UFC 330 went down on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. The event featured 12 fights and eight finishes, making for a very exciting card overall, though the two title fights at the top of the bill weren’t exactly thrilling.
Now that the event is over, let’s take a look at the biggest storylines from the stacked card.
Islam Makhachev sets UFC win-streak record
In the headliner of UFC 330, Islam Makhachev defeated Ian Machado Garry via unanimous decision to successfully defend the UFC welterweight title in his first title defence.
This fight was a much more difficult welterweight title bout for Makhachev than the previous one that he won last year at UFC 322, when he first claimed the title against Jack Della Maddalena. In that fight, Makhachev took down his foe at will. But this time around, Machado Garry made Makhachev work hard for the takedown, and the Irishman damaged the champ on the feet.
However, Makhachev landed a massive head kick in the second round to stun Machado Garry, who was never truly able to recover and get back into the fight.
With the victory, Makhachev set the UFC record for the longest win streak with 17 in a row, breaking the previous record that he co-held with Anderson Silva.
Now that Makhachev has won his first welterweight title defence, he will likely be matched up with either Michael Morales or Carlos Prates in his next fight. While Machado Garry was a tough challenge for Makhachev, both Morales and Prates may be even harder matchups for the champion, since they both possess legit KO power.
Mackenzie Dern successfully defends title
The co-main event saw UFC women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern defeat Canada’s own Gillian Robertson via unanimous decision to defend her title.
The fight was not the most enthralling, as Dern essentially took Robertson to the ground and held her in top position for five rounds. But, in all, it was enough to get her the win.
Now that Dern has gotten her first successful title defence out of the way, look for the UFC to match her up against former champion Zhang Weili for her second defence at 115 pounds.
Local underdog dominates
A Pennsylvania native, middleweight Dustin Stoltzfus was a huge underdog in his main-card fight against Mansur Abdul-Malik, but he defied the odds with an incredible upset victory.
Although most analysts thought Abdul-Malik would dominate the fight with both his striking and grappling, it was quite the opposite. Stoltzfus was better everywhere, eventually sinking in the fight-ending rear-naked choke in the second round for the upset win.
Given Stoltzfus was a 5-to-1 underdog, this was quite an against-all-odds win for him, and one few saw coming, as there weren’t many giving Stoltzfus much of a chance.
Submission of the Year candidate
Flyweight veteran Charles Johnson turned in a Submission of the Year candidate when he finished Eduardo Chapolin in the third round with the rarely seen Scottish Twister.
This was a very difficult fight for Johnson, who was getting beaten up by Chapolin throughout the first two rounds. But after Chapolin — who took the fight on just four days’ notice — began to fatigue in the third, Johnson came back and finished him with an amazing contortion.
Light Heavyweight Prospect Emerges
UFC newcomer Lucas Fernando made his promotional debut in the early prelims, and he looked phenomenal as he destroyed Rafael Tobias, finishing him in the third round with a knee to the body and punches. It was an eye-opening performance by the Brazilian, who looks like someone fight fans should keep an eye on at 205 lbs.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan raved about Fernando’s performance throughout the fight, as his kickboxing looked absolutely outstanding. At 29 years old, Fernando is in his athletic prime, and he looks like a fantastic addition to the light heavyweight division.
A historic upset
Kicking off the card, welterweight Myktybek Orolbai was expected to steamroll 39-year-old Philadelphia native Jeremiah Wells as a -1200 favourite. And, for the first two rounds of the fight, it looked like that would be the case, as Orolbai dominated Wells with his grappling.
But early in the third, Wells rocked Orolbai with a massive punch and immediately grabbed his neck, putting him to sleep with a ninja choke to pull off an absolutely stunning comeback upset win as a massive +710 betting underdog.
According to the odds, Wells was the fourth-biggest underdog to win in UFC history, behind only Shana Dobson (+950 against Mariya Agapova), Matt Serra (+850 against Georges St-Pierre), and Holly Holm (+830 against Ronda Rousey). It was an amazing win for Wells, and the fact that he did it in his hometown made it even sweeter.
Overall, UFC 330 was an awesome card that featured plenty of finishes, some massive upsets, and two dominant wins by the UFC champions in their first respective title defences.
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