If someone tells you about UFC Seattle and omits any reference to the main event, they will likely speak glowingly about one of the most action-packed UFC cards in a while. Unfortunately, Song Yadong’s technical unanimous decision win over Henry Cejudo in the main event left a bad taste after such an awesome group of fights.
Yadong was up on all three judges’ scorecards when he double eye-poked Cejudo. The latter took the full five minutes, finished the third round, and then told his corner and the Octagon doctor that he couldn’t see.
Referee Jason Herzog began the fourth round, and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards, where Song wound up the victor. It felt blah, and it was easy to see during the post-event presser that UFC President Dana White wasn’t happy with the ending.
While Song and Cejudo talked about doing a rematch, White shut it down, saying he didn’t want to see the two fighters run it back. I agree. I’d rather see Song move on and Cejudo call it a career.
I was convinced after watching this fight that the former two-division champion can be competitive against solid fighters, but his days as a serious contender are over.
Fluffy is a Problem at Middleweight
Anthony Hernandez faced Brendan Allen in a rematch in the co-main event. Hernandez has now won both meetings, as he out-worked Allen in a knock-down-drag-out grappling battle.
After eating a tough head kick – as he did in the first fight – Hernandez shook it off and won the grappling exchanges in two of the three rounds to take the victory.
Here are the numbers from Dana White’s post-event presser and the performance bonus award winners.
- $3.84 million gate
- 18,287 attendance
- Fight of the Night – Menifield vs. Walker
- Performance of the Night – Jean Silva
- Performance of the Night – Ricky Simon
UFC Seattle Results
- Song Yadong def. Henry Cejudo via unanimous technical decision (30-27, 29-28×2)
- Anthony Hernandez def. Brendan Allen via unanimous decision (29-28×3)
- Rob Font def. Jean Matsumoto via split decision (29-28×2, 28-29)
- Jean Silva def. Melsik Baghdasaryan via TKO (punches) – Round 1
Silva is an eccentric personality with colossal power. We saw it again on Saturday when he destroyed Baghdasaryan in the first round. Take a look:
- Alonzo Menifield def. Julius Walker via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
- Ion Cutelaba def. Ibo Aslan via submission (arm triangle)
The two light heavyweights came out swinging heavy artillery. Ultimately, Cutelaba would get the win with a tight arm triangle. Here is a look at the finish:
- Melquizael Costa def. Andre Fili via submission (guillotine) – Round 1
In one of the most impressive performances of the evening, Costa shut down a kickboxing battle after Fili egregiously put himself in a position to be guillotined. Costa obliged with this sublime finish:
- Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Nick Klein via TKO (punches) – Round 2
This fight was a battle between recent Dana White Contender Series standouts. Klein stepped in on short notice and had his moments, but in the second round, Abdul-Malik did what most expected. He plowed through Klein en route to the TKO win. Here is the finish:
- Ricky Simon def. Javid Basharat via KO (punch) – Round 1
Easily, the ugliest KO of the night. Simon destroyed Basharat with a huge right hand that had the latter out before he hit the mat.
- Austin Vanderford def. Nikolay Veretennikov via TKO (punches) – Round 2
This is how you make a splash in your short-notice UFC debut. Vanderford dominated Veretennikov and the latter got angry about something after the fight. It was unclear, but Veretennikov took the L, nonetheless.
- Nursulton Ruziboev def. Eric McConico via TKO (punches) – Round 2
Ruziboev stunned McConico early in the second round and finished the deal with impressive follow-up punches. Here is the finish.
- Modestas Bukauskas def. Raffael Cerqueira via KO (punch) – Round 1
Bukauskas set the tone for the evening with this crazy KO win. If it wasn’t for all of the KOs that followed, this would have been one of the most memorable. Take a look:
