The UFC in Stockholm went down on Saturday, and the main event saw light heavyweight Anthony Johnson take out Alexander Gustafsson in the opening round of their bout to establish himself as the number one contender in the division.
In the co-main event, Gegard Mousasi used his precision to strike first against the 44-year-old Dan Henderson, tagging the veteran while he was delivering his patented overhand right. Henderson is now 1-5 in his last six outings, though the competition level the UFC has been throwing him in against is still sky high. For Mousasi, it was what he needed to do, as he has been maudlin since joining the UFC.
In other light heavyweight action, Ryan Bader won a split decision over Phil Davis in a match that saw Bader counter Davis wrestling well. By the end of the fight, Davis had a shut eye, and he showed little more than a need to wrestle and hug to win fights.
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In the first main card bout, veteran Sam Sicilia made short work of Swede Akira Corassani, handing him his third stoppage loss in a row.
The undercard started out with several long fights. Bantamweight Neil Seery won a decision over Chris Beal, and at heavyweight, Viktor Pesta won on the judges cards over Konstantin Erokhin.
Erokhin entered with a nine-fight winning streak and he has knockout power, however he did not show much beyond that and he looked to be about 5 ft. 2 in. If he retains his power at 205, a drop in weight class is in order. In the third fight to go the distance to start the show, Mirsad Bektic outlasted Paul Redmond.
The next four fights of the show all took six minutes or less, as a flurry of stoppages ensued. Mairbek Taisumov knocked out Anthony Christodoulou in the opening minute of the second round. Nikita Krylov sunk a guillotine on Stanislav Nedkov, getting the tap out in less than 90 seconds.
In featherweight action, Makwan Amirkhani deflated Andy Ogle in eight seconds with a crumpling knee. In the welterweight division Kenny Robertson knocked out Sultan Aliev with a huge left that caught the Russian with his hands down.
The last fight before the main card saw Albert Tumenov win a unanimous decion over Nicholas Musoke. Though it was an entertaining event, it was a bad day for Swedish MMA as Gustafsson, Musoke and Corassani all took losses in their home country.
