Last weekend on April 13th was UFC 300. It featured many popular and fierce fighters including Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill as the main fight of the night. Some say it was the greatest card in MMA history, and after seeing how the fights played out, it definitely lived up to the hype. Ryley Atkinson (‘25), an avid UFC fan, agrees that the matchups were “very well done and they did the best with what they got.”

The third fight of the main card was between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway. This fight was Atkinson’s favorite, and many other viewers could say the same. Both fighters are in the lightweight division, meaning they weigh in at 155 pounds, and they both employ a boxing style, though Gaethje is a brawler, and Holloway is a swarmer. During the match, Gaethje was getting significantly beat down by Holloway. Holloway was able to stay quick on his feet, keep his distance, and land several significant strikes that did a lot of damage to Gaethje. At the end of the first round, he did a spinning heel kick to Gaethje’s nose, effectively breaking it. This slowed him down as it made it difficult for him to breathe. In round two, he poked his eyes (which is typically not allowed, but Gaethje did not call it out) and continued to hit Gaethje on many parts of his body. In round four, Gaethje held his ground against Holloway and struck back, landing some significant strikes on him. However, that did not amount to much because at the end of round five with one second left on the clock, Max Holloway punched Justin Gaethje in the chin and knocked him out. Max Holloway won the fight by knockout. 

The fourth fight of the main card was between Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan. This was a strawweight match so both fighters weighed 115 pounds. Zhang Weili uses Muay Thai and Yan Xiaonan uses a combination of many fighting styles. This match lasted all five rounds; they were rolling for most of the fight, with Zhang getting twelve minutes of control time during the match. That means that for the duration of the fight, they were intermittently grappling on the mat and Zhang was on top. However, Yan did not go down easy; she got some control time on Zhang as well. The controversy surrounding this match was how Yan was able to last all five rounds when Zhang had her in a rear naked choke at the end of round one that seemed to almost knock her out. Despite being groggy in getting up, she fought hard for the rest of the match. Some people attribute that to her receiving smelling salts from a cutman at the end of the first round in order to keep her going. This is widely disputed since it is unclear whether she did actually receive them, but had she done that, it would be illegal. Despite that all, the judges unanimously decided that Zhang Weili should win, securing her title as women’s strawweight champion.

The final and most anticipated fight of UFC 300 was between Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill. Pereira was defending his title as light heavyweight champion with this fight. He is a kickboxer, having a decorated history with Glory Kickboxing prior to joining the UFC. Jamahal Hill is a mixed martial artist and uses a combination of many fighting styles. Many of “Poatan’s” fans, including Atkinson, doubted whether he would win upon seeing who he was up against. The match only lasted three minutes and fourteen seconds, with Pereira landing a left hook on Hill and knocking him to the ground. He proceeded to hit Hill with fourteen punches while he was on the ground. He won the match by knockout, proving that he has his title as light heavyweight champion for a reason. He mocked Hill as he stood over him; it showed how Pereira’s skill and fighting prowess outclass Hill any day and his fans should not have doubted him.

Overall, UFC 300 definitely proved to be an outstanding night of intense battles that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. It will be hard to beat such a lineup in the future.