UFC Fort Lauderdale: Jack’s no Joke as Platinum Perry Puts on a Show on Home soil

The one thing we found out from the night? Greg Hardy is still a knob...

Jack’s no joke as he outpoints the alligator

Jack Hermansson may be known as ‘The Joker’, but the Norway-based Swede is certainly no joke in the UFC’s middleweight division. The former Cage Warriors middleweight champ stepped in at short notice to save the main event at UFC Fort Lauderdale, then sprung a shock by defeating former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza to catapult himself firmly into world title contention.

Hermansson dominated the contest with his smart boxing and footwork and smothered the Brazilian when the action went to the mat. Impressively, Hermansson managed to find another gear in the fourth round when, after taking a hammering from Jacare late in the third round, it looked like the Brazilian was about to take over the fight.

But ’The Joker’ came out and produced a dominant fourth round, then negotiated his way through a back-and-forth final frame as he sealed the biggest win of his mixed martial arts career. Now he wants a main event back home in Europe – and wants to see one of the division’s very best in the opposing corner.

PIECE OF P*ISS FOR HARDY BUT WE STILL DON’T LIKE HIM

In the co-main event matchup, former NFL star Greg Hardy sealed his first UFC win at the second time of asking with a first-round TKO finish of Russian Dmitry Smolyakov.

Hardy totally dominated the matchup against Smolyakov – who was drafted back into the UFC to face Hardy after losing both his previous bouts inside the octagon – as the Russian looked VERY wary of the American’s heavy-handed punch power. But despite his attempts to stay out of range, Hardy soon closed the distance and connected with a big uppercut that sent Smolyakov to the mat.

From there, Hardy went to work with some heavy ground strikes that eventually forced the TKO stoppage. It was an easy win for the American, who appears to be doing all he can to win over his doubters, both inside and outside the cage, following his controversial arrival in the UFC last year.

Bigger and better opponents surely await, with a ranked fighter potentially next. Then we’ll get a better gauge of just how good Hardy really can be.

PERRY PERRY CHIPS AWAY AT OLIVEIRA TO CLAIM VICTORY ON HOME SOIL

Florida’s own ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry had the crowd in Sunrise on their feet with a thrilling unanimous decision victory over fellow crowd-pleaser Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira.

The fight didn’t go all Perry’s way, however, as Oliveira controlled the opening round, peppering ‘Platinum’ with strikes from range while sliding away from the American’s powerful counters. But, in a glimpse of what was to come, Perry found a home for his punches right at the end of the round, and he turned up the heat in the second and third rounds to claim the decision victory with scores of 29-28 on all three scorecards.

The win over the dangerous Oliveira puts Perry back into the win column after defeat to another ‘Cowboy’, Donald Cerrone, last time out.

COMING UP NEXT…

The octagon travels north to Ottawa, Canada, as lightweight crowd-pleasers ‘Raging’ Al Iaquinta and Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone meet in the main event next weekend.

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