UFC 218 Holloway vs Aldo Full Recap and Reaction From Cageside

UFC 218 was another incredible night of action!  For a full recap of what happened, simply scroll below!

 

Prelims on Fight Pass

Amanda Cooper defeats Angela Magana by ref stoppage in round two.

A dominant first round for Cooper.  The only thing that saved Magana from being choked out was her breast popping loose from her top.  The ref stepped in to cover it up and restart the fight.  That very well may have saved her.  Very possible 10-8 round for the home town girl Cooper.

Magana would not have any wardrobe malfunctions in the second round that would keep her from being tapped out.  The hometown girl had the crowd behind her and looked amazing again to cruise to the ref stoppage victory.  Angela Magana never gave up, but enough was enough midway through the second round as the ref stopped it.

Justin Willis knocked out Allen Crowder Round One.

Justin Willis made Crowder knees buckle and then collapse.  Willis with an incredible first round knockout!

Dominick Reyes chokes out Jeremy Kimball Round One.

Dominick Reyes remains red hot as he puts Kimball away with a beautiful choke that nearly makes Kimball pass out.

 

Abdul Razak Alhassan defeats Sabah Homasi by ref stoppage Round One.

A great fight stopped early as Herb Dean makes a very curious decision to stop the fight and hand it to Alhassan.  The crowd was none to happy! Even Joe Rogan had something to say in the post-fight interview about how bad the stoppage was.

 

Prelims on FOX Sports 1

Felice Herrig defeats Cortney Casey by split decision.

Casey landed several clean shots before being taken down to the mat by Herrig.  During the exchange despite landing the shots, Casey routinely left herself wide open but Herrig couldn’t convert in the early exchanges.

The second featured more of the same as the quicker Herrig just kept peppering Casey with jab after jab that she was seemingly unwilling to try and stop. Casey did show she had a great chin and nose hanging in there and not being dropped.

The third round saw some fireworks as both fighters became emotional and started screaming at each other.  This led to Herrig sticking out her tongue at Casey which Cortney quickly replied with by flicking her off.   More shouting, more name calling, less action.  Winner by controversial split decision, Felice Herrig.

 

David Teymur defeats Drakkar Klose by Unanimous Decision.

Less than one minute into the fight, ref Herb Dean “pauses” the fight to yell at David Teymur for turning his back and running away.  I haven’t seen that since Calib Starnes and Nate Quarry way back in 2008.  Teymur then spent the rest of the first round trying his best to hang in there with Klose but was teed off on.

Teymur would try to turn his luck around in the second round with a Superman punch.  It didn’t work.  A chant of USA from the fans also broke out in the second round in order to inspire Klose.  It didn’t work and the round was very stale.

The third round started off with a vicious eye poke from Teymur to Klose that almost stopped the fight.  After a brief two-minute timeout, the action actually picked up for the remainder of the third round with Klose showing signs of life.

In a decision no one saw coming, Teymur wins 30-27 on 2 cards, 29-28 on the third.

 

Yancy Medeiros defeats Alex Oliveira by ref stoppage in round three.    

In a fight that would make Apollo and Rocky jealous, Oliveira and Medeiros engaged in an epic blood bath that had the fans on their feet screaming the entire time.  Alex Oliveira dropped Yancy Medeiros time after time but Yancy just kept getting up.  Finally, midway through the third round, it would all turn around for Yancy Medeiros and a flurry of shots went uncontested, prompting the referee to step in and award him the bout.

Paul Felder defeats Charlies Oliveira by ref stoppage in round two.

Felder was methodical all fight long, avoiding submissions and attacking at every angle.  Oliveira did his best to hang in there as long as he could, but it was only a matter of time before Felder put it on ice for the win.

 

Main Card

Tecia Torres defeats Michelle Waterson by Unanimous decision.

A bit of a slow fight to start the main card as neither fighter took many risks or did anything overly impressive.   Both were bloodied however so enough shots landed to make a difference.  In the end it came down to conditioning and Torres had enough to win over the judges.

 

Eddie Alvarez knocks out Justin Gaethje in the third round.

The first two rounds saw plenty of blood spilled and hard shots landed.  It appeared Alvarez got the better of both of them, but by a slim margin.  Through two rounds, Alvarez had a swollen jaw, and Gaethje had a bad cut below his left eye.

This was a great fight to be a fan or writer but a tough one to be a judge.  Good thing for the judges they didn’t have too, Eddie Alvarez took care of that with a monstrous knee to the jaw that knocked Justin Gaethje out.  Eddie Alvarez is back and better then ever.  Tony Ferguson better get ready.

I have to say this, covering it live from a few feet away, both men are absolute warriors and this fight lived up to the hype!

 

Henry Cejudo defeats Sergio Pettis by unanimous decision.

Cejudo controlled most of the first round on the ground.  Didn’t do much damage but enough to grab the points.  The exact same thing would happen for the next two rounds as well.  A fight did break out in the crowd, giving the fans something to cheer for.

 

Alistair Overeem vs Francis Ngannou KO’s Alistair Overeem in the First Round

Francis Ngannou had the scariest knockout in UFC history this evening over Alistrair Overeem and now solidifies his shot at the Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic in Boston.  I’ve never, and I mean never seen another human being hit that hard.  Scary power!

 

The Main Event

Featherweight Champion Max Holloway defeats Jose Aldo to retain The Featherweight Championship of the world by third round ref stoppage.

In a fight that was almost a carbon copy of their first, Aldo controlled the first two rounds by soundly out striking Holloway but failed to do any significant damage.  Holloway once again bided his time and waited for the openings needed in the third round to turn it into a slugfest.  The patience and the plan worked out perfectly as Holloway bombarded Aldo with an onslaught of strikes to put him away and force Herb Dean to step in and stop it.

That wraps up an incredible night from Detroit!