With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from July 2022: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for July.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
Nominees
Nominee: Bryan Barberena def. Robbie Lawler at UFC 276
Bryan Barberena’s (17-8 MMA, 8-6 UFC) big win over former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler (29-15 MMA, 14-9 UFC) came in thrilling fashion.
Barberena stopped Lawler in a wild and chaotic fight. Both men were on the ropes at different points, but Barberena landed the flurry late in the second round that finally forced the referee to step in for the TKO finish.
Nominee: Jamie Mullarkey def. Michael Johnson at UFC on ESPN 39
Jamie Mullarkey (15-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) left the octagon with the biggest win of his career, but it didn’t come without some help from the judges and a lot of shots from Michael Johnson (29-18 MMA, 12-14 UFC).
Mullarkey edged Johnson by split decision in their lightweight bout, taking scores of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 in a brutal, back-and-forth contest.
Nominee: Shane Burgos def. Charles Jourdain at UFC on ABC 3
Fan-friendly featherweights Shane Burgos (15-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Charles Jourdain (13-5-1 MMA, 4-4-1 UFC) had a spectacular fight that lived up to all expectations coming in.
It was a bout in which Burgos developed an early lead by winning the first two rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards, but then had to survive the striking outpouring by Jourdain late in the third. In the end, Burgos did enough to get his hand raised in a very competitive bout that was ruled a majority decision win for the New York native.
Nominee: Matt Schnell def. Su Mudaerji at UFC on ABC 3
Matt Schnell (16-6 MMA, 6-4 UFC) pulled off one of the more remarkable feats in recent memory when he rallied from what felt like certain defeat to finish Su Mudaerji (16-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in their flyweight bout.
After getting worked over on the feet through the first and into the second round, Schnell turned the tables on Mudaerji and landed shots of his own before locking in a savage triangle choke to finish the job.
Nominee: Brandon Moreno def. Kai Kara-France at UFC 277
Brandon Moreno (20-5-2 MMA, 8-2-2 UFC) is one step closer to becoming undisputed flyweight champion again after defeated Kai Kara-France (24-10 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in their rematch.
With champion Deiveson Figueiredo injured, Moreno picked up the interim 125-pound belt with a third-round TKO victory over Kara-France. The beginning of the end came when Moreno landed a nasty body kick that set up a ground-and-pound finish.
The winner
The winner: Schnell vs. Mudaerji
Schnell will find himself in the Fight of the Year, Submission of the Year and Comeback of the Year conversation when 2022 is a wrap after a thrilling, almost unfathomable rally against Mudaerji.
Schnell pulled off an insane rally to submit Mudaerji in the second round. But to get the win, which got him a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, he had to go through the proverbial hell of an onslaught of punishment from Mudaerji’s relentless elbow attacks.
“I thought I won the first round,” Schnell told MMA Junkie at the post-event news conference. “So when people are saying ‘craziest comeback ever,’ I’m like ‘I won the first round. What are you talking about?’ But I guess I was stepping in potholes out there and took some clean elbows and took some clean punches. He had me hurt. He had me close to out of there. But your boy’s a dog. I’d rather not take punishment.”
Schnell pulled out the win after a two-fight skid, and he said there were some doubts in his mind, as a fighter, during the hard times.
“It means everything,” Schnell said. “I’m trying to get out here and win fights, and sometimes, when things aren’t going your way, you start feeling like you don’t have it anymore or something like that. But my wife, my team, the people around me – we know we’re just one performance away from being back on top, and look at us: Here we go. We’ve got everyone’s attention now.”