Sam Sports

Waking up at 3 am on a Sunday is never ideal. However, waking up at 3 am on a Sunday to watch Australia’s own Robert Whittaker fight is an exception.

In the first fight of the main card, we saw two light heavyweight top-10 veterans, Johnny Walker and former title contender Volkan Oezdemir, face off. Even though Walker was the favourite, it was actually Oezdemir who won by first-round knockout, extending Walker’s winless streak to over a year. Walker still isn’t the same fighter we all fell in love with in 2018.

In the second fight on the main card, Shara Magomedov went up against Antonio Trocoli. Trocoli was basically a walking punching bag for Magomedov, landing only 39 shots compared to Magomedov’s 108. There was a bit of controversy in the second round when Magomedov held onto the fence while Trocoli was taking him down, leading to a stern warning from Marc Goddard. However, Magomedov was in control from start to finish, winning by third-round TKO.

The third fight saw Kelvin Gastelum, a guy who never seems to make weight, go up against Daniel Rodriguez. This fight was booked for welterweight (170 lbs), but due to issues in the Gastelum camp, it was moved to middleweight (185 lbs). Although Rodriguez outstruck Gastelum, it was the takedowns that won the fight, as Kelvin took him down four times over the course of three rounds, giving him the victory via unanimous decision. It was probably the most boring fight on the main card, and with this result, I doubt Kelvin will ever be allowed to fight at welterweight again.

The co-main event saw two powerhouses in the heavyweight division go up against each other, with Sergei Pavlovich fighting his former teammate, Alexander Volkov. This one was just a stand-up back and forth for three rounds, with Volkov emerging victorious. Pavlovich even gave Volkov a shove at the end of the fight. I’m not sure what’s next for them, as Aspinall is fighting Blaydes next, and after that, I assume the winner will fight Jon Jones. Maybe Volkov will fight the loser of Aspinall vs Blaydes?

The main event was the reason I was up this early. Robert Whittaker, also known as Bobby Knuckles, went up against Ikram Aliskerov. Robert was originally scheduled to fight Khamzat Chimaev, but due to illness, he was replaced by Aliskerov. Aliskerov was unbeaten in the UFC, having won all his fights by stoppage, but his streak ended today as Robert did what he usually does and stopped Aliskerov in the first round. In the post-fight interview, he mentioned that he wants to be the backup fighter for the du Plessis vs Adesanya fight, which is good because it means there’s another Aussie we can see in Perth.

All in all, it was quite a good card and no doubt made everyone excited for the big card next week.