10 memorable moments from UFC Fight Night 99 and 100, including a pair of dominant main event performances

A day full of UFC fights began with a first-round knockout at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland and ended approximately 12 hours later with a third-round TKO at  Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Between the two events the promotion held on Saturday, November 19, UFC Fight Night 99 and UFC Fight Night 100, there were 26 fights, 15 of which ended by way of stoppage. That number of stoppages included both main events.

In the headliner of UFC Fight Night 99, Gegard Mousasi avenged the only knockout loss of his career, stopping Uriah Hall via TKO in the first round.

In the main event of UFC Fight Night 100, Ryan Bader dominated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in every offensive category before stopping Nogueira via TKO in the third round.

With all the action of the day in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to take a look back at the most memorable moments from the two fight cards.

1. Two dominant wins. Now what?

Gegard Mousasi

Mousasi and Bader had dominant TKO wins on Saturday, but other than a paycheck, it’s hard to tell what either fighter gained. The victories aren’t likely to improve their placement in the rankings and barring unforeseen injuries, neither fighter will be in line for the next title shot.

Mousasi (41-6-2 MMA, 8-3 UFC), now on a four-fight winning streak with his TKO of Hall (12-8 MMA, 5-6 UFC), said he’s open to potential superfights against Anderson Silva or Nick Diaz or possibly a fight against former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.

Bader (22-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC), won his second straight fight with his victory over Nogueira (22-8 MMA, 5-5 UFC). He also became free agent after the victory. Bader’s contract status makes things a little more interesting, but in the relatively shallow light heavyweight division, it’s hard to imagine the UFC letting him walk.

Unlike Mousasi, Bader didn’t call for any specific fights, but he did say he might take a trip up to Toronto on December 10 to check out the fight between light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier and the only man to defeat Bader during his last eight fights, Anthony Johnson.

2. Bouncing back

Thomas Almeida

Thomas Almeida and Claudia Gadelha faced the same question at UFC Fight Night 100, how would they respond coming off losses?

Almeida, who suffered a knockout loss to Cody Garbrandt in May came out aggressive and looking for the stoppage in his bantamweight fight with Albert Morales (6-1-1 MMA, 0-1-1 UFC), and after a flurry of head strikes and a left to the body, Almeida (21-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) got that stoppage in the second round. The win gave Almeida his fifth fight-night bonus award since joining the UFC in 2014.

Gadelha was coming off a July loss to strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Gadelha (14-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) dominated Cortney Casey (6-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC), going six for six in takedown attempts on her way to the unanimous decision win.

The only negative in this fight was the illegal kick Gadelha delivered to the head of the downed Casey in the third stanza.

With the win, Gadelha is likely to be matched up against Karolina Kowalkiewicz according to UFC president Dana White.

3. All that confidence

Kevin Lee

Heading into his UFC Fight Night 99 lightweight contest against Magomed Mustafaev, Kevin Lee said Eddie Alvarez “embarrassed the entire division” in losing the lightweight title to Conor McGregor at UFC 205.

With talk like that Lee (14-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) couldn’t afford to do anything but dominate Mustafaev (13-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC), which he did.

Mustafaev held a brief advantage early, but Lee’s wrestling and submission game changed the momentum, and he choked Mustafaev unconscious in the second round for the technical submission win.

After the fight, his confidence soaring, Lee called out the entire lightweight division, including McGregor.

At UFC Fight Night 100, welterweight Kamaru Usman (9-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) took to the mic after his unanimous decision win over Warlley Alves (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) and showed an abundance of swagger when he called out Demian Maia, a call out Maia dismissed on Twitter.

4. Brought to a halt

Artem Lobov

Teruto Ishihara was riding high heading into UFC Fight Night 99. With two straight knockouts and a huge personality, he looked poised to break through in the featherweight division. Artem Lobov put a stop to that, avoiding the fast hands of Ishihara and controlling the octagon for most of their fight.

When Ishihara (9-3-2 MMA, 2-1-1 UFC) did catch Lobov (12-12-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) and drop him with a left, he inexplicably dropped into Lobov’s guard, allowing Lobov to recover.

The unanimous decision win was a huge victory for Lobov, who celebrated in the cage with his training partner, UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor.

5. A passing grade

Krzysztof Jotko

Krzysztof Jotko lost his UFC debut in 2014, but since then he’s done nothing but win, and at UFC Fight Night 100 he earned the biggest victory of his career, defeating Thales Leites via unanimous decision. Even more impressive was the fact that Jotko (19-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) didn’t shy away from competing with Leites (26-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC) on the ground, where the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt holds and advantage over most of the middleweight division.

The win should set Jotko up for an even bigger fight in early 2017.

6. That was the one thing to avoid

Magnus Cedenblad and Jack Marshman

The thinking going into the middleweight bout between Magnus Cedenblad and Jack Marshman was that Cedenblad (14-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) was the better all-around fighter, but if he wasn’t careful, Marshman (21-5 MMA, 1-0 UFC) could steal the fight on the feet.

If there were doubts about that thinking, Marshman dispelled them early, dropping Cedenblad with a left hook. Cedenblad recovered from the knockdown and controlled the rest of the first round.

In the second round, Marshman showed he was willing to take a shot to land a shot, and having the heavier hands, the approach paid off late in the round when he ended the fight with strikes.

7. Calling it a career, maybe, probably

Manny Gamburyan

Manny Gamburyan’s UFC run seemingly came to an end at UFC Fight Night 100 when he announced his retirement following a second round TKO loss to fellow bantamweight Johnny Eduardo.

Eduardo (28-10 MMA, 3-2 UFC) shut down the takedowns of Gamburyan (15-10 MMA, 6-8 UFC) and used leg kicks to keep his opponent at distance. The end came early in the second round when Eduardo dropped Gamburyan with a jab and finished things with strikes on the ground.

After the fight, Gamburyan said he was “probably” going to call it a career. By the time he got backstage, it seemed like that probably was leaning more toward definitely.

8. Sometimes it pays to get off the couch

Justin Ledet

Justin Ledet almost skipped UFC Fight Night 99 to catch the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev boxing match. However, the need for a paycheck eventually swayed the heavyweight to head to Belfast to face Mark Godbeer (11-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC).

The decision to take the fight paid dividends for Ledet (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), as he earned a first round rear-naked choke submission win and a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus.

9. A good debut, but a better interview

Abdul Razak Alhassan

UFC Fight Night 99 opened with a welterweight bout between two UFC newcomers, Charlie Ward and Abdul Razak Alhassan.

Alhassan entered the fight with the five knockout wins, with each of those fights ending within the first 96 seconds. Alhassan 7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) kept his streak of fast knockouts alive, finishing Ward (2-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in just 53 seconds, earning a “Performance of the Night” bonus as well.

As impressive as Alhassan’s knockout was, the genuine enthusiasm and happiness he expressed in his post-fight interview with Dan Hardy was really the highlight of his UFC debut.

10. Men in black

Darren Stewart and Francimar Barroso

Referees Eduardo Herdy and Fernando Portella both had bad nights at UFC Fight Night 100.

Herdy missed an accidental headbutt in the heavyweight bout between Darren Stewart (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Francimar Barroso (18-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC). Shortly after the impact, Stewart took the fight to the ground and finished things with strikes.

After the fight, commentator Brian Stann said senior referee Mario Yamasaki told him the fight should have been paused after the headbutt to allow the doctor to look at Barroso.

In the co-main event, Herdy let Morales take many unnecessary strikes from Almeida before stepping in to end the fight.

“Boy, this ref just must not like him,” said Stann on the broadcast before imploring, “Stop the fight.”

Portella failed to take a point from Gadelha after her illegal kick. In fact, he never even warned her about the strike.

Portella also erred during the Luis Henrique vs. Christian Colombo heavyweight bout. Portella stopped that fight in the second stanza so the doctor could look at a cut on Colombo’s head. He then restarted the fight with both men standing, not with Henrique in top position on the ground, which was where the fight was before the break.

Henrique  (10-2-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) took the fight back to the mat, but had Colombo (8-9-1 MMA, 0-1-1 UFC) changed the flow of the contest, Portella’s miscue could have loomed large.

Henrique ended the contest in the third round via submission.

For more on UFC Fight Night 99 and UFC Fight Night 100, check out the MMA Events section of the site.