UFC London was in genuine danger of becoming a decision-fest.
While glass-half-full type of people will point to the fact that several decisions on a card is actually a sign of good match-making, fight fans still need fireworks to keep them engaged for an entire card.
Seven of the first eight fights on Saturday night required the judges’ scorecards and the fans in the O2 Arena were visibly growing restless, which is best proved by the fact that a fight broke out in the crowd during the second round of Brad Pickett vs. Marlon Vera.
But while the earlier bouts largely lacked the kind of explosive action that gets arses off seats, the trio of fights that closed out the Octagon’s return to London more than made up for it.
Four of the 11 contests that took place this weekend didn’t go the distance and it was the winning fighters in all four of those bouts that were understandably rewarded with post-fight bonuses.
If not for Marc Diakiese’s stunning one-punch knockout of Teemu Packalen, we shudder to think of how the preliminary card would have gone down among impatient spectators.
Marlon Vera’s late knockout of fan-favourite Brad Pickett, who hung up his gloves in defeat, was not celebrated by the partisan audience.
Having lost the opening two rounds on two judges’ scorecards, Vera needed a stoppage and it arrived when a head kick caught the veteran unawares, bringing Pickett’s professional career to an end in heartbreaking circumstances.
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) March 18, 2017
Following Vera’s rescuing of victory from the jaws of defeat, Gunnar Nelson put in arguably the most stunning performance of his time in the UFC as he rocked Alan Jouban on the feet before forcing the tap with a vice-like guillotine in the second round.
What a performance! @GunniNelson gets the stoppage after a dominant show in the capital. 💪 #UFCLondon https://t.co/lk0cRgeDny
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) March 18, 2017
And there was absolutely no shock in the media centre on Saturday night when it was announced that the event’s headliner, Jimi Manuwa, had also picked up a performance bonus.
Minutes earlier, London’s own Manuwa stiffened up opponent Corey Anderson with a gorgeous left hook to cement his status as a legitimate contender in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
JUST LIKE THAT! @POSTERBOYJM gets the job done with a huge KO! 👊 #UFCLondon https://t.co/KAF04obrez
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) March 18, 2017
Unsurprisingly, the four winners above were the ones who benefited from the $50,000 bonuses which will be added on to their fight purses.
50k!! Congrats @GunniNelson, @POSTERBOYJM, @chitoveraUFC & @Marc_Diakiese on earning POTN at #UFCLondon! pic.twitter.com/v4s1awHoQQ
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) March 18, 2017
Hard to argue with that, really.
