With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMAjunkie takes a look at the best fights from July. Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMAjunkie’s “Fight of the Month” award for July.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
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The Nominees
Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad at UFC Fight Night 90
Alan Jouban (14-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) appeared to be cruising to an early stoppage in his welterweight bout Belal Muhammad (9-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), but the UFC newcomer proved a tough out as he gutted his way to the final bell.
Jouban had his way with Muhammad in the first round, racking up a 10-8 on two scorecards. As the fight progressed Muhammad began to find his footing in the octagon, rallying with big shots of his own. He was unable to rack up enough points, however, and ultimately fell by unanimous decision.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk def. Claudia Gadelha at TUF 23 Finale
UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) continued to jolt fear into her division in a rematch of her closest fight to date. The reigning 115-pound champion defended her belt for the third time with a unanimous decision victory over Claudia Gadelha (13-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in a highly intriguing contest.
After two rough rounds in which the challenger looked on her way to victory, Jedrzejczyk’s striking and takedown defense came to life in the final three rounds. The champion got better as the bout wore on, and when the final bell sounded, Gadelha had nothing left in the tank and was defeated.
Louis Smolka def. Ben Nguyen at UFC Fight Night 91
With furious grappling exchanges and constantly shifting momentum, flyweights Louis Smolka (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and Ben Nguyen (14-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC) combined for one of the best first rounds of the year.
But after Smolka took over late in the round, he dominated in the second, eventually climbing into a dominant position on the ground and stopping a battered and bloodied Nguyen with strikes from mount to win the thrilling affair by TKO.
Tony Ferguson def. Lando Vannata at UFC Fight Night 91
If moral victories exist, the debuting Lando Vannata (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) certainly earned one in his utterly wild second-round submission loss to top lightweight contender Tony Ferguson (21-3 MMA, 11-1 UFC)
Vannata nearly pulled off a massive upset when he shocked Ferguson early in the first and nearly got a knockout on multiple occasions. “El Cucuy” overcame the adversity, though, making it to the second, when he found an opening. He grabbed Vannata’s neck from a standing position, dragged him down the canvas and locked in his record third D’Arce choke submission in UFC competition.
John Lineker def. Michael McDonald at UFC Fight Night 91
The bantamweight division continued to be good to John Lineker (28-7 MMA, 9-2 UFC) during his third appearance in the division. He stayed perfect at 135 pounds when he knocked out Michael McDonald (17-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in violent fashion to end his first UFC main event in a successful manner.
After a brief feeling-out process, Lineker began to catch McDonald with big strikes around a minute into the fight. The action just got started there. “Hands of Stone” once again lived up to his nickname, connecting on and badly hurting McDonald over and over.
“Mayday” did his best to swing back and return fire, but he was only putting himself further in harms way. Lineker walked through every shot, swung back and finally melted McDonald with shots that left him face-first on the canvas.
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The Winner: Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha
Jedrzejczyk had to overcome early adversity against Gadelha, but managed to survive multiple takedowns to take over the fight down the stretch and earn a second victory over her biggest rival.
As expected, aggression was the order of the day from the start of the fight. Gadelha landed a strong jab that put Jedrzejczyk down. She tried to move to top position but Jedrzejczyk was able to use the cage to rise back up to her feet.
Gadelha didn’t back down, however, and scored with a strong takedown to put the fight back on the floor. Jedrzejczyk immediately began eating big punches but slid back to the cage and stood once again and the women traded big elbows before going back to distance.
Out of the clinch, Jedrzejczyk began to land punches while Gadelha looked to take a moment to catch her breath.
Round 2 opened with champion and challenger throwing heavy punches before Gadelha pushed the fight to the cage and landed a hard elbow and hook before scoring another takedown.
Gadelha again punished Jedrzejczyk on the ground before she worked her way back to standing. Gadelha refused to disengage, however, and continued to push for takedowns against the cage.
Gadelha looked fatigued coming out for Round 3 while Jedrzejczyk began to find her rhythm on the feet, landing punches in combinations. Gadelha returned fire with some heavy counter punches before driving through yet another takedown.
Jedrzejczyk was able to break from clinches with more ease as Gadelha appeared to be fatiguing badly. After easily getting top position after a Gadelha takedown attempt, Jedrzejczyk stood up, walked away and waived the challenger back to her feet.
Jedrzejczyk stormed out of the corner for Round 4 throwing blisteringly quick combinations of strikes, while Gadelha started to fight going backward for the first time in the fight.
Jedrzejczyk continued throwing combinations and mixing in heavy leg kicks as a fatigued Gadelha found less and less success offensively.
Displaying phenomenal cardio, Jedrzejczyk continued the assault in Round 5, though Gadelha showed more determination to walk forward and once again forced a clinch against the cage. Jedrzejczyk was able to easily escape and landed a hard combination on the way out.
Jedrzejczyk continued to fight like a completely fresh fighter to the final bell, and after surviving tough early rounds, was awarded the fight 48-46, 48-45 and 48-46 on the official scorecards.
Following the fight, the two bitter rivals expressed respect and admiration for each other.
Jedrzejczyk remained undefeated and is now 4-0 in UFC title fights. Gadelha suffered the second defeat of her pro career, both coming to Jedrzejczyk.
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