The UFC Octagon touched down in Oklahoma Metropolis on Saturday night time for the UFC Battle Evening occasion, that includes two former champions on the high of a struggle card lined with the game’s rising stars.
This is an influence rating of Oklahoma Metropolis’s high performers of the night time.
UFC Oklahoma Metropolis Energy Rankings
1. Doricus du Plessis
Doricas du Plessis arrived in Oklahoma Metropolis with some extent to show, and he proved it emphatically. The South African placed on an important efficiency that confirmed his improved takedown protection, dominating former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman over 5 rounds in Saturday night time’s primary occasion.
Du Plessis’ win meant he was again within the championship dialog at 185 kilos, and he made it clear what he wished to occur subsequent: an opportunity to regain the undisputed middleweight championship.
That might imply a 3rd matchup with Sean Strickland, who at the moment holds the belt. Nevertheless, du Plessis has already recorded two wins in opposition to him and can be very assured of scoring a hat-trick and profitable the belt once more.
2. Tommy McMillen
Tommy “Gun” McMillen confirmed up in Oklahoma Metropolis and made his presence recognized with an important efficiency defeating fellow rising star Alberto Montez in a featherweight bout.
McMillen took full benefit of his attain benefit and utterly destroyed Montez on the ft, setting a brand new document for most important strikes in a three-round featherweight struggle, in the end stopping Montez within the third spherical and ending a high-profile efficiency.
The Sean O’Malley protégé was additionally betting on himself a hefty $100,000 bonus for Efficiency of the Evening, however extra importantly, he was making a press release to the UFC that he was a proficient new pressure within the division.
Daniel Cormier known as him “a promoter’s dream. He can do no fallacious.”
3. Fatima Klein
Fatima Klein confronted the hardest take a look at of her combating profession so far, however she handed with flying colours and introduced her arrival as the latest contender within the ladies’s strawweight division.
Klein confronted top-10 contender Tabitha Ricci, and together with her cultured arms in MMA gloves, she crushed “Child Shark” on the ft, actually tossing her across the Octagon with some eye-catching wrestling.
Her unanimous resolution win confirmed she was poised to grow to be one of many division’s elite, and her trenchant post-fight interview roused everybody within the strawweight high 5, together with champion Mackenzie Dern, to make it clear she felt the identical approach.
Klein’s subsequent sport can be an appointment viewing.
4. Christian Leroy Duncan
England’s Christian Leroy Duncan has steadily honed his sport as he rises up the UFC middleweight division, however now finds himself in a rocky temper after soundly defeating his former title challenger.
Jared Cannonier is more durable than a $2 steak and has competed on a degree with among the finest 185-pound fighters on the planet. However within the quarter-hour they shared contained in the Octagon, ‘CLD’ confirmed himself to be the higher fighter, combining strikes and scoring persistently on his ft, displaying ever-improving defensive wrestling to maintain ‘Ta Quila Gorilla’ from trapping him on the mat and pounding his strategy to victory.
There are nonetheless areas for enchancment – a few of Duncan’s spinning assaults had been somewhat an excessive amount of at occasions – however his progress has been spectacular to look at and will probably be very attention-grabbing to see how a lot he ranges up the subsequent time he seems contained in the Octagon.
5. Chase Hooper
After back-to-back losses within the first spherical, Chase Hooper wanted an enormous comeback win, and that is precisely what he acquired.
After securing an early takedown, Hooper completed off Mitch Ramirez with a first-round rear-naked choke, incomes him a much-needed victory and making a formidable return to the win column.
Hooper has the bodily instruments to be an actual drawback at 185 kilos, however he has struggled at occasions to maintain it collectively within the warmth of the Octagon. However that wasn’t the case in Oklahoma Metropolis, the place he stepped into the cage and delivered a near-flawless efficiency to attain his seventeenth profession win.
