UFC 332 was a very fun night of fights.
Relatively few fight fans expected as much ahead of time. The main event between Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong was widely panned, and UFC CEO Dana White didn’t exactly help the situation by failing to remember any of the specifics about “The Joker” in the fight week lead up. The topic of the week was Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury, a boxing match that isn’t happening until December.
Then, the fights started.
Right away, it should be admitted that UFC 332 was ordered
strangely. The earliest “Prelims” card featured several of the biggest names on the whole card: Rafael dos Anjos, Marvin Vettori, and Johnny Walker are more known to the average fan than Khaos Williams or Ateba Gautier, even if those vets are all long in the tooth.
Anyway, the familiar faces put on a show immediately. Court McGee and “RDA” were put out to pasture in violent fashion. Jacobe Smith continued to argue his status as Welterweight’s brightest prospect with a frightening stoppage, and Walker introduced himself to the Heavyweight ranks by kneeing Mick Parkin in the face … then doing the worm next to his convulsing body.
Nasty.
Even the sole decision of the earliest “Prelims” was a slugfest between Vettori and Ismail Naurdiev, a scrappy and enjoyable clash. The momentum didn’t slow in the next set of preliminary bouts, which produced four knockouts in four bouts. However, this is where the card falls apart a bit on closer inspection.
The “Prelims” headliner was a great matchup, a battle between quality prospects Imanol Rodriguez and Alden Coria, two young Flyweight up-and-comers who mostly win via knockout. Somebody’s rise would be halted, and Rodriguez’s explosive offense ensured that he would keep climbing. The 26-year-old Mexican standout stabbed Coria in the belly with a vicious front kick, producing a literal scream of agony.
Unfortunately, the other three fights were absolute squash matches. The UFC is literally just scrounging up Heavyweight randoms from off the roster for Anthony Wint to Hulk smash. Marcus McGhee — who fought Petr Yan not that long ago and is 6-1 in the UFC — beat up a short-notice debuting opponent. Damian Pinas is clearly a special talent, and yet he took a step backwards to smoke Andrey Pulyaev after knocking out a decorated pro kickboxer three months ago.
That’s lazy matchmaking … but it produced the intended results.
Fortunately, booking massive prospects to obliterate “lesser” competition does occasional backfire. Ask Ateba Gautier, who was widely expected to blow through the slightly shopworn Roman Kopylov to kick off the main card. Instead, Kopylov outclassed him at range and knocked him out just three minutes into the fight — the shoe was fully on the other foot!
Roberto Soldic vs. Khaos Williams was as violent as a fight can be without producing a stoppage. Then, Esteban Ribovics settled his feud with King Green by punching him in the face repeatedly, producing three separate knockdowns en route to the stoppage. Payton Talbott effortlessly erased Deiveson Figueiredo, stopping the Brazilian great in quick fashion to set the all-time UFC knockout record for an event. In addition, UFC 332 featured the most first-round knockouts in promotional history.
The main event couldn’t live up to the viciousness that preceded it, but it was still a decently competitive and scrappy affair. There wasn’t a bad fight on the whole card, just one string of relatively uninteresting mismatches … which still produced some awesome highlight clips for future promo reels.
I don’t think anyone who tuned in for the entire UFC 332 fight card regretted the experience.
For complete UFC 332 results and play-by-play, click here.
