Check out BloodyElbow.com’s recap of the UFC Fight Night 89 main event between Stephen Thompson and Rory MacDonald. Thompson is coming off of the biggest win of his career, which came over Johny Hendricks at UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson.
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“Title belt, baby”, Thompson announced after his win. But don’t be surprised if Thompson catches him flush, marching onto set up a fight with the victor of the Lawler and Woodley fight. “Wonderboy” has certainly staked his claim to taking on the victor. MacDonald had not competed since his Fight of the Year battle with champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 last July. MacDonald is better at mixing the wrestling and the striking together, but Thompson’s karate game is incredible and he uses that to notch a razor thin decision. I was at my best tonight, so I can’t take anything away Stephen. Thompson will enter the fight riding a six fight winning streak and he has not suffered a defeat in over four years.
His lead is dwindling and though I don’t know this for sure, my guess is he’s getting a little nervous and if he’s not, he should be because like the true veteran that I am, I’ve used the first half of the year to play myself into shape and fully expect to go on a great run from here through the rest of the summer so that I can carry a lead into the fall and my inevitable winter swoon won’t cost me the title. Just not the UFC champion.
Cerrone and Khabib Nurmagomedov have been matched up several times in the past but none of those fights have ever come to fruition.
Thompson, 33, has won seven in a row and has not been defeated since Matt Brown did it in 2012.
The 13-fight event featured submissions, decisions, and knockouts.
In the co-main event of the evening, fan favorite and former lightweight title challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone picked up an impressive third round finish over the larger Patrick Cote in a welterweight bout.
It was the second fight at 170 pounds for the popular Cerrone, who is ranked No. 4 among lightweight (155-pound) contenders. Covington is 9-1, and Meunier 7-1.
After a performance like Cerrone’s on Saturday, where he became the all-time leader for finishes in UFC/WEC history, “Cowboy” definitely deserves to be in the conversation for the GSP fight. The two light heavyweights threw huge bombs at each other for essentially 15 straight minutes. This fight should be a slugfest for as long as it lasts, but it will be Bosse finishing O’Connell with strikes in the first. A former semi-professional hockey player, Bosse stunned O’Connell (17-8) with a right hand in the second round and almost finished him with strikes on the ground.
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In the end, Bossé got the nod in his home country of Canada via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27). Bosse hits like a truck, but he’s also had his chin checked and taken more overall punishment in his lifetime than O’Connell, so I’m picking the radio host from Utah to roll in and get the job done in this one.
