Katlyn Chookagian
UFC 238 was so stacked, a flyweight contender fight between Katlyn Chookagian and Joanne Calderwood opened the show, and Chookagian made the most of her second chance to earn a title shot with an impressive performance.
After Calderwood touched up Chookagian’s leg with a barrage of kicks, “Blonde Fighter” found her timing and clocked Calderwood more than a few times with rangy right hands. In the end, even though Calderwood was the once dancing and taunting, Chookagian was the one with the best stake at a shot at Valentina Shevchenko.
Aljamain Sterling
The “Funk Master” put on what might have been the most complete performance in his career with his win over Pedro Munhoz. From picking apart Munhoz at range in the first round, to adjusting as the fight wore on and Munhoz cracked him with a few good shots to his leg, Sterling put it all together.
Munhoz tried to draw Sterling into a bar-style scrap, but Sterling kept his head and stuck to his effective gameplan to secure the victory. With the win, Sterling might’ve earned a chance to take on newly-minuted bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, so long as Cejudo doesn’t want to defend his flyweight belt first.
Tatiana Suarez
In what was supposed to be Tatiana Suarez’s breakout showcase, the “next big thing” in the strawweight division had to battle adversity in the form of equal parts injury and a game opponent. Suarez revealed she sustained a neck injury, which hindered her normally dominant wrestling abilities, but Ansaroff made life hard for her as well. Suarez was quite complimentary of Ansaroff’s coaches, as she seemed to have answers for all Suarez attempted throughout the fight, including a stunning flurry to end the third round as Ansaroff looked to steal the fight.
At the end, however, Suarez remained undefeated with the most likely strawweight title challenger not named Rose Namajunas.
