UFC Fight Night 65 Results: The Real Winners and Losers
UFC Fight Night 65 was Down Under in Australia, and it was a paradise for the underdogs.
Eight underdogs came out on top at UFC Fight Night 65. The favorites struggled to find paydirt.
Stipe Miocic dominated Mark Hunt until the referee finally stopped the fight in the fifth and final round. It likely should have ended much, much sooner. It was not even remotely competitive and bordered on difficult to watch.
Eleven other bouts came through for an exciting night of fights.
It was a fun event on Fight Pass with close matchups, rising prospects and stellar finishes. You cannot ask for more from a Fight Night card.
Here are the real winners and losers from Saturday's action in Australia.
Winner: Ben Nguyen
1 of 8
That is how you make a debut inside the Octagon.
Ben Nguyen took on Alptekin Ozkilic in the opening fight of the night. Nguyen dropped Ozkilic early and was looking good. Then he gave up position to let Ozkilic change the tides. After getting back to his feet, Nguyen dropped Ozkilic again.
This time Nguyen didn't let him up. A flurry of shots put Ozkilic away with just one second left in the opening round.
The flyweight division needs more bodies, and Nguyen is a welcome addition to this weight class. If he can be this exciting in every outing, he will have a long UFC tenure.
Loser: Kailin Curran
2 of 8
Kailin Curran was the favorite entering her fight against Alex Chambers and was clearly the stronger fighter. She won the first two rounds with relative ease.
The natural atomweight, Chambers, got pummeled.
Chambers was able to get the armbar finish in the third for the upset win, but Curran lost the fight far more than Chambers won it.
Curran was out of danger. She could have easily escaped and forced the fight to return to the feet. Instead, she made a rookie mistake and got tapped. She is only 24, but she has been fighting for a little while. These basic mistakes display a lack of fight IQ.
Curran has been on most people's radar for some time, but after this performance her long-term prospects in this division might not be good. Mistakes like the one she made Saturday can keep you outside of the Top 15.
She has a lot of work to do.
And to top it all off, she didn't have one sponsor for this fight.
Loser: MMA Officiating
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Dylan Andrews got punched in the eye, and the referee halted the action.
MMA officiating always finds a way to make a stupid decision in the cage. It was clearly a punch and not a poke, and even if the referee didn't see that, he cannot stop the action. You can only call fouls that you see. Stopping the bout to check on his eye could have affected the fight.
Luckily, for Brad Scott, it didn't.
He still picked up the win over Andrews.
Officiating in this sport has to get better, but what happened in this fight was Combat Sports 101. Any official knows you do not stop the fight for a punch that lands on the eye.
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Winner: Bec Rawlings
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Bec Rawlings got taken down early, but she quickly changed her position. After that early mishap she dominated Lisa Ellis.
This was a performance that Rawlings really needed.
She is still a lackluster fighter with some excruciating striking technique, but she has a personality that many fans enjoy. Her win at UFC Fight Night 65 will keep her in the UFC, and hopefully we get to see improvements the next time she steps in the cage.
Rawlings won't be a Top Five fighter in this division, but she can be an entertaining addition to any undercard.
Winner: Daniel Hooker
5 of 8
What a KO!
Dan Hooker pasted Hatsu Hioki with a high kick and followed up with a vicious punch to shut out his opponent's lights on the mat. Hooker was the fifth underdog on the evening to come through.
Hioki has had a rough go in the UFC, but his losses have come against the top end of the division. And he had never been knocked unconscious. Hooker's win announces him as a legitimate threat. And that's huge.
Hooker should take a big step forward at 145 pounds.
This is the way stars are made. Look for bigger things in the near future for Hooker.
Loser: Anthony Perosh
6 of 8
It may be time for Anthony Perosh to hang up the gloves.
He is no spring chicken, and Sean O'Connell blasted him quickly. It wasn't competitive, and O'Connell isn't even a full-time or athletically gifted fighter. He has power, though, and he clocked Perosh.
When that is how your performances start to go, it is time to think about another line of work.
Perosh has provided some fun performances, but watching him eat it like that is not fun. Most fans would rather a fighter hang them up than see him suffer more brain damage against lower-level opposition. There is nothing for Perosh to prove to us.
This was depressing.
Winner: Robert Whittaker
7 of 8
Wow!
I was not a believer in Robert Whittaker against Brad Tavares. Tavares is a big middleweight, and his style matched up well against Whittaker. But Whittaker touched him up with short, clean punches quickly.
All it took was 44 seconds to get the brutal KO finish.
Whittaker will jump up the middleweight ladder after this showing. Tavares was the No. 14-ranked middleweight, and he got dusted in less than a minute.
The Australian striker looks great at middleweight. He is a little undersized but does not get drawn out from cutting weight. That helps him put full power into his strikes. Some fighters are better off by not cutting weight, and it appears Whittaker is one of those athletes. He had an outstanding performance against Tavares.
Loser: Mark Hunt
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When Mark Hunt made his trek up the heavyweight rankings, he surprised a lot of people. He was in exciting fights where he would finish with big knockouts.
In losses to Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum, he was competitive. At UFC Fight Night 65, he was not.
Stipe Miocic dominated Hunt from bell to bell. Miocic used his full arsenal against Hunt to get the win. The Super Samoan was too tough for his own good.
Miocic fought smart. He tired Hunt out while keeping a high pace. Hunt did not have the cardio or defense to hang with Miocic. That just meant he got to be a punching bag for more than 20 minutes.
Hunt did not look good at all in this fight. It signaled the end of the road for him as a Top Five heavyweight. He has slowed over the years. He is still deceptive with his hand speed, but that goes away quickly at his age (41). Hunt hung tough, but he was no match for a fighter like Miocic.
This was hard to watch.
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