The former middleweight turned light heavyweight has now managed to knock off a pair of UFC legends in back-to-back fights with Smith’s latest victory coming against former champion Mauricio „Shogun“ Rua at UFC Fight Night from Hamburg, Germany.
Smith took the fight on short notice and certainly made the most of his opportunity as he needed just 89 seconds to bludgeon Rua with punches and elbows to get the knockout win.
Smith has now beaten two former champions in Rua and Rashad Evans in consecutive fights between June and July.
While he did take the fight on very short notice, Smith was still a considerable favorite going into the main event, with 63 percent of fantasy players picking him to win. An overwhelming majority at 85 percent then predicted that Smith would finish the fight by knockout and that’s exactly what he did.
In the co-main event, former Ultimate Fighter winner Corey Anderson picked up the biggest win of his career as he earned a unanimous decision victory against former title challenger Glover Teixeira.
Much like Smith in the main event, Anderson took the fight on short notice but still managed to win all three rounds on the judges’ scorecards as he picked up the definitive victory of his young career.
Going into the fight, Anderson was selected by just 31 percent of fantasy players, but those who did pick him also earned an extra 50 points because he took the fight on such short notice.
Back-to-back wins.@CoreyA_MMA heads back to the States victorious. #UFCHamburg pic.twitter.com/xhq65EWzam
— UFC (@ufc) July 23, 2018
Another upset took place in a middleweight bout on the card, as Abu Azaitar earned a win over Vitor Miranda by unanimous decision. Azaitar was selected by just 32 percent of fantasy players, but he still picked up the win in Germany on Sunday.
In one of the most closely contested bouts on the entire card, Marcin Tybura was able to earn a hard fought win over Stefan Struve in a heavyweight clash. Tybura was a very slight favorite at 53 percent of fantasy players picking him to win with another 52 percent predicting that he would get the job done by decision.
UFC veteran Danny Roberts had a real fight on his hands with late notice replacement David Zawada, but he still eked out the victory by split decision. Roberts was a decided favorite going in, with 77 percent of fantasy players picking him to win, but he definitely had a battle through all three rounds with Zawada.
In the biggest upset on the entire main card, Nasrat Haqparast earned a lopsided victory over highly touted striker Marc Diakiese, with just 15 percent of fantasy players picking him going into Sunday. The players who picked Haqparast will also enjoy another 120-point bonus because this was such a tight matchup on paper.
Another upset took place on the featured prelim bout as Damir Hadzovic pulled off a split decision win over home country favorite Nick Hein. Hadzovic was selected by just 27 percent of fantasy players, but he still found a way to get the job done against a real veteran in Hein.
While several underdogs were able to walk away victorious on Sunday, none were bigger than Bartosz Fabinski, who pulled off a unanimous decision win against dangerous knockout artist Emil Meek. Fabinksi was picked by just 13 percent of fantasy players on Sunday, which made his bout far and away the most sizable upset on the card.
In a light heavyweight showdown on the prelims, Aleksandar Rakic gave a rude welcome to 205 pounds to Justin Ledet as he earned a unanimous decision victory. Rakic was a slight favorite, with 58 percent of fantasy players picking him to win.
It was a tough night for many of the favorites, but Manny Bermudez definitely did his job with 77 percent of fantasy players picking him. Bermudez pulled off an impressive triangle choke submission to finish former Ultimate Fighter alum Davey Grant just 59 seconds into the opening round.
At the end of the night, a total of seven underdogs walked away victorious at UFC Fight Night in Germany, with just six favorites getting the job done according to the picks made by fantasy players going into Sunday’s event.
