UFC Fight Night 37 Aftermath: Assassin Freezes, Young Guns Impress, Gustafsson Is For Real

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UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa went down in London last night, and fans at the O2 arena were treated to, in my opinion, the best card ever to grace English soil. Finishes were on tap, fighters were on form, and that’s even with the disappointment of Melvin Guillard vs. Michael Johnson.

Oddly enough, the all-online card was probably the best I’ve seen this year. All in all, the card had a very good feel to it. There are still some points that proved more poignant than others at the end of the night, check out what I took home from UFC: London.

You have to walk the walk

I’m referring to Guillard vs. Johnson here, well more so Guillard, as the only real let down on an otherwise awesome card. ‘The Young Assassin’ had talked so much trash in the lead up to this fight that he pulled a ‘McDonald vs. Ellenberger’, as it is now known. Full props go to Michael Johnson for backing up his side of the smack talk.

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The animosity from Guillard in the time running up to the scrap was on full show, but he froze on fight night; thus proving once again that if you can’t, or aren’t willing to risk it all and back it up, you probably shouldn’t talk so much. In my mind, Melvin had a good chance, but only if he went all out-which he didn’t. UFC prez Dana White would not confirm whether or not Guillard still has a job at the PFPC. Bad times.

Gunnar and ‘Big Slow’ need a step up

Both Gunnar Nelson and Luke Barnatt proved to be the biggest standouts from last night’s London based event; Nelson with his super-slick submission win over highly touted Omari Akhmedov, and Barnatt with his first round annihilation of grappling whiz Mats Nilsson.

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The two are growing names in the sport and have extended their promotional win streaks to three with their respective first round finishes at FN 37. It’s time for a step up in competition for these two, perhaps Nelson vs. Mike Pyle and Barnatt vs. Gegard Mousasi?

The Mauler needs some Bones

Regardless of Jon Jones calling for Gustafsson vs. Cormier, I think the only real match worth having is ‘Bones’ vs. ‘The Mauler’ II; it’s obvious that as the number one of the division, Gustafsson is the next rightful contender, but it reaches beyond that.

The timing of the divisions has a huge influence on when fights can happen, for instance, what if Jones beats Teixeira but Gus loses to Cormier? Well, Cormier would probably get the shot and that would be terrible for the already (seemingly) pointless rankings. The fact that Gus was denied an immediate rematch was bad enough, now he has won his big gamble against Manuwa in convincing fashion and he should fight again?

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Not only that, Jones vs. Gustafsson would be one of the biggest rematches of all time, why jeopardize that by making another huge risk fight for the verified number one contender. It just shouldn’t go down like that.

On a completely different subject, has anyone eaten at mean street pizza?