Last night at the UFC Fight Night event in Australia, heavyweight Stipe Miocic stepped up and beat veteran Mark Hunt via a fifth round stoppage after almost five rounds of pounding on Hunt. For Miocic, it was an important win, as it sent his record to 13-2 overall and avoided losing two in a row. In his last outing prior to this, he went five rounds in a loss to Junior Dos Santos, so this shows that Miocic can manage and win a five-rounder as well.
As for Hunt, his Tonka tough head will always make for an entertaining match, but he is now in his forties and it looks like he has slowed down enough to the point where he has trouble getting his offense off. Miocic could face the likes of Josh Barnett in his next outing, as Barnett is expected to be returning to the UFC later this year and Miocic likely needs one more win to be in title contention.
The main card featured three first round finishes, as Sean O’Connell wiped out Australia’s Anthony Perosh with a flurry of punches along the fence in the opening minute, and that match was followed by middleweight Robert Whitaker‘s 44-second finish of Brad Tavares, who wilted after a pair of left hooks took the starch out him.
James Vick had to work a little harder to finish Jake Matthews, as Matthews was doing well in finding his striking range until Vick sunk a guillotine choke in for the finish as the opening round came to a close.
Japanese veteran Hatsu Hioki took it to Daniel Hooker in the opening round, but Hooker weathered the storm and countered a body attack by Hioki with a kick to the head that sent Hioki to sleep in the second round. The opening main card fight saw veteran Kyle Noke earna split decision over newcomer Jonavin Webb.
The undercard featured two bouts in the women’s strawweight division, and in both cases the local Australian talent broke through for a win. Alex Chambers and Kailin Curran engaged in a terrific fight that saw Chambers earn a $50,000 bonus for her late finish by arm-bar. In the second bout, Bec Rawlings survived an aggressive Lisa Ellis, who was working her wrestling takedowns and control throughout the opening round, until Rawlings unloaded with the kitchen sink of punches elbows and knees, stopping Ellis in her tracks. From there, Rawlings applied the rear naked choke, ending the fight with less than a minute left in the opening round.
