5 stats that made UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Thompson awesome
The fans at the TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Canada knew they were in for a show Saturday night simply based off the excellent matchups, on paper, at UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Thompson, but the event lived up to the billing and more.
We learned a lot Saturday night. Stephen Thompson's next fight should be for the welterweight title. Period. Donald Cerrone is as dangerous at welterweight as he is as lightweight. And Joanne Calderwood is ready to live up to her massive potential. Check out five stats that made UFC Ottawa a great event.
UFC Ottawa saw a UFC record six fights get finished in the third round. Colby Covington finished off Jonathan Meunier via third-round submission during the UFC Fight Pass prelims while Joe Soto and Misha Cirkunov also finished third-round submissions.
The main card also featured three third-round finishes, but two, to fans delight, came by way of KO/TKO. Cerrone, who was making his second UFC fight at welterweight, stopped Canadian Patrick Cote at the 2:24 mark of the third while the referee called a stop to the Calderwood fight at the 2:09 mark.
Donald Cerrone hasn't just been fighting a lot over the last two years, he's been winning a lot. "Cowboy", easily one of the most active fighters on the UFC roster, became the first fighter to stop Cote with strikes en route to his 15th finish. With the win, Cerrone now has the most finishes in UFC/WEC history.
Cerrone has finishes over the likes of Evan Dunham, Edson Barboza, Melvin Guillard and Charles Oliveira over his nine-year career with the promotion.
Joanne Calderwood put on an absolute show in enemy territory on Saturday night. Fighting in the UFC's first women's flyweight bout, Calderwood landed a UFC event-high 142 total strikes. And she did so in under 15 minutes.
The high output is not new for Calderwood. The top strawweight landed 227 strikes in her last win, in front of a home crowd in Scotland, and in her first UFC fight, put 147 strikes on the board against Seohee Ham.
Stephen Thompson took care of business on Saturday in an effort to secure a welterweight title shot. "Wonderboy" impressively solved the puzzle that is Rory MacDonald in a manner that no one has before. Thompson was successful on a UFC career-high 110 significant strikes, the most MacDonald has absorbed in his six-year, 13-fight UFC career.
Thompson proved tonight, he is ready for the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley, and could even be the favorite.
Many expected Sean O'Connell and former hockey enforcer Steve Bosse to stand and exchange on Saturday night but few were expecting the instant classic that played out instead.
The light heavyweight brawlers landed a combined 224 strikes, over just three rounds and mostly to the head of the other, in a fight that saw both fighters enter deep waters. That's a fight Ottawa won't forget anytime soon.
