The Twitterverse exploded after UFC 174 went down this past Saturday night from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada — and not in a good way.
There was everything from, “Where does UFC 174 rank on all-time worst cards?” and “UFC 174 was the worst card ever.”
The fact that so many are complaining about the card overall has brought me to this new column, “shining moment.” At UFC 174 there were a few bright spots and I wanted to focus my attention on one.
The opening fight on the card was between Canadian Jason Saggo and American Josh Shockley. Even though the crowd was sparse, Saggo had almost everyone in attendance cheering for him right from the opening bell.
Right from the get go, the 28-year-old landed a throw that put Shockley on his back and went to work. At one point Shockley was able to get back to his feet, but Saggo used a trip takedown and made his way to side control, it was the beginning of the end for Shockley at that point.
With just three-seconds left in the very first round, referee Jerin Valel called a stoppage to the action due to numerous unwanted punches.
When Octagon jitters come in to play for many, including veterans, this proves to be a very impressive performance for Saggo, especially in his UFC debut. The victory marked his tenth in his professional career, with all of them coming via stoppage.
The Bolton, Ontario native spoke following the fight about how he felt lucky to maintain his stoppage streak.
“Luckily I was able to maintain my hundred percent finish rate in my UFC debut!”
Being able to showcase his skills and get the finish 4:57 seconds into the first round had Saggo wanting more. He told Sportsnet.ca that he would love to get on another Canadian card later this year.
“I actually have a preference for Halifax. They’re doing a show on October 4 and I’d love to be on the Halifax card. It’s within driving distance from me and I’ve got lots of fans on the East Coast to come out to that.”
Whether or not Saggo gets put on that Halifax card in October is yet to be seen, but what we do know is that he has a promising career in the UFC’s deep 155-pound division.
