UFC Fight Night Rotterdam results: Main card

UFC Fight Night Overeem vs Arlovski

Sunday May 8th, 2016

Rotterdam Ahoy

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Main Card winners: Alistair Overeem (Netherlands), Stefan Struve (Netherlands), Gunnar Nelson (Iceland),  Germaine de Randamie (Netherlands), Nikita Krylov (Ukraine), Karoline Kowalkiewicz (Poland)

Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem (244) vs. Andrei Arlovski (248)
Good body kicks by Alistair and some ground and pound set the tone during the first round. Alistair continued to stay out of Arlovski’s reach during the second round. A front kick to the face set up a punch that floored Arlovski. Overeem stormed with a flurry of punches which ended the fight.
Winner: Alistair Overeem defeats Andrei Arlovski via TKO (punches) in round two.

Alistair Overeem:
“This event sold out in just a couple of hours, and then of course I got the finish, so it’s a great turn of events. You could see the audience here tonight; they were going crazy.

“He kept coming, and there really was a lot of pressure from him, so I really felt that he wanted to do damage to me, and that just put him in range for that kick.”

Heavyweight: Antônio Silva (266) vs. Stefan Struve (265)
Within 16 seconds Struve landed a vicous knee to the body which buckled Silva’s legs and dropped him right in elbows range. A series of Dutch elbows followed and it was all over.
Winner: Stefan Struve defeats Bigfoot Silva via TKO (elbows) in round one.

Bigfoot Silva:
“When I went to the Octagon, I heard the crowd boo me but I just tried to use that to keep me calm and focused. These things happen, you know. Right now I just want to fresh my mind, see my family, and think about things. The fight didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but these things happen. Now it’s time to refresh, but of course I will be back.”

Stefan Struve:
“I told everybody that I saw this coming, you know. The crowd was absolutely amazing. It was more than I could ever have imagined – chanting, singing and going crazy, and then I finished him like that. Nine years ago I fought in this arena and I finished the guy in 15 seconds. Tonight I think it was 16 seconds. The UFC needs to come back here three times a year.”

Welterweight: Albert Tumenov (170) vs. Gunnar Nelson (170)
Vicious ground and pound by Gunnar Nelson in round 1. Round 2 some more superior work by Nelson ended in submission by rear naked choke.
Winner: Gunner Nelson defeats Albert Tumenov by submission (rear naked choke) in round two.

Albert Tumenov:
“I’m very disappointed. Unfortunately this is the sport. Today wasn’t my day but I will definitely be back stronger. I’m not one of these fighters that wins one, loses one, wins one, loses one. I am here to be the best of the best and my time will come. I’m just going to get stronger and come back. You will all see me in the future.”

Gunnar Nelson:
“It’s huge. This win means everything to me. I take things one step at a time, like I always have. So now I’ll go back and train and wait to see what happens. I want to work on some of the things I experienced in there and keep learning. This is what I love about this sport, that’s who I am. I’m not too obsessed with rankings but we’ll see what happens next.”

Women’s Bantamweight: Germaine de Randamie (135) – Netherlands vs. Anna Elmose (135) – Denmark
Germaine de Randamie showed why she is considered the most  dangerous standup fighter in the world. Vicious knees to the body by Germaine ultimately brought down debutant Anna Elmose down by TKO with 1:14 left in Round 1.
Winner: Germaine de Randamie defeats Anna Elmose by TKO (knee) in Round 1.

Germaine de Randamie:
“I just wish I could do that walk out all over again. The crowd lifted me above earth, beyond anything I could ever have imagined. They made me feel like I was the UFC women’s bantamweight champion of the world when I walked out. So now, there is nothing else for me to do than to bring the belt home to them. MMA is a truly amazing sport. It’s a very diverse sport and it can be for everything and everyone – you don’t always have to fight. It can help you in so many ways. I hope that now I can continue, not only for the sport, but I want to continue to be a role model for little girls and little boys. I want to help young people to believe that if you want something, and if you believe in yourself, then you can succeed. No matter what you want in life; fight for it and you will get it.”

Anna Elmose:
“I feel good. I got a clean knee so I was out – like when you get punched in the stomach – so I felt unable to move and I couldn’t do anything about it. I wasn’t sure about being a bantamweight. I’m a really little bantamweight and I think that this fight settles it; I need to drop down a weight class. I felt she was just too big. I couldn’t get my game to come through. She was just physically too big for me. I know there is one flyweight bout happening already and I know there are a lot of bantamweights that want to drop down if there was the opportunity so I have to wait and see what happens there. What can I say? I’m strong but I’m small!”

Light Heavyweight: Nikita Krylov (205) – Ukraine vs. Francimar Barroso (204) – Brazil
Total domination by Nikita Krylov over Francimar Barroso concluded with a rear naked choke submission with 1:42 left in Round 2.
Winner: Nikita Krylov defeats Francimar Barroso by submission (rear naked choke) in Round 2.

Nikita Krylov:
“I am happy with the win. He gave me his back and there was the finish for me to take. Before the fight I didn’t think about him as an opponent, but yes he was tough, his kicks were quite solid, his ground game was also quite good. When he punched me I could feel he was tough. Whoever they put me in front of next, I will prepare for him, I will face him and we will see.”

Francimar Barroso:
“I trained and trained and trained for this fight. Everyday we trained hard but it was not a good fight today for me. I just don’t know. Now I’m going to take some time to rest, go away and think about the fight today and what happened. After that, I’ll get back to training.”

Women’s Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz (115) – Poland vs. Heather Jo Clark (116) – USA
Powerful performance by Polish rising star Karoline Kowalkiewicz with superb stand-up technique was too much for Heather Jo Clark.
Winner: Karolina Kowalkiewicz defeats Heather Jo Clark by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

Karolina Kowalkiewicz:
“I feel really good right now. I knew Heather was a very tough girl and I expected her to give me a tough fight so that wasn’t a surprise to me. Next I want to fight somebody from the top five in the division. I will be the champion one day, you will see.”

Heather Jo Clark:
“I just feel like I’ve let my team and my coaches down. I didn’t put it all together like I have been in training and I’m just disappointed in my performance. She came out a little harder than I thought. I thought she was going to hit and move a bit more but she stood and banged. I thought that I could get the better end of that deal and I didn’t. I should have hit more. I should have moved a lot, lot more and set things up instead of standing toe to toe because she was obviously getting the better of that and when it wasn’t working I should have come out with a different game plan and I didn’t. I tried but I didn’t stick to the change in game plan and that’s my fault.”