11/4/2018 Sijara Eubanks, Israel Adesanya & Daniel Cormier Dominate #UFC230 in Different Ways, Results The SameRead NowThe UFC 230 card Saturday night at Madison Square Garden was full of brutal hard-hitting action, and dominant performances by some of the sports biggest names. Three noteworthy performances were turned in by Sijara Eubanks, Israel Adesanya, and Daniel Cormier. Each of these fighters dominated but did it their own way, which is why they are who they are.
Eubanks is the #4 ranked women’s flyweight fighter. The week started off controversial as Eubanks was on Twitter trolling and talking about title shots. She then missed weight on Friday, forfeiting a percentage of her purse. But none of that mattered. Defiant and trolling as always, Eubanks entered the ring with Cardi B theme music blaring and egging on the crowd. Eubanks struck hard and often and won by unanimous decision. After the fight Eubanks said: I thought it was a good fight. I really appreciate Roxanne taking the fight on short notice and putting on a show with me. I knew I was the stronger fighter and I just used that to my advantage. I had her hurt, thought I had her finished at a couple of points but all respect to her. She’s tough as nails and came to scrap. This was an important win because I needed to show everyone that I belong at the top of this division. I’m the one who deserves to fight the winner of Valentina [Shevchenko] and Joanna [Jedrzejczyk]. Make no mistake, I will be there on championship weight. I’m a grinder and I’m just going to keep grinding and beating my opponents until there is a gold belt strapped around my waist. A dominating performance was turned in by Israel Adesanya. His opponent, Derek Brunson is a hard hitter, but his stance is so open, and he holds his head and chin very high, leaving him open for a straight shot to do damage. That’s exactly what happened. Adesanya was brash and confident and knew he would handle Brunson easily, delivering a straight knee kick right to the chin and ending the bout in the first round. Following the fight Adesanya said: It was an easy night at the office. I told my team that I don’t get to come to New York enough and I wanted to be able to spend my time here enjoying the city so finishing the job early means I’ve got more time to relax. I have to go back and watch the performance but I felt great in there. I was taking my time and feeling him out, making him chase so I could time my shots. That knee was perfectly timed. You can ask my coaches about that because I’ve been wrecking them with it all week whenever they would shoot during our training sessions. People may think they know what I can do but tonight was an example that they don’t know. There’s levels to this fight game and I am leveling up over and over. I want to watch the other middleweight fights tonight and see how they play out. I don’t need to rush. We’ll see how the fights go, we’ll see if Gastelum gets injured and they need a replacement… I’m just going to sit back and observe. I’ll find the right move. The main event was for the heavyweight title, featuring the champ Daniel Cormier and popular up and coming challenger Derrick Lewis. Fans were decidedly pro Lewis, and you can chalk that up to people loving the underdog, but there is more to it than that. America and fight fans love their violence, and the appeal to Lewis is his size and fighting style. The “Black Beast” is a big hulk of a man at 6’3″ and 265 pounds, the prevailing thought was if he could land some punches or kicks he had a chance. A “punchers” chance if you will. The thing about that is, it is just that, a chance. Cormier is a proven highly skilled champion. He knows strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. Cormier knows he doesn’t want to get into a striking battle with Lewis, that would tilt the scale in Lewis’ favor. But, if the match got onto the mat and turned into a wrestling match, it would be over by submission, and that’s exactly what happened. Despite the boos and groans from the crowd who wanted Cormier to “stand up and fight”, he knew all he had to do was get Lewis on the ground and he would submit. In the second round, Cormier took Lewis down again and submitted him via the rear naked choke. Following the match Cormier said: Two belts for each shoulder! I get to look at this again. It’s history and Daniel Cormier is one of the best of all-time. What surprised me was him hitting me when I was coming in for that last shot. My leg is hurting from checking his kicks. Everything he hit me with had power behind it. I love Derrick Lewis and his story. I am honored to share the Octagon with him. I’ve been doing this for 9 years and have fought at championship level for 8 so nothing is a surprise to me. Derrick is good but he’s just not that level yet. Brock Lesnar, bring that WWE belt over here when you come… I feel like taking that one too. Let’s go, Brock!
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