It was an action-packed weekend in the UFC thanks to back-to-back events that included Max Holloway being crowned the new interim featherweight champion in the UFC 206 main event in Toronto on Saturday.
Holloway faced off with former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in a fight that was expected to be a high paced back and forth war, but it didn't actually turn out that way. Instead, Holloway showed off just how dominant he's gotten while riding an incredible nine-fight win streak that turned into 10 over the course of less than 15 minutes.
Holloway capped off his performance with a third round TKO, becoming the first fighter in history to finish Pettis. Fantasy players also had faith in Holloway getting the victory at UFC 206, with 68 percent picking him to win, although the majority of players – 71 percent - said he would be victorious by decision. Of course, judging by Pettis' history, that was a solid choice, although Holloway had other ideas.
In the co-main event on Saturday, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was one of the biggest favorites all weekend, with a whopping 92 percent of players picking him to beat Matt Brown, and that's exactly what he did with a highlight reel third round head kick knockout. 61 percent of players also had Cerrone winning by KO as he came through with a picture perfect performance to remain unbeaten as a welterweight in the UFC.
While oddsmakers had Cub Swanson as a slight underdog on the betting lines, fantasy players were a little more savvy, with 56 percent picking him to beat upstart South Korean contender Dooho Choi. Swanson ultimately pulled off a decision victory in what will go down as one of the best fights of 2016.
The main card at UFC 206 also featured a pair of sizable upsets to go along with the trio of favorites that ended the night.
Kelvin Gastelum surprised just about everybody with a lopsided TKO victory over Tim Kennedy on Saturday night after just 34 percent of players picked him to win. Considering Gastelum was going up in weight, it's no surprise he was an underdog, but the former Ultimate Fighter winner showed that he's a force to be reckoned with in any division.
Meanwhile, newcomer Emil Meek made an impressive debut with a decision victory over Jordan Mein after just 23 percent of players picked the newcomer to get the win. The featured prelims on FS1 also saw another massive upset according to fantasy players, as Misha Cirkunov submitted Nikita Krylov, with only 29 percent selecting him going into the night.
While there were several upsets at UFC 206, none were bigger than Viviane Pereira picking up a huge win in her debut over former title contender Valerie Letourneau. The Brazilian only had 15 percent of players on her side, but she still managed to find a way to win over Letourneau, who drops to 0-3 in her past three fights.
As far as the action goes from Friday night in Albany, both the main and co-main event featured massive favorites, although headliner Derrick Lewis survived an early scare before he was able to get the job done against Shamil Abdurakhimov in a heavyweight showdown.
Despite being picked by an overwhelming 92 percent of players going into the night, Lewis was down big on the judges' scorecards after losing all three rounds to Abdurakhimov to start the fight. Thankfully for Lewis' sake, he was able to turn things around in the fourth before getting a TKO finish for his fifth win in a row.
Francis Ngannou had nearly the same odds in his favor in when he stepped into the Octagon to face Anthony Hamilton on Friday night. Ngannou was picked by a whopping 89 percent of players, although he did manage to surprise just about everybody by abandoning his striking and instead finishing Hamilton with a kimura in the opening round.
Former Ultimate Fighter winner Corey Anderson was another huge favorite to win in Albany as he took out Sean O'Connell by TKO after 80 percent of players picked him on the card. Gian Villante enjoyed the exact same odds for his fight with newcomer Saparbek Safarov, with 80 percent picking him to win, and that's exactly what he did by way of a second round TKO.
The featured prelim from Albany saw yet another favorite get the win as Justine Kish remained undefeated in her UFC campaign with a win over Ashley Yoder. Kish was picked by 60 percent of players, with another 87 percent saying she would win by decision, which is exactly how she edged out Yoder after three hard fought rounds.
All told, 16 favorites came away victorious between the two cards while only eight upsets occurred over the two nights in Albany and Toronto.
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