Title Hopes For Pickett Derail, As The McGregor Hype Train Thunders on

Brave Heart Pickett Loses in Fight of the Night as McGregor is Victorious

by Tommy Strong @strong_tea

Brad Pickett makes McDonald question his power

UFC and British Bantamweight Brad Pickett saw his hopes of closing in on a title shot take a major set back in a second round defeat to Michael McDonald.

Saturday night saw the UFC debut on Fox Sports 1, with a card that was stacked to the ceiling in quality bouts. Pickett known for his punching power, granite chin and entertaining style, (which is why he's one of Dana White favourite fighters) didn't disappoint. Though this time is wasn't for his punching power.

McDonald entered the octagon on the back of a 4th round submission loss to Renan Barao for the bantamweight interim title in February when the pair met in Wembley London. Its easy to forget that McDonald is only 22 years old and already he has had 5 fights within the UFC before Saturday. So for that reason it was no surprise that he showed maturity years beyond his age in his win over Pickett.

Both fighters came out with one intention in mind, to knock the other guy out! Though it was McDonald who was landing the kicks and clearer punches until he landed a left hook buckling Pickett's legs sensing a early knockout McDonald landed with ease dropping Pickett within a minute of the first round.
Somehow surviving the onslaught from McDonald, Pickett was still standing and trading wild punches to the amazement of McDonald. This is where he showed real maturity , sensing the he couldn't finish Pickett at that moment he backed off , composed himself to conserve energy incase it went the distance.

Going into the second it was a cagey start, Pickett backing up McDonald manages to take him down, working from the top and looking comfortable until McDonald transitions into a brilliant triangle choke and locking it in. Leaving Pickett with little else to do, but to tap!

McDonald showed even at 22 he's a star, and one that maybe isn't appreciated by fans. Pickett finds himself just short of the elite level needed, but boy with fighters like him in the UFC we should be very thankful.
It won't be much consolation for Pickett though winning fight of the night and $50k that goes with it will no doubt help heel the wounds.

Conor remains undefeated in the UFC

Irelands very own featherweight Conor McGregor proved again on Saturday night maybe the 'Hype Train' is for real, with a workman like win over a tough Max Holloway.

The Irishman even got his very own walkout due to high demand by the public and fans Dana White made it happen, despite no other fighter on the prelim card getting this privilege.

Conor isn't one to hold back anything and enjoys telling the world and his fans just how great he is , without proving it. This would be his first real test and he passed with a C.

It certainly wasn't pretty or as exciting as maybe the fans had expected, and we saw 3 rounds of Conor out striking and counter punching Max at ease. Conor's stand up looked slick and fast, throwing from weird angles and throwing kicks we rarely see in the cage.

Holloway was really struggling to work Conor's style out, and had very few answers in return. With the fight being lop sided in rounds 1 and 2, the third round saw Conor take Holloway down, something we hadn't seen him do before, working on top smothering Holloway and eventually gaining full mount until he managed to roll free and get back to his feet for the duration of the round.

With the fight going to the official scorecards, all three judges gave the decision to Conor (30-27,30-27,30-26) its the first time ever in his MMA career that he's gone the distance. Maybe a reason for this was because of his knee.

After the fight Conor went onto say '' I wanted to put him away, but in the second round I caught a kick  and tried to pass his guard. He caught my leg in an awkward position and my knee popped"

McGregor will have a MRI scan on his knee on Friday and is hoping it won't keep him out long to either fight in Manchester or Vegas or well even both!! Being Conor it wouldn't surprise me if he done both!