very happy. The atmosphere at times was electric and positively deafening. I've seen live events in America, Germany and England before now, but the fans last night were easily the best yet. Bring on Manchester in October.
Follow me on Twitter, @MMATorchDan
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_16399.shtml
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