Shavkat Rakhmonov found himself unnerved by Ian Machado Garry, marking the first time he felt such intimidation in his UFC career. Strangely, we are unable to delve into all the intricate details of UFC 310, such as the sophisticated maturation of ‘The Korean Superboy’ Doo Ho Choi. Nor can we take a moment to reminisce on the career of Anthony Smith, possibly concluded in Las Vegas this past Saturday, or ponder the unintentionally underrated quick triumph of Vicente Luque against Themba Gorimbo. Yet, we had to sift through challenging options, and hence, we present the most crucial highlights of the last UFC pay-per-view of 2024.
The UFC flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja, will need a cavalcade of new adversaries, eyeing every novel challenger possible. Handling Kai Asakura, a UFC newcomer, proved effortless for Pantoja. This is not a testament to Asakura’s weakness, however; he demonstrated agility, swiftness, accuracy, and a lack of intimidation by the glaring UFC limelight, only after reigning as a RIZIN champion in Japan. The simple truth is that Pantoja consistently managed to outperform.
Shavkat Rakhmonov retains his undefeated status, despite the moment of terror induced by Ian Machado Garry. His unanimous decision win was not as easy to secure as was projected. Garry not only became the inaugural fighter to outlast Rakhmonov until the scorecards, but almost trapped him with a narrowly missed rear-naked choke hold.
There was a shocking injustice committed openly against Alexander Volkov, and even his competitor Ciryl Gane could acknowledge it. There were questionable scorecards presented during the event, but this one stood out. In spite of outperforming and overpowering Gane across the match, Volkov was unimaginably handed a defeat.
The decision of Kron Gracie to enter the fight was dubious. Is a UFC career part of his aspirations, or does he just feel an occasional rush to step into the ring? Did he visualize his win commencing with safeguarding himself each time Bryce Mitchell approached?
Aljamain Sterling claimed that his fight would establish why his place was not on the Prelims. He managed to succeed, but not with the final outcome he was hoping for. Sterling’s intense match with Movsar Evloev was arguably the most intense and exhilarating fight of the evening, constituting one of the greatest and most enjoyable grappling battles ever witnessed. This was the kind of fight you’d introduce to someone who doesn’t appreciate the fun element in the ground game. Like Sterling would say, ‘I told you so’.