The world was focused on UFC 229's main event of Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, but the main event and co-main event were supported by a stellar cast of fighters.
#12 light heavyweight Dom Reyes has exploded on the scene, and was presented a huge opportunity on the main card against a former UFC title challenger in #7 Ovince Saint Preux. Early on, Reyes proved himself to be a huge problem by stopping repeated takedowns and keeping OSP at the end of his power punches against the cage.
The remainder of the fight was very inactive, with OSP unable to solve the puzzle of Reyes. OSP was actually dropped and likely knocked out with one second left, but the ref couldn't stop the fight in time before the buzzer. Reyes, who said he considered that a knockout, won a unanimous decision.
#5 Alexander Volkov has reached the mountain top in Bellator as champion, but Saturday night in Las Vegas, faced another mountain in #2 Derrick Lewis. Volkov kept Lewis at range for the majority of the fight, nearly finishing off his opponent on several occasions. Lewis wasn't without fight, cracking Volkov both on the feet and on the ground. This fight featured a couple of particularly unusual spots, including Volkov losing his mouth piece and not realizing it, and a phantom eye poke that Volkov called for Lewis. The fight got even weirder when Lewis waded in, connected with an overhand right, and got the TKO win over the much larger Volkov.
That was just the beginning. Lewis told Joe Rogan he took his pants off because "his balls were hot," then requested to smoke weed with Rogan in the coming weeks. Lewis stated that he didn't want to compete for the UFC Heavyweight Title right now because his cardio isn't good enough.
An under-the-radar, high level flyweight fight saw #2 Sergio Pettis look to move closer to a title shot against #4 Jussier Formiga. Unfortunately for Pettis, the grappling of Formiga was too much to overcome, as was a third round-long backpack that sealed up a unanimous decision with for Formiga. After the fight, Formiga expressed his intent to challenge for the UFC Flyweight Champion against Henry Cejudo, who he dropped a split decision loss to in 2015.
You can see our full, live coverage of UFC 229 at this link, and make sure to check out our post-show podcast, which can be found on the sidebar, podcast platforms everywhere, and at this link.. You can also check out our weekly UFC Rankings Breakdowns over at FightfulSelect.com
