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While it didn’t have much hype on it – probably due to it preceding one of the most stacked events of 2022 – UFC Fight Night: Alexa Grasso vs. Viviane Araujo was strong in execution.
While the headliner of last night’s UFC Fight Night didn’t produce an explosive finish, there were a number of other excellent finishes up and down the card to make things memorable.
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With a bunch of violent knockouts in particular, the promotion could easily have handed out more $50k bonuses than they eventually did.
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Here are the five best finishes from UFC Fight Night: Alexa Grasso vs. Viviane Araujo.
#5. Joanderson Brito wastes no time in dispatching Lucas Alexander via submission
The last time aggressive Brazilian Joanderson Brito stepped into the octagon, he needed just 41 seconds to take out veteran Andre Fili with a nasty rush of strikes.
Last night’s fight took ‘Tubarao’ a little longer, but UFC newcomer Lucas Alexander still only lasted just over two minutes, as Brito completely dominated him before dispatching him with a rear naked choke.
This wasn’t a victory of finesse for Brito, as he basically overpowered his foe, snatching back control before suplexing him all over the place to set up the choke. The entire fight was basically a highlight reel for ‘Tubarao’, and it was a surprise to see that he was overlooked for one of the event’s $50k performance bonuses.
Does this win make Brito a contender at featherweight? His defeat back in January to Bill Algeo remains a red flag of sorts, but based on his last two fights, as well as a ledger that features six knockout wins and six tapout wins with only two decisions, it’s likely that the Brazilian will settle into a role as a reliable action fighter. And that’s fine, as it should extend his career with the UFC by some length.
#4. Dusko Todorovic claims a bonus $50k by destroying Jordan Wright with elbows
The middleweight clash between Dusko Todorovic and Jordan Wright was always likely to be the frontrunner for the 'Fight of the Night' award, as the two men had gone the distance just once between them in a combined 12 fights.
Unsurprisingly, the fight did feature a ton of action and earned both men an extra $50k – but it was Todorovic who came out on top as he took out Wright in genuinely nasty fashion midway through the second round.
The fight certainly wouldn’t have won many plaudits for technique, as both fighters looked largely sloppy throughout, and in the second round in particular, they looked exhausted and the finish came after Todorovic hit an odd takedown from a front headlock and then stepped to mount with no defense from Wright.
However, nobody could question the series of thudding elbows that ended the contest, as ‘Thunder’ basically bounced Wright’s head off the canvas, and it was arguable that referee Chris Tognoni might’ve been late in stopping proceedings.
Either way, this fight went exactly as it was advertised to do, and comfortably produced one of the best finishes of the night.
#3. Pete Rodriguez picks up his first UFC win by knocking out Mike Jackson
While there’s probably an argument that neither man really belongs in the UFC, there could be no questions around welterweight Pete Rodriguez’s violent finish of Mike Jackson, which opened last night’s event with a real bang.
Rodriguez had only been seen in the octagon once before, suffering a bad knockout loss at the hands of Jack Della Maddalena in January, while Jackson – better known as one of the two men to beat CM Punk in his short UFC run – had last been seen winning a weird fight via disqualification in April.
Of the two, though, Rodriguez always looked like the more natural fighter – he at least had four wins on the regional circuit before arriving in the UFC – and it didn’t take him long to prove his superiority last night.
After just over a minute of action, ‘Dead Game’ dropped Jackson with a body shot, and after failing to finish him there, he followed with a winging left hand and a brutal knee to the jaw, switching his lights off immediately.
Jackson’s fall was actually quite scary, as he ended up folded against the fence in a similar position to an infamous knockout victim of Tank Abbott in the 90’s, but thankfully, he came round shortly after.
Regardless, this finish was pure highlight reel fodder, and even if Rodriguez never wins another bout in the octagon, he’ll always have this one to look back upon with pride.
#2. Alonzo Menifield shows off his scary power to take out Misha Cirkunov
The light heavyweight clash between heavy hitter Alonzo Menifield and powerful grappler Misha Cirkunov was only ever going to go one of two ways; either Menifield would knock Cirkunov out, or the Latvian-Canadian would find a way to submit ‘Atomic’.
In the end, it was the former that turned out to be true. Cirkunov suffered a slight cut over his left eye coming out of an early clinch, and the sight of the blood seemed to stir Menifield on like he was a great white shark.
He rushed his opponent, clipped him with a left hook that wrecked his equilibrium, and sent Cirkunov crashing to the ground.
Realistically, he was probably out there, but that didn’t stop ‘Atomic’ from dribbling his head off the mat with some follow-up shots before referee Mark Smith was able to step in and haul him off. Unsurprisingly, it was some time before Cirkunov came around.
The win was Menifield’s fourth via knockout in his UFC career, and it’s arguable that it was his most brutal, too. With 12 of his 13 career wins coming via stoppage, it’s clear that fans should not blink when ‘Atomic’ is in action, and this was just more evidence of that.
#1. Jonathan Martinez spoils Cub Swanson’s bantamweight debut by wrecking his leg
Outside of the headline bout, the most intriguing fight on tap last night was probably the bantamweight fight between Cub Swanson and Jonathan Martinez. Longtime veteran Swanson was making his debut at 135lbs after a decade of wars in the UFC, and his odd media day appearance meant nobody was really talking about Martinez.
That seemed to suit ‘The Dragon’, who shut out the noise and produced arguably his best performance inside the octagon to date to take out the veteran in the second round.
Martinez always seemed to be one step ahead of Swanson on the feet despite all of the veteran’s experience, and he spent the first round working the veteran over with kicks, landing telling ones to the legs and body.
A knee to the head dropped ‘Killer Cub’ at the end of the round, but the buzzer sounded before Martinez could finish him off. At that point, though, the writing was on the wall.
The second round saw ‘The Dragon’ hurt his foe to the body again, but it was his kicks to Swanson’s left leg that really did the damage. With little time remaining in the round, Swanson was able to survive one knockdown via the leg kick, but a second one sent him crashing down and there was no way he could continue.
Referee Herb Dean did well to stop the bout as ‘Killer Cub’ was rolling around at the time, but clearly wasn’t defending himself after taking a series of truly vicious shots largely to his knee joint.
While he wasn’t garnering any attention coming in, the win was actually Martinez’s fourth in a row in the UFC – and now he has a victory over a big name, ‘The Dragon’ might find himself under the radar.
