Welcome to the GetMoreSports results page for UFC Fight Night 88, headlined by Thomas Almeida vs. Cody Garbrandt.
In the main event, it was the fight between the two unbeaten Bantamweights, Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt.
Cited as a potential fight of the year candidate, the two 24 year olds have been tagged as the next generation in mixed martial arts, and to see them against each other this early in their careers almost guarantees they’ll be seeing each other again in the future.
For this bout however, both came fast out of the gates, throwing leather. In the end, it was Garbrandnt who found the mark faster and more often, eventually putting Almeida to sleep in the first round.
Garbrandnt had previously been unranked in the division, but with such a decisive victory over a previously undefeated contender, it’s likely he’ll be getting matched up with a contender level opponent next. Indeed, post fight he made a call to face Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, who faces Garbrandt’s mentor Uriah Faber next weekend.
In the co-main event, Renan Barao made his Featherweight (145 lbs) debut after a string of difficulties with making the lower weight of Bantamweight. Facing off against Jeremy Stephens, the bout had some late notice attention after the two engaged in a slight pushing match at the weigh ins.
In the end, Stephens took the weight cut discussion out of the equation after winning a hard fought decision.
Barao, despite being a destroyer at 135lbs, had suffered two one sided defeats to TJ Dillashaw and lost his title, causing a discussion over whether the Brazilian had his best days behind him. He started off the bout against Stephens much lighter on his feet, an often repeated criticism of his recent performances, and did well, scoring regularly.
In the second round however, Stephens caught the former Bantamweight champion with a string of heavy uppercuts, rocking Barao and putting him in real trouble. In the end, the third round was the decider, with Stephens doing enough to pull of the victory.
It marks one of the biggest wins in the career of Stephens, and starts to push him back up the ladder at featherweight. What come next for Barao is uncertain, but his career slump is yet to turn around.
In the heavily promoted fight pass bout between Aljamain Sterling and Bryan Caraway, we saw Caraway coming back losing the first round handily to end up giving Sterling his first MMA defeat.
The majority of the fight was decided in the grappling exchanges, where it became clear that Caraway’s superior cardio was the difference. After plenty of trash talk, it’s a humbling loss for Sterling, who no doubt slips down the rankings away from his desire title shot.
For Caraway, who post-fight declared himself a different fighter due to the help of a hypnotist, he has forced himself into the upper-echelon of the division.
Elsewhere on the card, we saw Rick Story defeat Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision after quite sometime out of the cage. The two went back and forth, with Story landing some phenomenal body shots, despite being unable to gain the takedown as often as he perhaps wanted.
It victory marked Story’s third in a row.
The full results for UFC Fight Night 88 are as follows:
Main Card
Thomas Almeida vs. Cody Garbrandt via KO
Jeremy Stephens def. Renan Barao via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Rick Story def. Tarec Saffiedine via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Chris Camozzi vs. Vitor Miranda via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Lorenz Larkin def. Jorge Masvidal via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Paul Felder def. Josh Burkman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Undercard
Sara McMann def. Jessica Eye via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Abel Trujillo def. Jordan Rinaldi via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jake Collier def. Alberto Uda via TKO (spinning back kick) at 1:06 of round 2
Erik Koch def. Shane Campbell via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:02 of round 2
Fight Pass Prelims
Bryan Caraway def. Aljamain Sterling via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Adam Milstead def. Chris De La Rocha via TKO
