UFC 330 — Philly’s Jeremiah Wells and Lancaster’s Dustin Stochulz steal the show; machachev retains title and makes history w/ New win-streak record
Philadelphia, once again, was at the center of the fighting universe.
With UFC 330 at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday, and CFFC NextGen 4 in South Philly on Friday, all MMA eyes were on the City of Brotherly Love.
The announcers, Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormierer made it crystal clear from the jump that the crowd had a different energy. While we are certainly a different breed there were two major factors that made the crowd pop early—the UFC hadn’t been to town since 2019, and Jeremiah Wells was in the very first fight and he made the most of it.
Wells was the biggest underdog on the card by a mile and came out strong. While Wells was CLEARLY never out of the fight, there were stretches that made winning look bleak.
Fortunately, Wells has the heart of junkyard dog and made sure the moment would be his. After landing a flush right cross, his best shot of the night, Orolbai, shaken, shot on Wells to bring the fight to the ground and recover, but Wells never went down. Instead he locked him in a front ninja choke and quickly put him to sleep.
The crowd exploded.
Wells secured an immediate Fight of the Night bonus.
UFC 330 WAS OFF TO A HOT START
The lack of Philly fighters on the card was a disappointment to local fans. With enough fighters to fill more than half the card, Wells was the only one who trained locally at Marquez and Webb. Joe Pyfer, Sean Brady, and Nursulton Ruziboev (one of many warmly welcomed Uzbek transplants) have all headlined Fight Nights but were either between fights or timing wasn’t on their side. Kyle Daukaus just fought at the White House so he was out. Pat Sabatini and Andre Petroski would’ve been great additions, but timing, health, matchups can always get in the way.
After an incredible night of fights, it’s hard to imagine the UFC not coming back again soon. Despite what many believed appeared to be an underwhelming card.
Still, the Philly crowd had one more local fighter to cement his name into Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Xfinity Mobile Arena arena history in Dustin Stoltzfus… and the man put on a SHOW.
Stoltzfus took out Mansur Abdul-Malik with a rear-naked choke in the second round after a back-and-forth slugfest. A more than formidable opponent, Abdul-Malik was often impressively unfazed by the heavy shots landed by Stoltzfus and landed plenty of his own.
Two Philly fighters, two Fight of the Night bonuses, two big underdog winners.
Other highlights before main event
The world was reminded to never count out Neil Magny who ended things in the secound round with strikes against Ramiz Brahimaj.
Jalin Turner KO’d Kauê Fernandes in under a minute.
Esteban Ribovics comfortably and impressively defeated Edson Barboza and TKO’d him in the second round.
Mackenzie Dern dominated Gillian Anderson and retained her belt with a Unanimous Decision.
machachev makes history w/ New win-streak record
Stylistically, this was one of Machachev’s toughest opponents and took him to a decision for the first time in three years. While Machachev looked a lot worse at the end of the fight, he was the clear winner. Garry showed poise and comfortable in his first title fight, but was unable to make a significant enough impact on the fight to make it come to a decision, as Machachev won unanimously.
