UFC Rotterdam Full Results And Best Highlights: Volkov Knocks Out Struve In Battle Of The Giants

UFC Rotterdam may not have the starpower of a Mayweather vs. McGregor event or even your typical UFC pay-per-view, but it did feature a ton of hungry European and Russian fighters, along with two of the biggest men in MMA facing off in 7’0 Stefan Struve and 6’7 Alexander Volkov. The prelims kicked things off with a number of violent finishes (which you can see below) and ended with Volkov TKOing Struve in a back and forth battle. Not bad for a little card from the Netherlands!

The first round between the two giants went back and forth with Struve landing some good shots cutting Volkov under the eye and Volkov answering back with some solid ground and pound. In the second Struve struggled to use his length effectively and was unable to keep Volkov from closing the distance and unleashing with effective combinations. But he did manage to poke Volkov in the eye twice … no point deduction, of course, because MMA rules are mere suggestions.

Round three saw Volkov beginning to tire and tentative from all the eye pokes. An early double eyepoke from both fighters saw the ref pause the fight to reprimand both fighters, but Struve continued to stick his arm out with fingers extended, his most effective move at keeping Volkov on the outside. But with a minute left in the round, Volkov snapped Struve’s head back with a straight right, sending Stefan falling backwards into the cage. Volkov followed up and pummeled Struve against the cage until he went down, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Alexander Volkov defeated Stafan Struve via TKO (strikes) at 3:30 of round 3

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Siyar Bahadurzada defeated Rob Wilkinson by TKO (strikes) at 3:10 of round 2

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Marion Reneau defeated Talita Bernardo by TKO (strikes) at 4:54 of round 3

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Leon Edwards defeated Bryan Barberena via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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Darren Till defeated Bojan Velickovic via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

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Mairbek Taisumov defeated Felipe Silva by KO (punch) at 1:24 of round 1

Michel Prazeres defeated Mads Burnell via submission (north south choke) at 1:26 of round 3

Rustam Khabilov defeated Desmond Green by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

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Aleksandar Rakic defeated Francimar Barroso by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Zabit Magomedsharipov defeated Mike Santigo by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:22 of round 2

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Abdul-Kerim Edilov defeated Bojan Mihajlovic via TKO (strikes) at 2:32 of round 2

Thibault Gouti defeated Andrew Holbrook by TKO (strikes) at 4:28 of round 1