Joshua Van was clearly the star of the early preliminaries at UFC 310, with a nod toward Michael Chiesa, who on his 37th birthday secured a vicious rear naked choke submission over Max Griffin in a welterweight bout.
The 23-year-old Van dominated Cody Durden over the final 10 minutes of their three-round flyweight bout, showing championship potential while scoring a unanimous decision victory. Judges had it 30-26, 30-27 and 29-28. I had it 30-27 for Van.
The first round was back and forth and each man had his moments, but such was not the case over the final two. Van looked like a star on the rise who had suddenly put it all together, while Durden was game but appeared overmatched.
Van's hands were particularly sharp. He was hitting Durden with fast, hard and clean combinations throughout the bout and Durden's face was a mess. He showed the signs of the battle on his face.
Durden is 12-2 and has won 10 of his past 11 bouts. He's surely going to be ranked soon at flyweight and to me looks like a guy who will contend for a title in a few years.
Kennedy Nzechukwu scores big-time KO of Lukasz Brzeski
The move to heavyweight appears to agree with Kennedy Nzechukwu. After moving up to heavyweight, he looks like a new man and scored an impressive win over Lukasz Brzeski with a first-round TKO. He landed a hard jab and then followed with a blistering right cross the dropped Brzeski.
Nzechukwu landed a few ground-and-pound shots from the top before referee Chris Tognoni jumped in to stop it at 4:51 of the first.
Nzechukwu is just 8-5 in the UFC, but is 2-0 since the move to heavyweight. He's big, agile and hits hard and while he's a veteran at 32, he has some upside.
Chase Hooper may have ended the career of Clay Guida with an armbar
Two fighters heading in opposite directions met in the night's second bout, a three-round lightweight affair. And the young and developing Chase Hooper got the better of the legendary veteran, Clay Guida.
Hooper caught Guida in an armbar and forced a tap at 3:41 of the first. Guida did a flip to try to get out of the armbar, but Hooper kept it locked in and Guida tapped.
That could mean the end for the popular Guida, a veteran of 63 MMA bouts and 37 in the UFC. Guida fell to 18-19 in the UFC with his third loss in a row and his fourth in his last five.
The 25-year-old Hooper has won two in a row and is starting to fulfill the promise he showed as a 20-year-old when he debuted in the UFC in 2019.
Birthday boy Chiesa looks terrific in stopping the man of pain
Chiesa fought a typical Chiesa fight, with a lot of pressure, a lot of grappling, a mix of striking and plenty of intelligence. He got Griffin's back and slapped on the choke and began squeezing with all he had.
Griffin fought it long and hard, but Chiesa rolled onto his back and tightened it even more. Griffin tapped and Chiesa had an emotional win. Several of his teammates, including women's bantamweight champion Julianna Peña, were cheering loudly at ringside. When Chiesa left the Octagon, he faced over to Peña and embraced her.
He said he would like to headline the show in Seattle on Feb. 22 at Climate Pledge Arena before potentially retiring.
Eryk Anders scored biggest win of his career with TKO of ex-champ Chris Weidman
Veteran Eryk Anders scored the most significant win of his UFC tenure when he stopped former middleweight champion Chris Weidman with ground-and-pound at 4:51 of the second.
Weidman looked slow and lacked the explosion he did a decade ago when he was the top middleweight in the world. Anders was able on Saturday at land shots because Weidman wasn't moving his head, and Weidman didn't have the speed left to really threaten Anders.
Anders has won two in a row and three of his last four bouts.