Three big statements were made in top-15 fights at UFC Philadelphia.
Jack Hermansson walked into UFC Philly unranked, but will probably end the week with a number next to his name. In under a minute, Hermansson submitted #10 Dave Branch, who had never been finished in the first round prior.
Submission!@JackTheJokerMMA gets the first round arm-in guillotine finish! Wow! #UFCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/tXdd1L60kQ
— UFC (@ufc) March 31, 2019
Perennial-top 10 ranked Michael Johnson hasn't landed there in the featherweight division yet, but had a great chance against #10 Josh Emmett. It looked like Johnson was cruising to victory for two-plus rounds, but then Emmett landed a brutal overhand right haymaker that knocked Johnson out.
That'll do it. pic.twitter.com/rjN1OJ06BY
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) March 31, 2019
#9 "Karate Hottie" Michelle Waterson had one of the best performances of her career, defeating a former title challenger in #6 Karolina Kowalkiewicz. For Waterson, it was her third straight victory, and Karolina Kowalkiewicz's second straight loss. Since her 2016 effort at the UFC title, Kowalkiewicz is only 2-4. Waterson declared that she wanted a UFC title fight, even though she dropped a fight two years ago to current champion Rose Namajunas.
In addition, #15 Flyweight Casey Kenney -- who hadn't competed for the promotion prior, picked up a controversial win over Ray Borg at Bantamweight. In similar fashion, #7 flyweight Alex Perez beat Mark De La Rosa via unanimous decision at bantamweight
You can see full results of UFC Philadelphia at this link, and check out our post-show podcast at this link.
