UFC 127

From the very beginning, this fight card was a massive victory for Australian MMA, with no less than six fighters we essentially claim as our own.

At the press conference after the fight, the UFC confirmed that they have been working on an Australia vs England series of The Ultimate Fighter, though it’s likely to be at least another year in the making. Just as exciting would be the suggested prospect that the two coaches could be middleweights Kyle Noke and Michael Bisping.

The day opened up with a preliminary battle between Polish fighter Maciej Jewtuszko and England’s Curt Warburton, who opened up the show by taking the match via a decision in what was a decent back-and-forth battle, although neither fighter could really find their mark to take it to the end.

It may have been a bit of a slow start, but the crowd rallied when fighting legend Mark Hunt made his way to the cage in front of his hometown fans. In the Octagon he faced US powerhouse Chris Tuchscherer and these two were a perfect match, same age, weight and even the same bleached hair. Hunt fired off in classic form in the first round, refusing to go down and eventually landing some of those widely feared hands, which caused a sizeable cut to emerge above the eye of is opponent, which stopped the fight for a moment.

When the fight continued, Tuchscherer wisely took Hunt to the ground and managed to set him up for the tried-and tested kimura, which Hunt has fallen to several times in his career. When it looked like it may be yet another loss for the big man, he managed to ride it out to the end of the round and came back in the second, ready to rock. He refused to go down this time and finished his opponent nicely with his trademark uppercut, then just walked away confidently as his opponent fell to the floor. It was good to see the Hunt of old get a win.

I was excited to see a featherweight bout in the UFC and the match between China’s Zhang Tie Quan and Jason Reinhardt from the US didn’t disappoint. In a lightning-fast round one, Zhang blitzed Reinhardt with fast striking combos and an unbelievable guillotine-choke that had his opponent asleep in just seconds. Taking his first win in the UFC in very impressive fashion, Quan actually left us wanting more to see what else these fast featherweights can do.

Sydney’s own Anthony Perosh came out looking fitter and stronger than ever, even sporting a six-pack and obviously looking to do some serious business in the cage. He faced Brit Tojm Blackledge and the two started slowly, feeling each out, before Perosh lunged in for a takedown that Blackledge stopped with a hard-hitting sprawl against the fence. But Perosh eventually did get him to the mat with a takedown that he refused to give up on.

Once on the ground, Perosh showed exactly where his skills lie and didn’t panic or push the fight too hard, but took his time and obviously knew exactly where he wanted the fight to go. He finished Blackledge in a perfect rear-naked choke that had him tapping at 2:45 of the first round.

Canada’s Nich Ring took on Japanese Deep veteran Riki Fukuda. The fight went back-and-forth with exciting exchanges, with Fukuda looking the most aggressive and scoring several takedowns. In the end, however, Fukuda was robbed of the victory and Ring won via a unanimous decision, much to the disapproval of the vocal audience. UFC President Dana White wasn’t too impressed himself, Tweeting “Judges fucking suck again! Fukuda got robbed!”