Roundtables
ROUNDTABLE: Top three moments out of action packed UFC Fight Night 45
Jul 17, 2014 - 5:34:46 PM ROUNDTABLE: Top three moments out of action packed UFC Fight Night 45

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What were your three best fights/fighters/moments from Wednesday's UFC Fight Night 45 event, and why?


CASH NORMAN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Leslie Smith vs Jessamyn Duke

When Leslie Smith backed Jessamyn Duke against the fence and unleashed the head and body combinations against the fence I got excited. It reminded me of how Nate Marquardt would blitzkrieg guys along the cage. It was beautiful.

Edson Barboza vs Evan Dunham

I love Edson Barboza. I think he's a magnificent fighter except for him being chinny (Yeah, I made it up, deal). However in this fight, he did what he hasn't done in all his other fights, and that's move his head. In this fight he effectively moved his head so Dunham couldn't hit him, and then toed him in the liver. Yes, I said toed. You know a guy kicks hard when his toes can double you over.

Donald Cerrone vs Jim Miller

How good does Cowboy Cerrone look? And how good has his counter wrestling become? We already know how accurate Cerrone's striking is, but he has become much looser in his stance and setting up his striking. Review his fights with Nate Diaz, Jeremy Stephens, Melvin Guillard, K.J. Noons, Anthony Pettis, and Rafael dos Anjos and notice how upright and mechanical he looks striking. I'm aware Cerrone has an upright fighting style, but he's looked almost robotic at times.

Although I'm a huge fan of both guys, I'm glad Cerrone won. I feel he has a style that can beat Khabib Nurmagomedov. Can you imagine Nurmagomedov leaping in with one of those lead hooks and being met by a Cerrone knee to the gut? I can, and have imagined that very scenario.

I hope Cerrone ignores Nate Diaz and presses on to fight The Eagle, because that's the matchup I'd like to see at this juncture.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Donald Cerrone's headkick leading to the finish of Jim Miller is number 1. John Lineker stopping Alptekin Ozillic with only seconds to go in the fight is number 2. Yeah, Lineker would have won the decision, but it's always cool to see a guy going for the finish. Leslie Smith finishing Jessamyn Duke would be number 3. Joe Proctor starting to grow a half-head on by his ear would be honorary mention. That's just something you show your friends when you want to gross them out. This leaves out several other cool moments in an extremely entertaining night of fights. Very sloppy at times, but also damn entertaining.


KALE HAVERVOLD, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

The first needs to be Donald Cerrone, he looked wonderful and managed to stop a brilliant fighter in Jim Miller which is no easy task. The second is the fight between Lineker and Ozkilic, as it was very high energy and had numerous entertaining moments, in fact, I think that might be in my top 10 fights of this year. And third would have to be Joe Proctor. For those who didn't see the fight, Proctor had a VERY large hematoma on the side of his face that had to have been on his mind. Despite the baseball sized lump on is head, he still went out and got the stoppage victory, very impressive!


JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Donald Cerrone's performance itself is tops on the night. Beating Jim Miller in any capacity isn't easy to do, but Cerrone not only pulled off the win, he became the first ever to stop Miller with strikes. He set the head kick up beautifully with all the attacks to the body, and just leveled Miller with that shin to the neck/side of the head. It was amongst his best ever performances.

Beyond that, Leslie Smith showing exactly what she can do was fantastic as well. She looked so off against Sarah Kaufman in April, and I think it should be clear now that it was the nine day's notice more than her talent level that led to that performance. She's capable of a lot more, and her fight with Jessamyn Duke was indicative of that on Wednesday.

John Lineker's another guy who stepped up on Wednesday with perhaps a career best performance. He made weight this week, and he picked Alptekin Ozkilic apart for the better part of three rounds until finally scoring that finish with just seconds remaining. It was a big time, entertaining performance when he needed it the most, and now he's gotten his name right back into the title conversation. All in all, Wednesday night brought what was simply the best UFC event of the year.