The best and worst from UFC on ESPN: Barboza vs. Gaethje

#2 Worst: Big finishes couldn’t cover up dull fights

Josh Emmett's knockout of Michael Johnson was great - but the fight was not

The finishes to the fights between Paul Craig and Kennedy Nzechukwu and Michael Johnson and Josh Emmett will probably be replayed plenty of times after last night; Craig pulled off another Hail Mary submission late in the third round after losing the first two, while Emmett switched Johnson’s lights off with a perfect right hand after largely being picked apart for almost the entire fight.

Essentially, the endings were the kind of moments that live long in the memory.

Unfortunately, the fights that preceded them weren’t. Craig vs. Nzechukwu just wasn’t a good fight at all; the action was somewhat sloppy, it was filled with fouls from both men, and the final submission seemed to be as much down to Nzechukwu’s inexperience than Craig’s skill.

And Johnson vs. Emmett was basically dull, with Emmett unable to catch Johnson – before that big KO anyway - and Johnson happy to pick him off from the outside with his superior movement, but didn’t really pick up the volume.

Overall neither fight will go down as amongst the worst of 2019 due to their amazing finishes, but they certainly weren’t as good as the clips of those finishes that are currently floating around on social media suggested they were.

MMA is the kind of sport that can see finishes like Emmett’s easily go viral – but for the fans who watched the full show, the whole fight wasn’t all that much fun.