Alexander Gustafsson put on arguably his most complete performance to date as he dominated Glover Teixeira over four-plus rounds before scoring a stunning knockout in front of his hometown fans in Stockholm, Sweden.
From the very first exchanges in the fight, Gustafsson set the tone with a lightning quick uppercut that continuously found a home on Teixeira's chin and the Brazilian couldn't seem to do much of anything to stop him.
Gustafsson was patient with his attacks, but once an opening presented itself, he went after Teixeira with everything he had in the arsenal while looking to get the finish. The end finally came in the fifth round when Gustafsson snapped off another uppercut that staggered Teixeira on the feet before the former two-time title challenger put a stop to the fight with a brutal right hand that landed flush.
Gustafsson looked better than ever as he becomes only the second fighter in the UFC to finish Teixeira by strikes.
Fantasy players had this matchup well scouted, as Gustafsson was selected by an overwhelming majority of 86 percent picking him to win and another 48 percent predicting that he'd finish the fight by knockout. Gustafsson certainly delivered while earning his second victory in a row.
While Gustafsson enjoyed his status as a heavy favorite, Volkan Oezdemir pulled off a massive upset in his fight against Misha Cirkunov after he uncorked a jaw dropping 28-second knockout to pick up his second win in the UFC. Oezdemir flattened Cirkunov with one punch to win the fight after only 18 percent of fantasy players picked him going into the night. 54 percent of the players who did pick Oezdemir also selected him to win by knockout, so that certainly added some extra points in the final tallies.
The upsets kept rolling with Peter Sobotta earning a knockout win over Ben Saunders in a featured welterweight bout on the main card. Sobotta was picked by just 27 percent of fantasy players, and he also earned another 120 points thanks to the fight with Saunders being touted as a tight matchup.
Omari Akhmedov also pulled off an unexpected win as he handed Abdul Razak Alhassan the first loss of his professional career with a split decision victory on Sunday. Akhmedov was picked by just 37 percent of players going into the fight.
Of course, the underdogs weren't all victorious on the main card, as Nordine Taleb pulled off an impressive win over newcomer Oliver Enkamp after he was an overwhelming favorite with 84 percent of fantasy players picking him. The same could be said for Jack Hermansson, who got the main card off to a rousing start as he finished Alex Nicholson with a first-round TKO after 66 percent of fantasy players selected him going into the event.
On the preliminary card, Pedro Munhoz had a battle on his hands with Damian Stasiak over three rounds, but still clawed his way to a decision win after 83 percent of fantasy players picked him in this bantamweight matchup. Joaquim Silva also picked up a win as the favorite in his fight with late notice replacement Reza Madadi, with 70 percent of fantasy players selecting him.
There were a pair of upsets on the prelims, however, with Trevor Smith pulling off a lopsided win over Chris Camozzi over three rounds after just 19 percent of players picked him in the fight, while Bojan Velickovic got the job done with a very impressive TKO finish against Nico Musoke after only 35 percent of players had him going into the night.
The back and forth battle between favorites and underdogs also continued on the early prelims, with Darren Till getting a win in his fight with Jessin Ayari after 80 percent of fantasy players selected him. That matchup came after Damir Hadzovic stunned everybody in the arena with his third-round knockout over heavily favored Marcin Held after he walked into the fight with just 16 percent of players on his side.
All told, UFC Fight Night from Sweden ended with a complete split down the middle, with six favorites and six underdogs getting wins according to the selections made by fantasy players.
Fans voices come first
Favorite athlete? Fantasy match-ups? Comments? Leave 'em here!
