Ion Cuțelaba crosses the line by interrupting Bruce Buffer’s introduction to approach Magomed Ankalaev; it would’ve been funny if Ankalaev knocked him out right then; but his loss here is the result of a premature, albeit arguably justified, stoppage.

“Kevin MacDonald’s got his work cut out for him,” Brendan Fitzgerald observes, but though Ankalaev’s strikes appear to excessively wobble Cuțelaba, he steps in a bit too soon. It’s a decision made to look worse than it is when Cuțelaba immediately protests.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020