UFC Fight Night 110 provided some much-needed excitement on Saturday night as the UFC continue their onslaught of events over the next 11 weeks.
Leading into the main card billing with a sublime knockout of Damien Brown by Vinc Pichel, five out of the featured six bouts ended via stoppage after the opening bout saw Alexander Volkanovski dominate Mizuto Hirota with hard-hitting strikes and seamless transitions.
From there, Ben Nguyen surprised most by making quick work of Tim Elliott with a 49-second rear naked choke before Ion Cutelaba made even quicker work of Henrique da Silva with a 22-second knockout.
Dan Hooker would then make brilliant adjustments against Ross Pearson to help him secure a stunning knee knockout in the second round while Derek Brunson put an end to Dan Kelly’s fairytale story in the co-main event with a first round knockout.
Finally, the main event would see Mark Hunt win a war of attrition against Derek Lewis as the momentum tipped all the way in ‘The Super Samoan’s’ favour in the fourth stanza and a stream of strikes caused referee Mark Goddard to step in and save Lewis from any more punishment.
With the latest edition of the UFC’s Fight Night series now in the books, let’s put ourselves in Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard’s shoes and pitch five fights to make with the night’s biggest winners:
Mark Hunt vs Cain Velasquez
By putting an end to Derek Lewis’ six-fight win streak, Mark Hunt secured his position at the top end of the UFC’s heavyweight division and may well catapult himself into the UFC’s top five rankings.
Keeping our suggestion that Francis Ngannou should be up next for Stipe Miocic, one of the surprisingly unseen bouts in the UFC’s heavyweight division should be up next for Hunt and a late 2017 match-up with a returning Cain Velasquez would make a lot of sense for both men.
Derek Brunson vs David Branch
After a quick win against Dan Kelly, Derek Brunson called out Antonio Carlos Junior in his post-fight interview but a bout against “Shoeface” would be a step back for a fighter on the rise.
By pitting Brunson against David Branch, however, we would see just how good either fighter is with the winner stepping up into the elite bracket at 185 lbs.
Dan Hooker vs David Teymur
Dan Hooker scored the biggest win of his career against Ross Pearson on Saturday night and did so in emphatic fashion.
A match-up with the talented David Teymur would ideally see the winner to go on and contest with a ranked opponent in their following bout.
Ion Cutebala vs Jan Blachowicz
Ion Cutebala lived up to his ‘Hulk’ nickname as he smashed his way through Henrique da Silva in just 22 seconds in Auckland, New Zealand.
With a very limited depth of fighters at light heavyweight, a fight with Jan Blachowicz would test Cutebala’s mettle and see the winner push on up the ranks.
Ben Nguyen vs Jussier Formiga
Ben ’10’ Nguyen displayed his great grappling skills in the transitions against Tim Elliott before recording the fifth submission win of his career in the first round.
The 28-year-old deserves a big opponent in his next bout and a fight with the underrated Jussier Formiga would see whether Nguyen has the ability to challenge for a flyweight title in the future.