UFC Vegas 76 is in the books, with a number of storylines emerging from the Fight Night card.
What felt like an odd choice for a main event and an afterthought of an APEX card turned out to be fairly entertaining, with a number of big finishes and exciting fights playing out Saturday. Among them, the headliner, which saw Abus Magomedov throw everything he had at Sean Strickland through the first five minutes.
The problem was, Magomedov was in a five-round fight with an opponent known for maintaining his energy over the distance. In the second frame, Strickland began lighting up a tiring Magomedov, with the Russian-born German appearing to turn and disengage at times. That led to a warning to the ref to fight back, and Magomedov tried to comply, but was knocked down and out at the end of the second.
Strickland, who called for a title shot after the win, earned one of two Performance of the Night bonuses on the night. The other went to Uzbekistan’s Nursulton Ruziboev, a promotional newcomer with over 45 fights to his name. He flatlined the previously undefeated Brunno Ferreira in a middleweight bout to open the UFC Vegas 76 main card.
Fight of the Night at UFC Vegas 76, meanwhile, went to Guram Kutateladze and Elves Brenner for a three-round battle that saw Brenner bloodied, but in the fight enough to pull out the win in the third. The TKO finish allowed Brenner to complete both the comeback and the upset — and pocket $50,000 in bonus money, along with Kutateladze.
