UFC Hamburg was a bad card. It wasn’t wall-to-wall terrible fights, but for a show short on name value or proven top-tier talent, the next best thing was brutal finishes and/or competitive, entertaining scraps. That seldom materialized for much of the card, and we were treated to a ridiculous, record-tying string of largely forgettable decisions, bereft of high-level MMA skill. A meandering river of meaninglessness, if you will. It’s cards like these that have made watching the UFC feel like a chore, especially when you know the next offering after this one is 1000x times better on paper.
Anyway, the headliner saw Anthony Smith hit the factory reset button on Mauricio Rua, knocking him out cold in about 90 seconds.