UFC Fight Night 18 Wrap Up

UFC Fight Night 18 wasn’t quite the explosive, knockout-filled show we’ve come to expect from the organization considering recent results, but it still featured some solid fights and helped distinguish between possible future contenders and pretenders.

Martin Kampmann outlasted newcomer Carlos Condit in a fight that was just as close as the sportsbooks UFC odds predicted. Kampmann won a split decision against Condit, using his experience and all-around skills to out-point Condit. He almost locked up a deep guillotine choke in the first round, which was the closest he came to finishing the fight.

Kampmann also suffered a nasty cut under his left eye as Condit got in his fair share of shots. It was a good all-around fight, especially for UFC purists, but the Nashville crowd didn’t seem to pleased at the lack of knockouts.

Just prior to the main event, Ryan Bader showed why he could possibly be a light heavyweight title contender a few years down the road, using his wrestling to control Carmelo Marrero the whole night. Marrero is a fine wrestler in his own right, making Bader’s domination in that area a bit surprising. Bader also had the crowd booing due to his lack of success in finishing off Marrero, but he did surprise some observers by going for a quality arm-bar attempt as well as a potential arm-triangle choke. If Bader can refine his jiu-jitsu game, he could be a contender soon.

The best fight of the night might have been Tyson Griffin against Rafael Dos Anjos. Dos Anjos used a rare calf-slicer on Griffin early in the fight after Griffin had been seamlessly out-boxing him, and when Griffin finally emerged, his left foot ended up a bit wobbly.

Griffin’s boxing looked much worse from that first round on, but he still managed to out-point Dos Anjos on his way to a decision win.

Another important development was Cole Miller’s shockingly easy submission win against the over-hyped, surprisingly raw lightweight Ultimate Fighter star Junie Browning. Miller leapt into an easy guillotine choke in the first round that nearly put Browning to sleep before he tapped out.

“Who’s overrated now!?” yelled Miller to his downed opponent in reference to comments Browning made before the fight.

Other winners included Aaron Simpson over Tim McKenzie, Rob Kimmons over Joe Vedepo, Jorge Rivera over Nissen Osterneck, Tim Credeur over Nick Catone, Brock Larson over Jesse Sanders, Ricardo Almeida over Matt Horwich, and Gleison Tibau over Jeremy Stephens.