MMA Recap April-June #6 (UFC FN: Dern vs Hill)

Following an odd day of fights hosted the previous week in Charlotte, the UFC Apex played host to a fight night that certainly flew beneath the radar in terms of how exciting it was. There were multiple fights that were nonstop action including the main event which as previously mentioned was originally supposed to take place in Charlotte the week prior.

May 20, 2023

UFC Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada

FOTN- Mackenzie Dern vs Angela Hill

POTN- Viacheslav Borshchev, Diego Ferreira

There were a lot of finishes on this card specifically and some by fresh names who have made excellent first impressions in the UFC. Natalia Silva has had an excellent start to her UFC career and her first round TKO against Victoria Leonardo kept the winning streak going in only the second fight of the card. Chase Hooper moved up to lightweight and overwhelmed Nick Fiore over the course of three rounds in an absolutely grueling dog fight. Hooper looks to benefit from the extra mass he carries fighting at lightweight. Gilbert Urbina got his first finish in the UFC after coming up short in the Ultimate Fighter Finale. Karolina Kowalkiewicz continued her career resurgence and extended her win streak to three in a decisive slugfest against Vanessa Demopoulos. Now in come the bonus earners. The fight between Mahashate and Slava Claus was all action from start to finish and showed how cerebral Borshchev is on the feet as he pulled Mahashate into an excellent right hook to finish the fight. Michael Johnson vs Diego Ferreira was inexplicable. For the first round Johnson looked sharp and snappy while Ferreira was seemingly being caught taking pictures initially before gradually offering back his own strikes. But the fact that he caught Johnson with the identical technique that Josh Emmett was able to knock Johnson out with years prior shows how well prepared his team was going into this fight. It was a scary KO and a tough loss for MJ but he seems more than competitive at the highest level still despite his already insane resume. Joaquin Buckley made in impressive welterweight debut scoring a KO over Andre Fialho and seemingly made 170 pounds with no issue. There are a lot of intriguing fights for Buckley at this new weight. Anthony Hernandez dominated Edmen Shahbazyan and showed that he is a true well-rounded contender as he is now on a four fight win streak. And the main event... My goodness the ferocity with which Mackenzie Dern brought into this fight exceeded any version of Dern that we had seen in the past. But Angela Hill refused to give an inch regardless of the circumstance, if she ate a big shot she would fight her way back into it, stuck in a bad position? Never quit on herself. It was incredible to watch and certainly holds up for one of the best fights of the year.