We are officially less than two weeks away from the biggest weekend of the year for MMA fans. However, last night the UFC took The Great White North by storm with some late night fireworks, the first women’s flyweight fight, and a record breaking performance of 3rd round finishes. If you did not stay up for the last few fights, who could blame you. The fights did not end until after 1:00 am EST.
UFC Ottawa Provides Late Night Fireworks
Wonderboy Wins Main Event
Our main event, Rory MacDonald and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson did not provide as much fireworks as people probably assumed; however if you are a fight fan you understand that all 5 rounds of this fight were very tactical. Both fighters, being scared of being knocked out, fought very safe and smart. It ended however with “Wonderboy” taking home the unanimous decision victory. He would then proceed to call out the winner of the UFC 201 Main Event, Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley, for a fight at UFC 205; which is scheduled to take place in Madison Square Garden later this year.
Cerrone Impresses at Welterweight
In the co-main Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone showed off why he might just be a force to be reckon’ with in the Welterweight division. He backed up his win over Alex Oliveira, with a 3rd Round TKO of Patrick Cote. Cowboy fought a very clean fight landing two out of three takedowns he attempted, as well as landing 66% of his strikes. Cowboy seems very comfortable in this new division. Look for him to quite possibly get a ranked opponent next.
Bosse and O’Connell Provide Fight of the Night
The fight that may have stole the hearts of everyone last night was the absolute slugfest. It was a three round war between Steve Bosse and Sean O’Connell. Fans were treated to one heck of fight. These two men combined to land 244 strikes and 177 Significant Strikes. Both men showed iron chins and thier ability to just keep taking hits. Eventually the decision went the way of the Canadian Steve “The Boss” Bosse.
Aubin-Mercier Impressive
The main card also featured a very impressive submission win by submission specialist Olivier Aubin-Mercier as he got Thibault Gouti to tap out.
Womens Flyweight Fight
The main card kicked off with the first ever Women’s Flyweight Fight between Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood and Valerie Letourneau. JoJo was dominant from the beginning landing 142 total strikes and 3 takedowns. She would eventually stop Letourneau in the 3rd Round via TKO but now without some questionable officiating. People seem to think the fight should have been stopped sooner because Letourneau would turn her back after taking a shot to the gut and the official let them continue. This was JoJo’s first fight since the move to Tristar Gym. Her kickboxing looked as crisp as it ever has. She claimed during the post fight interview that she was going back to strawweight now. Be on the lookout for her as she hopes to build off this impressive win and move towards a title shot.
Undercard
This fight card also featured many other great fights including a first round knockout by Krzysztof Jotko, and decision wins by Elias Theodorou and Randa Markos.
This card also made history as it broke the record for the most third round finishes with six.
This was definitely one of the more underrated fight cards of the year and it certainly lived up to all the hype providing amazing fights and lighting up Canada’s Nation’s Capital.
Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
