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Last night’s UFC Fight Night saw the promotion visit London. Despite no title bout in the main event, the show turned out to be a stone-cold classic.
Nearly every fight on offer delivered above and beyond expectations, with many UFC stars seemingly producing some stunning performances. With many fighters looking to climb the rankings in their respective divisions following their exploits last night, there were a few big winners.
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Therefore, for once, this list has been hard to narrow down. On that note, here are the five biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall:
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#5. Paul Craig – defeated Nikita Krylov in UFC light heavyweight bout
His fight ended up being shown as part of the preliminary bouts rather than on the main card. However, there's no disputing the notion that Paul Craig should be considered one of last night’s biggest winners.
‘Bearjew’ was faced with a tricky opponent in Nikita Krylov, who was ranked two spots above the Scotsman at #9 in the light heavyweight division. More importantly, on paper, it felt like ‘The Miner’ had the skills to push Craig, especially on the ground.
That wasn’t the case, though. Krylov did take Craig down but simply didn’t respect the Scotsman’s submission game enough as he fell victim to a slick triangle choke late in the first round.
Incredibly, ‘Bearjew’ is now on one of the best runs in the UFC light heavyweight division. He hasn’t lost a fight since his June 2019 defeat against Alonzo Menifield, putting together a record of 6-0-1.
When you also consider that he holds wins over Mauricio Rua and Jamahal Hill, it’s difficult not to consider Craig a bonafide contender for the UFC light heavyweight title. Based on some of his earlier showings, nobody would have seen that coming – making him one of last night’s biggest winners.
#4. Ilia Topuria – defeated Jai Herbert in UFC lightweight bout
Despite being 3-0 in the UFC thus far, Ilia Topuria was flying under the radar coming into his lightweight clash with Jai Herbert last night. However, that changed late in the week.
‘El Matador’ was involved in a wild confrontation with Paddy Pimblett at a hotel on Thursday. Suddenly, the Georgian had far more spotlight on him than ever before. That meant that with a win over Herbert, a fight with ‘The Baddy’ would be a distinct possibility – something that could offer him a path to potential stardom.
While it didn’t look like he’d pull it off early on, Topuria ended up living up to his end of the bargain. He destroyed Herbert with a brutal combination of strikes in the second round.
The win has moved him up to 4-0 in the octagon, with three straight finishes by knockout. Even if the promotion chooses not to match him with Pimblett next time out, it’s difficult not to be excited about the future of this prospect.
Based on last night, the sky appears to be the limit for him. If he can continue to perform like this, he’ll become a star in his own right shortly.
#3. Paddy Pimblett – defeated Kazula Vargas in UFC lightweight bout
While he didn’t seem to show it at all, there was a lot of pressure on Paddy Pimblett last night. ‘The Baddy’, who broke into the UFC last year with a win over Luigi Vendramini, had tons of hype around him. However, there was an argument that he perhaps hadn’t earned it.
That meant he needed to not only beat Kazula Vargas, but he also needed to dispatch the Mexican with relative ease if he wanted to convince everyone about his pedigree.
Thankfully, Pimblett did just that, choking out Vargas in the first round to literally blow the roof off the O2 Arena. Sure, he took a couple of shots along the way, but who doesn’t in the octagon? For the most part, this was a flawless victory.
Where next for ‘The Baddy’, then? The logical booking would be to match him with Ilia Topuria, who he clashed with last week. However, the UFC’s matchmakers may want to hold off on that to build Pimblett up a little more slowly.
Either way, though, it appears that ‘The Baddy’ has everything needed to become the UK’s new poster boy in MMA. As long as he can keep performing like this, his future stardom is almost a guarantee.
#2. Arnold Allen – defeated Dan Hooker in UFC featherweight bout
Paddy Pimblett and his teammate Molly McCann garnered the most crowd noise with their big wins last night.
However, it's probably safe to say that two fighters took the biggest steps towards UFC title contention last night, making them the biggest winners overall. The first of them was Arnold Allen, who took out Dan Hooker with a violent first-round TKO, picking up the biggest win of his MMA career in the process.
‘Almighty’ was widely expected to beat Hooker, who hadn’t fought at 145 lbs in a few years and appeared to be slowing down slightly. However, given that he’d only ever finished one foe in the octagon before, Allen wasn’t expected to do it in this fashion.
The fact that Allen caught Hooker out with a violent salvo of strikes, though, means he’s likely to garner far more hype than he did for his equally impressive shutouts against Sodiq Yussuf and Gilbert Melendez.
Allen was ranked at #7 in the featherweight division coming into last night. However, this win should be enough to leapfrog him over the likes of Josh Emmett, Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez – especially as he’s now riding a nine-fight win streak.
Essentially, ‘Almighty’ looks ready to make a run at Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight crown. That means a meeting with someone like Brian Ortega or Max Holloway could be in the offing, making him a huge winner from last night.
#1. Tom Aspinall – defeated Alexander Volkov in UFC heavyweight bout
Undoubtedly last night’s biggest winner was Tom Aspinall. The heavyweight prospect blew right through perennial gatekeeper Alexander Volkov in the event’s headline bout. Moreover, he also made it look so easy that it’s difficult not to see him as a genuine UFC title contender now.
Many expected Aspinall to struggle with Volkov, who looked set to enjoy a reach and height advantage over him. Moreover, the latter has had far more experience in the octagon than the Liverpool-based Aspinall.
However, that wasn’t the case at all. Aspinall outstruck ‘Drago’ standing, then took him down and beat the hell out of him en route a first-round submission win via a straight armlock.
Post-fight, Aspinall called out Tai Tuivasa, and that sounds like a good fight for him. ‘Bam Bam’ is currently ranked #3 in the division – meaning he’ll be higher than Aspinall even after the latter’s likely climb next week. Nevertheless, on paper, at least, Aspinall would be favored to win.
If he could win a fight like that, would the UFC throw him into a heavyweight title bout? Given the question marks over the future of current champion Francis Ngannou, it seems likely. That means that Aspinall would have a shot at emulating Michael Bisping by becoming only the second fighter from the UK to claim gold in the octagon.
Overall, this was a truly eye-opening performance from the Liverpool-based fighter, and there’s no question he was the event’s biggest winner.
