FNC 34 and Jungle Fight 156 results: Bojković, Bruna, Martins win

UFC 333 took the headlines on Saturday, but two other cards ran the same day and between them they produced 24 fights and 19 finishes. FNC 34 in Skopje ended eight of its ten bouts early, seven in the first round. Jungle Fight 156 in São Paulo ended 11 of 14 early and crowned two Fight do Milhão tournament winners. I called four of these fights last week and got two right, and one of the two I got wrong took 50 seconds to prove it.

FNC 34: Bojković does not need three rounds

My case for Lom-Ali Eskiev was experience. He was 24-7, 34 years old and unbeaten since March 2023, and I thought the veteran who had ended three of his last four in the first round would handle a 25-year-old who had needed the distance last time out.

Marko Bojković knocked him out at 0:50 of the first round at the Boris Trajkovski Arena. That was the whole main event. Bojković is 11-2 and back to finishing early, which is how he won his first five FNC fights. Eskiev is 24-8, and his four-fight unbeaten run is over. Whatever I thought the extra nine years were worth, it was less than one exchange.

The heavyweight co-main went the way I picked it, only faster. Miljan Rovcanin, a boxer with a heavy professional schedule behind him, knocked out Todorche Cvetkov in 35 seconds in what was, by our records, the MMA debut for both men.

On to the rest of Skopje:

• Khanbulat Irisbiev was the only winner on the main card who needed the judges, and he made it look like the opposite of a close fight: six takedowns from six attempts, three submission attempts and 11 minutes and 37 seconds of control in a 15-minute bout against Antonio Budimir. He is 4-0.
• Nemanja Nikolic stopped Jivko Stoimenov 50 seconds into the second round and is 11-1-1.
• Gheorghe Balaur stopped Anastasios Chatzigeorgiadis at 2:32 of the first and is 6-0.
• Elias Erber submitted Georgia's Bondo Kikadze at 4:28 of the first, with 3:48 of control before the finish. Kikadze, 8-6-1, has now lost two in a row.
• Nikola Đurđev submitted Dino Starcevic one second earlier in his own first round, at 4:27.
• Tato Primera stopped Alen Amedovski at 4:40 of the first in a catchweight bout.
• Luka Lainović knocked out Marko Trajanovski in 57 seconds on the prelims.

And then the one I would like the judges to explain. Martin Horsch and Nikita Zelinskyi, both unbeaten coming in, went three rounds at bantamweight and got a split draw. Zelinskyi scored the fight's only knockdown, landed four of four takedowns and out-landed Horsch 62 to 47 in significant strikes. Horsch threw a lot more overall, landing 228 total strikes to 171, and had 3:33 of control to Zelinskyi's 1:38. That is two different fights depending on what you count, which is how you end up with one judge on each side and a third who could not pick. Nobody loses a record, nobody gets a win, and a rematch is the only honest fix.

Jungle Fight 156: Martins and Bruna win the Fight do Milhão

The Fight do Milhão finals topped the card at Ginásio do Ibirapuera, and I picked the wrong winner in one and the wrong method in the other.

The welterweight final was billed as two eight-fight winning streaks meeting in the middle. Fabricio Martins ended Ernane Pimenta's 29 seconds into the second round. I picked Pimenta by TKO because nothing in his last eight had gone long, and wrote that I had gone back and forth on what Martins's 35 professional fights were worth. Apparently a lot. Martins is 37, 27-8-1, and has now won nine straight. Pimenta, 28, is 10-2.

Nágila Bruna won the women's strawweight final over Bianca Sattelmayer, and she did not need the decision I predicted. The five-round bout was stopped at the end of the fourth. Bruna out-landed Sattelmayer 115 to 98 in significant strikes, while Sattelmayer had the better of the wrestling, three takedowns from five attempts and 3:35 of control to Bruna's 1:34. Sattelmayer's whole method is to win on volume at the final bell, and Bruna never let her get there. Bruna is 8-1. Sattelmayer, who was 7-1 since March 2023 coming in, is 14-14.

Two of the tournament's earlier casualties were on the undercard too. Regiane Borges, submitted by Bruna in the August semifinal, beat Dayane Cardoso on all three cards and out-landed her 110 to 63. Matheus Araujo, the man Martins stopped in June, had a worse night: Rafael Silva knocked him out at 1:40 of the first.

The rest of São Paulo:

• Cleiton Paulo Rocha knocked out Manoel Silva at 2:11 of the first.
• Diego Alves dropped Matheus Silveira and stopped him at 1:03 of the first. Silveira landed six significant strikes.
• Ulisses Melo needed 41 seconds to submit Felipe Alves, the quickest fight of the night in Brazil.
• Hari Menezes submitted Lucas Schmidt at 3:20 of the first.
• Hugo Cunha submitted Willian Roberto Alves at 2:17 of the second in the heavyweight bout.
• Luis Felipe submitted Augusto Machado at 1:22 of the second.
• Marcos Santana stopped Lucas Campos at 4:54 of the second.
• Matheus Lima knocked out Diogo Silva at 2:46 of the third.
• Tulio Macena beat Rafael Sanson by unanimous decision at flyweight.
• Lorrany Santos beat Queila Braga by split decision at bantamweight, and this is the other card I would like to see. Braga out-landed her 102 to 90 in significant strikes, Santos landed both of her takedown attempts, and the control time was almost dead even, 3:47 to 3:41. Takedowns against volume again. Two of three judges went with the takedowns.

That is two split verdicts on two continents in one Saturday, plus a third at UFC 333 that I already wrote about, and all three came down to what the judges chose to count. Different commissions, same question. Who is going to answer it first?