With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMAjunkie looks at the best fights from March 2018: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMAjunkie’s “Fight of the Month” award for March.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
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Kristina Williams def. Emily Ducote at Bellator 195
Kristina Williams’ (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) physical advantages proved too much for Emily Ducote (6-4 MMA, 4-3 BMMA) in their flyweight bout, or so two of three judges ruled after three rounds.
Despite Ducote’s scrappy performance, Williams earned a pair of 29-28 scores to trump a third judge that saw every round the other way for the split decision. It was another impressive showing from “War Horse,” who has turned many heads just two fights into her pro career.
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Tomasz Narkun def. Mamed Khalidov at KSW 42
In a champion-vs.-champion headliner, light-heavyweight champ Tomasz Narkun (15-2) met middleweight titleholder Mamed Khalidov (34-5-2) in a non-title 205-pound bout. Early on, things weren’t going well for Narkun, who suffered two knockdowns in the opening frame.
However, as Khalidov began to fade after an action-packed first round, Narkun took advantage and fired back. Khalidov briefly returned fire, but once Narkun forced the fight to the ground in the third frame, he got his opening for a fight-ending triangle choke.
Sean O’Malley def. Andre Soukhamthath at UFC 222
Bantamweight prospect Sean O'Malley (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) delivered again in his sophomore UFC effort when he got the better of Andre Soukhamthath (12-6 MMA, 1-3 UFC) over the course of three rounds for a unanimous decision win.
Although it was a dominant performance, victory nearly slipped through O’Malley’s fingers. He sustained a bad leg injury in the third round of the bout and was forced to hobble his way to the final bell. Still, “Suga” put on another show which earned “Fight of the Night” honors.
??23 smokin dudes in their prime.
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Jan Blachowicz def. Jimi Manuwa at UFC Fight Night 127
While it was a rematch that few fans were demanding, Jan Blachowicz (22-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC) earned a hard-fought decision win over Jimi Manuwa (17-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in a thriller that may demand a trilogy.
After Manuwa got his hand raised in the first meeting in April 2015, Blachowicz turned the tables in the rematch. The Polish light heavyweight avoided the one-punch knockout blows of “Poster Boy” and implemented his own game plan in a successful manner to take the unanimous decision.
Bibiano Fernandes def. Martin Nguyen at ONE Championship 70
Bibiano Fernandes (22-3) continued to be the most successful titleholder in ONE Championship history when he defended his belt against fellow champ Martin Nguyen (10-2).
Fernandes recorded his seventh consecutive bantamweight title defense when he walked away with a split decision against featherweight and lightweight champ Nguyen. Nothing came easy for Fernandes. The challenger seemed to get the better of the striking for much of the bout, but ultimately the Brazilian found a way to get the job done on the scorecards.
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Soukhamthath may wind up looking back at his loss to O’Malley as a major missed opportunity.
In the third round, with O’Malley clearly unable to put any pressure on his right foot, Soukhamthath continued to try to end the fight on the canvas instead of forcing O’Malley to stand. After the fight, it looked like O’Malley likely had a broken foot, so had Soukhamthath made him stay on the feet, he may have wound up with an injury-aided TKO.
Instead, O’Malley took a unanimous decision from Soukhamthath with a pair of 29-27 scores and a 29-28.
O’Malley kicked Soukhamthath’s leg early, and another one right after that seemed to hurt Soukhamthath’s leg. O’Malley feinted, but then found himself eating a solid right hand from Soukhamthath 90 seconds in. O’Malley stalked Soukhamthath down and kicked to the body, then worked his jab. Another leg kick midway through took Soukhamthath off his feet.
With two minutes left, O’Malley landed a spinning backfist, left hand high kick in succession, but Soukhamthath walked through them and didn’t drop. With 40 seconds left, a right hand from O’Malley put Soukhamthath on the canvas. He got back to his feet, but ate some kicks and took a big look at the clock. He went into survival mode to get to the second round. O’Malley landed another kick, and then a right hand for a cap on a big first round.
Soukhamthath landed a right hand quickly in the second, then had O’Malley briefly on his horse. But it was short-lived and O’Malley got back to what he was doing well in the first. Just ahead of two minutes into the round, Soukhamthath was able to get the fight to the canvas. But O’Malley easily put up a triangle choke attempt. He ate elbows from O’Malley while O’Malley tried to tighten the triangle. Then O’Malley had an armbar attempt, but Soukhamthath slipped out and got to side control with two minutes left.
O’Malley recovered to half-guard, then was able to get a guillotine choke on and got back to his feet. He kicked Soukhamthath on the ground, then got side control himself with 25 seconds left in the round. A rear-naked choke attempt ended the round, and Soukhamthath was saved by the bell.
Soukhamthath tried to wrestle O’Malley early in the third, but couldn’t get the fight to the canvas. But with 3:20 left, O’Malley’s leg was hurt and Soukhamthath took the fight to the canvas. The better move may have been to stay standing, but he played on the mat and went after a submission. O’Malley wasn’t letting that happen and got back to his feet with two minutes left.
He got some separation and O’Malley was not able to put any pressure on his right foot. With 70 seconds left, O’Malley got back to his feet again and landed a spinning elbow, but again Soukhamthath went to the canvas. On the feet, O’Malley couldn’t stand – and that would’ve been the clearest path to victory for Soukhamthath. Instead, he lost a unanimous decision.
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