The Hitlist: The top five moments from UFC Fight Night: Glasgow
The UFC put on its fourth show in just eight days, Saturday, and the Glasgow event delivered with solid fights. From hometown heroes of sorts emerging and bringing the Scottish crowd to a roar, to prospects emerging and veterans hanging tough, Saturday's UFC Fight Night had many exciting moments.
Read on to find out our top five. Then, let us know your picks in the comments section and on Twitter and Facebook!
Scottish fighters winning
Scotland doesn't yet have all that many fighters flying its flag in the UFC, but those who are certainly are waving it with force and pride. Saturday, three Scottish fighters won impressively and brought the Glasgow crowd to their feet.
Robert Whiteford scored a nasty knockout over Paul Redmond to win his second straight UFC fight. Steve "Braveheart" Ray earned a vicious first-round TKO win over Leonardo Mafra, overcoming injuries and a camp he said was horrid, to win his fourth consecutive bout.
Further up the card, Scotland's highest-ranked fighter globally, Joanne Calderwood, earned a hard-fought decision win in the best fight of the night over newcomer Cortney Casey. Calderwood's win came after the first official loss of her career, just a few months ago, and kept her in the strawweight division's top-10.
With each Scottish win, the Glasgow crowd seemed to get more and more inspired. It is always fun to watch a new UFC territory fall deeper in love with the sport of MMA because national heroes emerge to give them an extra reason to cheer.
Calderwood's comeback
Let's go back to Joanne Calderwood's win for a few moments. To appreciate how impressive her come-from-behind performance was, we have to remember just how close to being knocked out she appeared to be in the opening moments of her fight against Cortney Casey.
Casey was on her toes from the first moment of the first round, and fired off nasty straight punches to the head that hurt Calderwood badly. The TUF veteran covered up and absorbed more shots, appearing to be wobbled.
Somehow, however, she survived that onslaught and manage to clinch up. Even then, when Casey jumped guard and took the fight to the mat, Calderwood was forced to be on the defensive for the rest of the round as she was dominated with submission attempts and elbows and punches from the bottom by the American.
After that rough first round, Calderwood got to work on the body of Casey and took full advantage of the fact that the Hawaiian took the fight on short notice. Like Conor McGregor at UFC 189, Calderwood accurately "stabbed the gas tank" of her opponent and helped the fuel spill out onto the mat.
Calderwood notched the second and third rounds in her favor and by the end of the fight looked to be seconds away from finishing the fight herself. Calderwood's win took skill, conditioning, poise and grit, and it was one of the highlights of the evening.
Cortney Casey showing up
Calderwood vs. Casey was the best fight of UFC Fight Night: Glasgow, but it would have never happened had Casey not accepted the fight on 10 days' notice. Let's recap just how gutsy that was of the young fighter.
Just five fights into her career, she agreed to fight in the UFC, on short notice (as many do, when they get their first call from the promotion), against a top-10 opponent. Oh, and she had to fight in hostile territory, flying halfway around the world to do it. Point is, Casey proved to be game just by showing up in Glasgow this week.
Once she got into the UFC Octagon, however, she proved that she belonged. For fighters there's usually little solace in a loss, but Casey should look back on her fight with Calderwood and find at least a little encouragement.
There's no other way to put this other than to say that with a full training camp, it looked as though Casey would have been able to either win that fight or at least make it much closer. And, that's saying somthing, because Joanne Calderwood is probably just a few more wins away from a title shot.
Casey's striking is quick and powerful. As she continues to improve and get experience (the fight was just her sixth, after all), it can become even more refined.
Her Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, however, already looks to be world-class. In the first round, while she was still fresh, she managed to completely control Calderwood off of her own back.
In MMA, pulling guard and giving up top position is usually a huge mistake. Casey's posture control and educated hips were such that she was capable of doing more damage and being the more offensive fighter from a number of different guards.
In time, she'll learn when to abandon that guard (up against the cage) and work to get up, but for now, we got a glimpse of a truly talented and skilled ground fighter, who would give fits on the mat to lots of women in the strawweight division.
Michael Bisping's conditioning
I scored the Glasgow main event for Thales Leites, but Michael Bisping still impressed me the most. I knew that Leites had the superior striking power, so that he was able to repeatedly rock Bisping didn't shock me.
In fact, that damage is why I scored the fight for the Brazilian. However, for the second time in three months, Bisping managed to overcome being nearly knocked out, and he did it with his incredible conditioning.
When I spoke with Bisping last April, before his UFC 186 bout against C.B. Dollaway, he insisted that his physical conditioning was about the same as everyone else in the UFC. The difference was his will.
Bisping told me that he simply refused to give up or give in, ever. If you took him out and separated him from his consciousness, fine.
But he promised (and has demonstrated over his career) that he'd be there fighting all the way to that point. Whatever ratio of physical to mental Bisping's durability is made up of, it is a powerful formula, and his best fighting attribute.
Who knows what effect Bisping's ability to stay in fights that his body wants to go out of will have on his health in later years, but for now it is what has allowed him to be successful in the UFC. The lesson Saturday for Bisping opponents was what it always has been -- if you can't put him away, he's going to stay in the fight, and he's going to be more active than you for longer than you care to fight.
Joe Duffy's statement
Pretty soon Joseph Duffy is going to be more known for what he's doing in the UFC than how fast he submitted Conor McGregor years ago. The Irish lighweight finished his second straight UFC fight in the first round, Saturday, when he submitted Ivan Jorge with an armbar off his back.
On his feet, the former professional boxer is smooth, moves well and seems to always be poised to defend takedown attempts. On the ground, he looks equally slick in transitions, and moves to offensive positions with quickness.
Duffy also appears to have confidence in himself, though he expresses it at a lower volume than McGregor does. For a fighter who will fight most of his UFC career in the backyard of his opponents, confidence is especially crucial.
The Tristar gym prospect is already proving to be one of the more well-rounded fighters in the deep lightweight division. Joe Duffy is a fighter to watch in the next two years.
