#KiwiUFC: UFC Fight Night Auckland Crumbs
UFC Fight Night Auckland saw City Kickboxing win all three of their fights and as a mark of their dominance, this is the second time in 12 months CKB have enjoyed three wins on the same UFC card. Kai Kara-France grabbed a hearty win over Tyson Nam in the flyweight division, then Brad Riddell showcased his versatility in defeating Magomend Mustafaev and in the main event Dan Hooker put on a show with Paul Felder to cap things off with a narrow victory.
The beautiful thing across all three CKB fighters involved, was the importance of these fights with the bigger picture in mind. Both Hooker and Riddell sit in the lightweight division, at different stages of their journey to the top of the lightweight rankings and their potential to do so was on display in both fights. Hooker was too good for Al Iaquinta in his previous fight, picking Iaquinta apart from range and keeping Iaquinta's threat level low with kicks that compounded damage to Iaquinta's legs and thus dictating the fight.
Against Felder, Hooker started off in similar fashion. Felder's striking is not only more brutal than Iaquinta's, it's also more varied and comes in weird packages via spinning back-fists, swift combos and yucky elbows. Hooker played into Felder's style when Hooker backed off his kicks and this enabled Felder to close the distance and get into his favoured range; Hooker landed 15/19 kicks in the first round, then 8/9 in the second round before 7/8, 5/5 and 5/6.
Felder's strikes to the head went in the opposite direction, aligning with Hooker's move away from kicks (not sure why Hooker didn't control with kicks). Felder landed 2/25 head strikes in the first round, then 10/29, 14/39, 22/44 and 13/33. This fight started off in similar fashion to the win over Iaquinta, but Felder soon started to flow with his strikes and things started to move into the five-round war category.
There is absolutely no doubt of Hooker's ability to sustain damage and continue fighting. Hooker was destroyed by Edson Barboza a couple fights back and that caught the UFC world's attention with how Hooker was able to continue fighting, now he's got through his first five-rounder in similar fashion. This fight was close and folks will have different views on who won (as well as the standard confusion around UFC judging), although the fact that Hooker flexed with a takedown late in the fight not only may have swung the fight in his favour, Hooker showcased his tool-belt of skills against a niggly opposition.
From an outside perspective, I'm more intrigued by Riddell as a fighter and what he could do in the lightweight division. I'm fascinated to see if Hooker can climb further up the lightweight division, although Riddell feels better equipped to do so and if I was forced to pick one over the other, in the same division, I'll opt for Riddell as having a higher ceiling.
Riddell throws bombs, CKB bombs that come after numerous tricks and fakes, which Mustafaev didn't really want to stand and cop. Mustafaev started with 4/4 takedowns in the first round, then 3/3 in the second round and Riddell was generally able to limit the control and damage from Mustafaev in these positions. By the third round, Mustafaev landed 1/4 takedowns and having been patient, clear and precise in dealing with Mustafaev's takedowns in the first two rounds, Riddell was at ease with Mustafaev on the ground by the third round.
There's also nice alignment in this fight with the takedowns and strikes. While Mustafaev's takedown's decreased in impact, Riddell jacked up his striking from 3/5 in the first round, to 17/29 and then 18/38 by the third round. Both Riddell and Hooker rely on their striking as their major skill, yet like all CKB fighters they have tools to deal with takedown attempts whether snuffing them or calmly working through the process of escaping them. Hooker also has shown his submission expertise throughout his career and there were quiet attempts to wrap up Felder, while Riddell appears to be someone who is comfortable in sussing out the process of getting out of a takedown.
Kara-France was all over his opponent Nam, landing and throwing more significant strikes in every round. Both Riddell and Kara-France increased their striking output round by round, with Kara-France going from 78 strikes thrown in the first round to 99 in the third round. The class of Kara-France across the different aspects of striking is what caught the eye here, especially coming off a loss and fighting on home soil where one might think that a fighter could lean towards being over-eager to get a finish.
Working through the levels of distance, Kara-France applied the best technique to build up damage and appears to be comfortable in picking shots from distance, as well as moving in and firing. High output with low key power and variety, as well as the takedown defence (both were 0/4) has Kara-France as someone who could seriously shake up a flyweight division that is sniffing around for a new wave to come through.
All three CKB fighters displayed their strengths and in very broad terms, CKB's strength is their striking and how they strike unlike any other group of fighters in the UFC. All three fights in Auckland though also allowed for more low key aspects of CKB to shine, whether that be sound defensive techniques or simply the ability to get the job done in the best environment that they would have fought in.
Now it's time to prepare for Israel Adesayna vs Yoel Romero.
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Peace and love 27.