UFC Fight Night : Ankalaev vs Walker 2 - Recapped!

 Ankalaev vs Walker 2 - Recapped!

The barebone results of the event that happened last Saturday 13th January 2024:

This events results were jam packed, we couldn't have asked for a better first UFC event of 2024, before we get into the gritty detail of the spectacular event of Jan 13th, here is an overview of what happened: 

• Magomed Ankalaev got a vicious KO victory over Johnny Walker
• 40 year old veteran Jim Miller pulled off a late 3rd round neck crank on Gabriel Benitez
• Ricky Simon pulverised by Mario Bautista over 3 brutal rounds 

And so much more, yet to come …

Magomed Ankalaev vs Johnny Walker 2

Starting of with the first round , we see these two giants of human beings face off in a close first round, with both Ankalaev and Walker landing a similar amount of shots in round 1, Ankalaev landed a 2 more Sig. Str (Significant strikes) with 17 / 33 leaving him with a 51% Sig. Str% , this is in contrast to Johnny Walker who threw more punches (50 in total) but only landing 15 , giving him a Sig. Str % of 30%. Towards the end of the round, it didn't give Ankalaev a good look in the judges eyes when he landed an unintentional groin strike to Walker, this resulted in the Referee giving a 40 second time out for Walker before an uneventful 5th minute until the start of Round 2 !

2/3 of the judges gave the 1st Round to Johnny Walker, The round could have gone either way and the blow to the groin did not help Ankalaev's case. 

Now as we look into Round 2, the fight didn't go as planned for Walker, the round started of as very similar to the firs with both fighters trading powerful kicks and punches to both the head and the legs. The trouble now comes as Walker starts to break the narrative that was leading most of the fight where each fighter kept circling around each other. However with a sudden exchange of hands, Walker left himself open to a nasty right hook that led to another goofy Johnny Walker knockout. 

From this fight, with an impressive 2nd round knockout, Magomed Ankalaev is undoubtably boosted in the LHW (Light Heavyweight) title picture. 

Jim Miller vs Gabriel Benitez

Round 1 and the fight is of to a flying start, the veteran fighter Jim Miller starts to face off and provoke Gabriel "Moggly" Benitéz. The pair trade shots, punch for punch, calf kick for calf kick and knee for knee. It is an absolute war between these two oldies of the game. It seems that both these fighters want to have more of a Muay Thai fight rather that duking it out in MMA. 

All three judges gave the first gave the first round to Jim Miller, no quarrel from over here at the The Marital Times. A-10 was clearly the aggressor and was doing the most damage. 

The Second round was much of the same, Both fighters Duking it out to see who was the best, It soon ended with a fight to the ground where Miller tried for a minute and a half to try and choke Moggly out. 

Round 2 goes to Miller

As round 3 starts , to give credit to Benitez, both fighters look as if they could do this all day. Not a lot of damage all round. But as the round goes on Jim miller fulls it off. After getting Gabriel to the ground, Miller puts him in a RNC (rear naked choke) and submits him. 

With a flawless performance, Jim miller is now scheduled to fight No 14 Ranked Bobby Green in Las Vegas for UFC 300