UFC Fight Night Boise Report: Dos Santos Wins After 5 Rounds

Last week Daniel Cormier defeated Stipe Miocic, and was looking down on the fight game from his throne, one championship on each shoulder. History was made that will not be forgotten for a long time. As the dust is still settling, UFC provided a 13 fight card from Boise, Idaho for the first time in UFC history. Headlining the card is Junior Dos Santos facing Blagoy Ivanov who has the experience in MMA, but steps into a UFC octagon for the first time in his career. In the co-main event prettyboy Sage Northcutt faces Zak Ottow. For those who didn’t know, Northcutt was one of the many talents discovered on Dana White’s web series called “Looking For A Fight”. Before that fight, the main event and many more, the evening starting with Jessica Aguilar and Jodie Esquibel on the UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims.

 

1. The first fight on the Early Prelims was a Strawweight fight between Jessica Aguilar and Jodie Esquibel. This fight was originally scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Utica, but was cancelled after Aguilar had a “chapped lips” issue. Aguilar’s bad luck goes even farther back than last month, with another fight of hers being cancelled in February. This is Aguilar’s first fight in 2018. In the first round both fighters were able to hold their own, with Aguilar being better by a margin on my scorecard. The second round was closer to call than the first. Esquibel’s corner seemed confident that the scorecards had it 1-1 while Aguilar’s corner was saying that she is up 2-0 but “you never know” with the judges. The fight went the distance, giving us the chance to see what the judges actually thought. The judges gave Aguilar the win Unanimously (30-27, 29-28 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Aguilar	10	10	10	30
Esquibel	9	9	9	27

 

2. Continuing the three fight UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims was Mark De La Rosa against Elias Garcia in a Flyweight bout. Both of these guys are really young and have a lot of wins on their record already. In the first round Garcia mounted De La Rosa, with DLR getting rid of him by spinning many times. When put in an Armbar later in the round he used a similar spinning tactic. Two very interesting moments in the round. In the second round De La Rose put in a Rear Naked Choke that made Garcia tap. De La Rosa did not call anyone out after the fight, saying that he wants to “stay humble”.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
De La Rosa	10
Garcia	9

 

3. Finishing off the Early Prelims was ranked fighter #7 Liz Carmouche against Jennifer Maia. In the second round Carmouche was aggressively looking for a finish, trying with strikes then an Armbar until the round ended. The fight went all three rounds. Carmouche walked away with a victory Unanimously (30-27, 30-27 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Carmouche #7	10	10	10	30
Maia	9	9	9	27

 

4. Starting the prelims on FS1 was Kurt Holobaugh versus Raoni Barcelos. The two Featherweights were very close in the first round. The commentary team predicted that the fight would not make it past the first round, but it instead went to the third round. AQ flurry of strikes by Barcelos dropped Holobaugh making referee Herb Dean stop the fight.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Holobaugh	9	10
Barcelos	10	9

 

5. Justin Scoggins faced Flyweight Said Nurmagomedov in the second prelim fight. Said was hired in January, this being his first UFC fight. He is a cousin to UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. There was an interesting moment in the third round where the two fighters were stood up while Nurmagomedov was throwing strikes. Said Nurmagomedov ended up winning the fight via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Scoggins	10	9	9	28
Nurmagomedov	9	10	10	29

 

6. Alexander Volkanovski faced #10 rank Darren Elkins in the next fight. During the fighter introductions it is shown on the broadcast that Israel Adesanya, who won the main event at TUF27 last week, was applauding Volkanovski while wearing one of his shirts. In the first round Volkanovski put in a pretty convincing Guillotine, but Elkins escaped. Eklins got dropped with a strike later in the first round but recovered. Volkanovski dropped Elkins once again and slipped in a Guillotine as the round ended. The ref was giving Elkins more leeway than usual. Volkanovski had him in the palm of his hand during the second round. The fight (somehow) went the distance. It’s worth being applauded itself that Elkins survived past round 1. The judges gave Volkanovski the win Unanimously (30-27, 29-28 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Volkanovski	10	10	10	30
Elkins #10	8	9	9	26

 

7. Finishing off the preliminary card was #15 rank Eddie Wineland versus #13 rank Alejandro Perez in the Bantamweight class. The fight was very close for all three rounds. Nobody was being super aggressive, and the fight stayed standing for the most part. In the final 10 seconds Perez started swinging like crazy. The official decision was a Unanimous Decision for Perez (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Wineland #15	10	9	9	29
Perez #15	9	10	10	28

 

8. Kicking off the main card, Cat Zingano who is #6 Bantamweight rank faced #7 rank Marion Reneau. This fight, which travelled at a slow pace for all three rounds went to decision. Zingano won, absolutely dominating the scorecards (30-27, 30-27 & 30-26). She gave a very emotional, feel good interview after the fight.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Zingano #6	10	10	10	30
Reneau #7	9	9	9	27

 

9. In the next bout Chad Mendes faced #12 rank Featherweight Myles Jury. Mendes last fought in 2015 when he lost to Frankie Edgar, coming off his loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 189. Basically, this is the start of the Chad Mendes redemption arch. Minutes into the first round Mendes dropped Jury with a left then finished the fight on the ground with more strikes. He was excited to be back in his interview afterwards.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Mendes
Jury #12

 

10. Niko Price faced Randy Brown in the next fight. Brown won the first round standing up. In the second round we saw a very unique finish, with Price putting Brown to sleep while Price was on the bottom. After the finish he threw his mouthguard out of his mouth, a similar celebration that we saw last week when Dan Hooker won his fight.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Price	9
Brown	10

 

11. In a Featherweight fight, Rick Glenn faced Dennis Bermudez.This fight went all fifteen minutes, leaving the win and loss to each fighter in the hands of the judges. Rick Glenn won via Split Decision (29-28, 30-27 & 29-28)

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Glenn	10	9	10	29
Bermudez	9	10	9	28

 

12. In the co-main event spot for tonight is Zak Ottow versus Sage Northcutt. Northcutt is one of those guys that sticks with you because of his look and personality. Ottow had control for most of the first round when he took Northcutt to the ground. Racing the clock Northcutt was looking for a finish on the ground. Ottow seemed to really gas out in the second round, and Northcutt took advantage of that. Northcutt got a win after landing Hammerfists on the ground.

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Ottow	10
Northcutt	9

 

13. Now it became time for the main event. #8 rank Heavyweight Junior Dos Santos faces newcomer to the UFC Blagoy Ivanov. The first three rounds were back and forth. Ivanov’s best round was the third. Dos Santos had finger poking issues throughout rounds, with Herb Dean bringing him to a corner to fix his gloves in the fourth. In the fourth round the crowd started a stomping chant, trying to get the two fighters to engage more. Ivanov got hit in the eye again in the final round, being checked by the doctors. No point was taken away, despite the commentators believing there was good reason to. All three judges had scorecard Unanimously in favour of Dos Santos (50-45, 50-45 & 50-45).

 

My Scorecard:

Fighter	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total
Dos Santos #8	10	9	9	10	10	48
Ivanov	9	10	10	9	9	47

 

UFC usually runs Saturday evening events like we saw tonight, but next week when the octagon travels to Hamburg, Germany, it will have a special start time of 10:30 AM EST for the Early Prelims on Sunday (2PM EST for Main Card). Headlining the card is Shogun Rua and Anthony Smith. UFC is many many weeks away from their next PPV, when TJ Dillashaw defends his Bantamweight Championship against Cody Garbrandt in a rematch. That card goes down on August 4, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Ending off this week in UFC was Junior Dos Santos on top in Boise.