I have to admit, while I was disappointed with the UFC Vancouver card on paper, it still ended up being a pretty good night of fights overall.
As I wrote previously, I didn’t bother going to the event in person.
With the cost of travel, food, tickets and accommodation, it would have been well over $2,000 for the entire weekend, so I said thanks but no thanks.
Instead, I stayed home and ordered the PPV. Not only that, but I also caught the entire undercard earlier in the day on TSN, which was a pretty fun way to spend my Saturday.
The prelims featured four Canadian fighters all winning their respective fights. Strawweight (115 lbs) Diana Belbita picked up a solid Unanimous Decision over Brazilian striker Maria Oliveira, bantamweight (135 lbs) Aiemann Zahabi notched a first round KO victory over Qileng Aori, featherweight (145 lbs) Kyle Nelson got it done with a UD over Blake Bilder, and then flyweight (125 lbs) Jasmine Jasudavicious beat up Miranda Maverick for three straight rounds to win herself an impressive UD victory.
While I was disappointed that the featured prelim bout between middleweights (185 lbs) Nassourdine Imavov and Chris Curtis ended in a No Contest due to an accidental headbutt, there was another prelim fight that stole the entire show and was my pick for “Fight of the Night” honours.
Flyweights David Dvorak and Steve Erceg went back and forth over three rounds at a furious pace, trading big punches, takedowns, and submission attempts. Dvorak won the first round on my scorecard by landing the better striking exchanges, but the Australian Erceg came on strong after that, scoring a knockdown in the second round and then taking the third as well to win a UD on the judges’ scorecards.
The main card mostly delivered the goods as well. Dan Ige picked up a UD win in a featherweight bout over the very tough Nate (The Train) Landwehr, and Canadian fighters Marc-Andre Barriault and Mike Mallott both won their respective fights. While Barriault looked good winning all three rounds against Eryk Anders, it was welterweight (170 lbs) Mallott who really shined by submitting Adam Fugitt in the second round with a nasty guillotine choke.
Mallott looks to be a Canadian MMA star in the making, but it’s still very early in his career and time will tell if he ends up following in the footsteps of Carlos Newton and Georges St. Pierre, both of whom previously held the UFC welterweight title.
In the co-main event, Brazil’s Charles (Do Bronx) Oliveira ran straight through perennial lightweight (155 lbs) contender Beneil Dariush, winning by KO in the first round.
He hit Dariush with a deadly combo on the feet, and then finished up with strikes on the ground until the ref jumped in to stop it. Oliveira is the former 155 lb champ, and he looks ready for a rematch against the man he lost his belt to, the very dangerous Dagastani champ Islam Makhachev.
I’m not going to say too much about the main event. Bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes dominated against short notice replacement fighter Irene Aldana for five straight rounds, landing strong combos on the feet and executing takedowns and submission attempts on the ground. It was an easy UD victory for Nunes, who promptly retired from the sport afterwards as the greatest WMMA fighter of all time. As for Aldana, she showed toughness and didn’t quit. I have a feeling she’ll be back in the title hunt sooner rather than later.
All in all, I wish Julianna Pena hadn’t been forced to pull out of the main event due to injury. With Nunes retiring, I guess we’ll never get the trilogy bout between them. Life isn’t fair, but watching UFC Vancouver at home on my couch was still a pretty great time!
Tyson Whitney is the editor of the North Island Gazette newspaper in Port Hardy. He’s a lifelong combat sports fan and has a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.