As that headline rings in your ear, don’t think that we mean he has some type of streak in the month of October. We are truly just having fun with his nickname. But when it comes to Rick “Horror” Story in the octagon there is no games. Previously undefeated fighter Gunnar Nelson found that out this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night Stockholm.
During a roar of misguided fans Rick Story proved to be a better man on a night filled with outstanding finishes and of course a little bit of controversy. It’s something we have come to expect with some of these foreign soiled cards in the UFC but still a quality night of fights. In the co-main event we saw the Hawaiian Max Holloway continue his impressive streak with a first round finish of Akira Corassani.
Before diving into the main event, let us discuss the prelim fight with Cathal Pendred and Gasan Umalatov. It was difficult to see what the judges were seeing in this fight but it was quite embarrassing. While there were no issues with Cathal winning the first round, to say he won that fight is a travesty. It was clear even before he was dropped by Gasan that from the second round on Umalatov dictated the pace of that fight.
For those who say Pendred controlled the cage, how is that possible when your takedowns are being stuffed and you are on your heels from 2nd round on? The punch that dropped Cathal was just an extra benefit for a fight he clearly won. Neither a draw nor loss would have been the correct outcome as there was clearly some sketchy scoring. Never leave it in the hands of judges is a common theme in MMA and this is why.
Even knowing that we have to get to a place in this sport where the judging makes since? If not, then what is the point of having them there? It’s bothersome knowing that you may be the type of fighter with a good skill set of counters and wrestling defense and it warrants nothing in the fight. The sport will never get the wanted eyes on these matches if these terrible decisions continue to happen. This writer will be watching the fight again to try and gain some perspective but after first glance the outcome was inaccurate.
Rick Story (18-8) was a heavy underdog coming into the match against Gunnar Nelson (13-1-1). Similar to what we saw in college football this week, sometimes the match up on paper is not always accurate. Gunnar possess an amazing skill set but to overlook Story was a costly mistake. One of the reasons that this writer originally picked Story was due to hearing that Gunnar was not at first keen on this fight.
After his last bout, he had been looking to take some time off. He was coaxed into the match by Conor McGregor and that’s never a recipe for success. Nelson’s laid-back single strike nature would already have its limits against a busy fighter like Story, so adding the mental could prove to be the ultimate undoing. Sticking to his game plan of multiple shots, great leg kicks Rick wore down Nelson.
This writer had the fight scored in the first two rounds closely for Nelson but could see the fight was close enough for Story to take advantage. From round three on he did and once he dropped Nelson the ending was inevitable. This is one we are sure Gunnar would like again but you have to capitalize on opportunities when they present themselves so he will have to regroup and come for it next time.
Story has now put together two in a row after losing a close decision to Kelvin Gastelum. In a division as thick as the welterweights there are multiple choices for both fighters and a match up with Adlan Amagov sounds great for Story.
What more can you say about Max Holloway (11-3)? He takes a fight on short notice, travels across the globe and finishes Akira Corassani (12-5) in the first round. Akira has now dropped his second and is probably reeling since he was a few seconds away from finishing Dustin Poirier. He ran into one of the more gifted young fighters in the UFC. We all know “Blessed” has finishing power but now it’s just safe to say he is a finisher.
That is four straight finishes in a row as this young man stays on the heels of the last two fighters that beat him. A match up with the winner of Jeremy Stephens - Charles Oliveira could be in the cards. Though it would be nice to see Dana reward him with the loser of one of the future contender’s match-ups in the next few months.
The KSW invasion was clearly felt at UFC Stockholm and none more than the performance by Jan Blachowicz (18-3). Facing Swedish countryman Ilir Latifi (9-4) we found out soon enough why many have been looking forward to Blachowicz debut in the octagon. With a devastating kick to liver he was able to hurt the muscly light heavyweight and continue on for the finish. The long leg kicks of Jan were an issue from the start of the fight as Latifi has issues with guys he can’t get close to. Notching his first victory in the UFC should give Jan a nice little bump in the rankings and could possible see him fighting a top 10 opponent very soon.
The KSW invasion was clearly felt at UFC Stockholm and none more than the performance by Jan Blachowicz (18-3). Facing Swedish countryman Ilir Latifi (9-4) we found out soon enough why many have been looking forward to Blachowicz debut in the octagon. With a devastating kick to liver he was able to hurt the muscly light heavyweight and continue on for the finish.
The long leg kicks of Jan were an issue from the start of the fight as Latifi has issues with guys he can’t get close to. Notching his first victory in the UFC should give Jan a nice little bump in the rankings and could possible see him fighting a top-10 opponent very soon.
UFC Stockholm will create some doubters in regards to scoring inaccuracies. What the card should be remembered for is a night when an unlikely main eventer made the best of his given opportunity and succeeded. We will be curious to see who matches up next with Cathal Pendred and hopefully it’s fighter that loves to engage. Next up is the recap for UFC Halifax right here on Vavel MMA.
Here are the full results for UFC Fight Night Stockholm:
Rick Story def. Gunnar Nelson via split decision (47-48, 49-46, 50-44)
Max Holloway def. Akira Corassani via TKO (punches) at 3:11 of round 1
Jan Blachowicz def. Ilir Latifi via TKO (body kick and punches) at 1:58 of round 1
Mike Wilkinson def. Niklas Backstrom via KO (punches) at 1:19 of round 1
Prelims:
Magnus Cedenblad def. Scott Askham via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Nico Musoke def. Alexander Yakovlev via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Dennis Siver def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Cathal Pendred def. Gasan Umalatov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Krzysztof Jotko def. Tor Troeng via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
Mairbek Taisumov def. Marcin Bandel via TKO (punches) at 1:01 of round 1
Zubaira Tukhugov def. Ernest Chavez via TKO (punches) at 4:21 of round 1