This Saturday, the UFC found itself in the Great White North … Rogers Place, in Edmonton Canada to be specific for a fight night packed with some of Canada’s best prospects.

The event was headlined by two of the best Flyweights in the world, Mexico’s Brandon Moreno, and Iraq’s Amir Albazi, as they clashed in a 5 round fight with title implications down the line.

Moreno proved that he still absolutely has what it takes to contend at the very top of the UFC’s Flyweight division after he dispatched of a returning Albazi, who was absent from the UFC for a year while recovering from heart and neck surgeries.

Moreno found his range very early in the fight, and peppered Albazi with a strong jab. The first round was the only real competitive round of the fight, as Albazi landed a few hard calf kicks as well as some jabs of his own. As the fight went on, Albazi continued to have no answer for Moreno’s pace, and although he was not timid in the 4th and 5th rounds, it was clear that Moreno was the one trying to finish the fight, despite being heavily up on the scorecards.

Eric Colon was the only judge to give Albazi a round during the fight, as Moreno won 50-45 on the other judging scorecards. It was almost a perfect shutout on the night, but Colon saw round one going to Albazi … Not the only controversial card he put out on Saturday night.

Moreno goes on to hold his #2 ranking in the division behind Brandon Royval, who defeated him earlier this year in a close split decision. Moreno and Royval both hold a claim for next in line for a title shot after current champion Alexandre Pantoja takes on the debuting Kai Asakura later this year at UFC 310. The two of them may find themselves slugging it out in a rematch sooner rather than later for a shot at the winner of December 7th’s contest.

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— UFC (@ufc) November 3, 2024

The other big matchup on the card saw contenders in the women’s Flyweight division vie for a potential future title shot. Erin Blanchfield was last seen taking a tough loss to likely next in line for the title Manon Fiorot, and her opponent, Rose Namajunas recently notched two wins after also losing to the aforementioned Fiorot. Blanchfield was seen as one of the best prospects in the division and was touted as a for sure future champion before recently being dismissed after her first UFC loss.

Blanchfield looked like the same fighter who lost to Fiorot through the first two rounds of the fight, as Namajunas dominated much of the striking exchanges and stymied most of Blanchfield’s takedown attempts, but Blanchfield came alive in the 3rd, taking Namajunas down with no chance for the former champ to get back up. In round 4, Blanchfield’s striking finally started to find a home as Namajunas started to slow down, and in the 5th, Blanchfield sealed the deal by grabbing another takedown and controlling the round.

The judges agreed with the comeback narrative, as Blanchfield won the last three rounds of the fight on all scorecards. It was a huge get right fight for Blanchfield, as she launched herself right back into title contention, while the former champion Namajunas finds herself in somewhat of a rankings purgatory ever since moving up to the flyweight division.

The night’s featured bout between knockout record holder Derrick Lewis and undefeated prospect Jhonata Diniz was unfortunately cancelled due to an undisclosed medical issue that affected Lewis shortly before the day of the fight. The UFC and Lewis’s team have yet to share specifics regarding the nature of the issue.

Some other important action on the night:

• Jasmine Jasudavicius grabbed a performance of the night bonus after
• Brendson Ribero earned his first win in the UFC after a controversial split decision against Caio Machado in which he was out-struck in every round.
• Dustin Stoltzfus earned the only knockout on the card when he KO’d Marc-Andre Barriault late in round one, also notching a 50k bonus.
• Mike Malott avenged his poor performance at last
• On the prelims, Charles Jourdain and Youssef Zalal each earned performance of the night bonuses for their submission wins over Victor Henry and Jack Shore respectively

Jacob Smith

11/6/2024

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