Undercard Heavyweight Delivers Vicious Win Saturday Night

Ryan Spann’s Second Fight at Heavyweight Much Better

His sophomore appearance at 265 lbs took place inside Smoothie King Center. In short, the fight was as smooth as butter over the weekend.

Although the contest between Ryan Spann and Lukasz Brzeski was three rounds at five minutes per round on the schedule, Spann only needed a fraction of the time allotted to him to complete his assignment. During the fight’s opening round, he landed a right hand before driving Brzeski down to the canvas.

An effort at an arm-triangle choke was jettisoned because Spann was positioned too close to the cage fence, but he landed ground and pound shots to soften Brzeski up. Spann’s ground control told the story Saturday night, putting Brzeski in top mount and not letting him up.

With Ryan Spann now further away from the cage fence, he tried the arm-triangle choke for a second time. While Brzeski managed to get himself out of harm’s way, he absorbed a right hand on the ground.

Ryan Spann Locks Up Guillotine Choke

As the first round reached its midpoint, Spann and Brzeski found themselves in the clinch, with the former attempting a guillotine choke, dropping the latter to apply the torque and forcing him to tap out. Time of the submission: Two minutes and 37 seconds into the fight.

“That submission game proving to be a real factor tonight,” said Jon Anik during Saturday’s early prelims, “could be a real problem for the rest of this heavyweight division. Ryan Spann, getting his ninth UFC win but first at heavyweight.”

After the fight, the victorious Spann talked with UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier. “Superman” gave credit to a higher power to start off the interview.

“Hallelujah!,” Ryan Spann exclaimed into the microphone. “First of all, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” These words were met with applause from the audience, after which point Spann discussed his plan of action in the fight.

“I really just came here,” he continued. “I was taking my time, I felt like I wanted to be patient. I felt like I was patient, so to hear that I was aggressive, that was unintentional. I was just taking my time.”

“Superman” Big Draw Both at Box Office and in New Orleans This Past Weekend

While moviegoers have flocked to their local film houses of choice in droves to take in the latest Superman motion picture over the past couple of weeks, with the film grossing north of $407 million in ticket sales worldwide as of this past weekend,  a trip to the theaters wasn’t necessary for those who had tickets to last Saturday’s UFC 318.

Their hero doesn’t wear a cape, nor does he need one. Like Jon Anik said during Saturday night’s broadcast, Ryan Spann could be a hassle for other opponents at 265 when he gets them on the mat.

Whoever Ryan Spann’s next opponent happens to be, they need to study the footage of the July 19 fight and take it frame-by-frame. It may just hold the key to solving “Superman’s” riddle.