On paper this looked like the worst card the UFC had ever put together.

Despite that, we did have some good brawls. Not many of those fights are going to have division or promotion wide implications. The exception to that is the main event where Manel Kape schooled Asu Almabayev to get himself to the front of the line at Flyweight.

Kape's striking was levels above Almabayev. When Almabayev couldn't get the takedown, it felt like just a matter of time until those strikes would finish the fight.

Our co-main event didn't make it out the first round. Cody Brundage and Julian Marquez played rock 'em sock 'em robots for us, which resulted in both men losing their mouthpieces. Brundage was able to come back from almost being finished and then put down and pound out his former training partner.

Before those fights Nasrat Haqparast and Esteban Ribovics put on a thrilling, and highly technical, striking battle. Haqparast, the underdog, was able to get the split decision win thanks to his amazing defense and counter punching.

Hyder Amil and William Gomis also had a fun fight that resulted in a split decision. They both landed heavy shots on each other, but it was Amil's aggression and forward pressure that got him the winning nod.

Sam Patterson opened up the main card by shocking the undefeated Danny Barlow. Barlow tried to tee off on Patterson, but was smashed by a counter and later dropped by the Brit.

HIGHLIGHTS!

Our only other finish on the night was the featured Prelim. Mario Pinto looked very ordinary in the first round, getting dropped by Austen Lane. He came out guns blazing in the second, though. He landed a brutal combo on Lane than elicited a scary KO.

HIGHLIGHTS!

In the remaining fights Chepe Mariscal bullied Ricardo Ramos for a decision, Danny Silva was too fast for Lucas Almeida (until he started to cruise in the third), JJ Aldrich used a one-two combo to beat Andrea Lee and Ramazan Temirov overpowered Charles Johnson.

Manel Kape's striking looked incredibly sharp tonight. Asu Almabayev could not catch up to him or do anything to prevent those punches coming at him. There was a scrape to the eyes at some point on Almabayev, but it was more off a scrape across the eyes than a Song Yadong style dig into the eyes. Kape looked great tonight in spite of that.

Almabayev goes for a takedown again and Kape sprawls. Kape lands some 12-6 elbows against Almabayev. He holds him down for a bit but then lets him up. As he comes up Kape lands a ton of strikes on him. Almabayev peels away and is sprinting for cover. Kape sprints after him and catches him with another punch. He catches up and throws more strikes. The referee has seen enough.

He then swings and misses hard, almost turning his back to Kape. He tries to salvage with a takedown, but Kape sprawls. They both land hard in an exchange. Almabayev shoots again and Kape sprawls again.

He's mesmerizing Almabayev with his movement a little, before sniping him with these punches.

He then tags Almabayev with a straight left. Almabayev has his mouth open, like he's tired already.

He keeps touching Almabayev and it's making Almabayev uncomfortable. Almabayev is trying to explode into big shots, but they aren't landing. Kape is slipping to the side and then coming in with his left hand.

Almabayev tries his right overhand. But it's a very slow punch compared to everything Kape is doing. Kape can see it from a mile away and is getting out of the way, easily.

Kape shows Almabayev there are levels to the striking game. If Almabayev can't get Kape down, it's going to be a long night for him.