The three stars of ‘UFC Fight Night 35: Rockhold vs. Philippou’

UFC Fight Night 35 was hardly the strongest fight card the UFC has put together in recent months, but for a mid-week event on FOX Sports 1, there were a number of worthy matchups across numerous weight classes.

Win or lose, all 24 fighters who competed at the event did their best to leave a strong impression on viewers. Many were successful to some degree, but three stood out above the rest.

With that in mind, here are our three stars from “UFC Fight Night 35: Rockhold vs. Philippou.”

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Third Star – Cole Miller

The UFC career of Cole Miller (21-8 MMA, 10-6 UFC) has been a turbulent one – from his time in the lightweight division all the way to his current stint as a featherweight. You never quite know what you’re going to get out of “Magrinho” when he steps inside the octagon, but on Wednesday, Miller delivered in every way imaginable.

Not only did “The Ultimate Fighter 5” cast member outpoint the historically more successful striker Sam Sicilia (12-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) on the feet, but he also finished the fight on the ground in emphatic fashion.

Miller capped off his stellar performance with the seventh submission victory of his UFC career, moving him into a tie for fifth place all-time in company history.

Stylistic concerns will always come to the forefront when Miller is matched up with powerful wrestlers or high-level strikers. However, it’s rare for one of Miller’s fights to lack excitement.

With three wins in his past four contests, the 29-year-old appears to be really hitting his prime.

Second Star – T.J. Dillashaw

Although T.J. Dillashaw (9-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was unable to finish his opponent, what the Team Alpha Male product did to Mike Easton (13-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) over the course of three rounds was equally, if not more, impressive than what Miller did earlier in the night.

Easton has been a top-10 bantamweight essentially since his UFC debut in 2011, and Dillashaw made him look unworthy of sharing the same octagon.

Dillashaw was the superior fighter in every aspect needed to dominate, and he cruised from start to finish, never finding himself in serious danger during the 15-minute affair.

The performance opened a lot of eyes about how good Dillashaw can be. And perhaps more impressive of all is how the split decision loss to Raphael Assuncao has seemingly taken Dillashaw to another level, rather than set him back.

First Star – Luke Rockhold

It is going to be a long time before the clip of Vitor Belfort knocking out Luke Rockhold (11-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) by a spinning back kick stops playing on UFC highlight reels. Fortunately for the former Strikeforce champion, his knockout of Constantinos Philippou (12-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) helped partially wash that memory out of his mind – and fans’.

Rockhold absolutely starched Philippou in less than a round in the UFC Fight Night 35 main event. It finally gave him his first UFC victory 18 months after last having his hand raised in an MMA fight.

Rockhold’s viability as a middleweight contender was brought into question following the fight with Belfort, but his sharp performance against Philippou – one that ended with a rare body-kick knockout – showed his loss to “The Phenom” was a mere hiccup.

Not many fighters are granted back-to-back UFC main event fights to start out their careers with the organization. And after failing badly in his first attempt, Rockhold finally showed the world what he’s capable of, and it was promising.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 35, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.