UFC Vegas matched up some lesser known names and hot prospects in very compelling fights, all leading up to one dynamite main event.

On the main card of UFC Vegas five of the six fights ended as a decision. What’s more, only one fight, the upset win of Chris Camozzi, ended as a 30-27 unanimous decision. To say all of the fights were competitive is an understatement.

On the flip side, the main event fight between Cody Garbrandt and Thomas Almeida ended quickly and emphatically. The match-up was designed to test prospects, to see who’s star would rise and who is the likely candidate to be a future champion.

The narrative of the pre-fight hype was all about the destructive striking of the two young men. Almeida, a Chute Boxe disciple, was classified as a creative and wild swarmer. Garbrandt was being labeled as a quick and powerful boxer-wrestler, and the next champion from Team Alpha Male. More astute fans of the UFC would look to the defense of the two men as the deciding factor. In the end, defensive flaws proved to be one man’s undoing.

From the opening seconds it was clear Garbrandt wanted to get in Almeida’s grill. After trying an ill-advised, yet often used, capoeira kick, Garbrandt kept control of the center of the Octagon. Almeida owns a kicking advantage over Garbrandt, but as long as Garbrandt kept Almeida moving backward, his kicks would be notably less effective. As the two maintained their guards and circled the Octagon they moved with subtle level changes and feints to feel each other out.

After almost a minute into the fight, Garbrandt began to open up with his hands a bit more while Almeida showed what has earned him a fair bit of criticism. Almeida often gets caught in firefights and will throw wild, wide hooks. While exchanging, Almeida’s tight guard drops off and he gets caught with punches from his opponents.

Here, Garbrant attempts to initiate an exchange by feinting a jab, throwing a right hand and ending the combo with his money left hook. Almeida simply slides back and throws a half parry, half left hook as Garbrandt moves forward. Due to Almeida’s lucid defense, Garbrandt backs off. As Almeida’s foot touches the cage he bounces off of it immediately and begins to inch forward. Sensing forward movement, Garbrandt attempts to time a flying knee that misses completely. Almeida then begins to swing at the mobile Garbrandt with a left hook and a right hand that both miss. When Garbrandt begins to rise out of his crouched stance, he does so with a right hand that cleans Almeida’s clock. If Almeida had returned his hands to his chin, Garbrandts powerful punch would not have done nearly as much damage to the Brazilian dynamo.

From that point onward, the speed of Garbrandt gave Almeida trouble at every exchange. It looked as if because Garbrandt was stinging Almeida so quickly the latter could not get comfortable in the cage.

Below, you’ll see Garbrandt paw with his left to draw a response from Almeida. As Almeida reaches his left hand out Garbrandt pushes forward with a hard right hand that stumbles him. Garbrandt then throws a hard left hook while weaving under Almeida’s left hook. To avoid further return strikes from Almeida, Garbrandt steps past Almeida’s lead foot and shoulder, assuming a dominant angle to continue attacking. Because the two are so close to one another Garbrandt pushes Almeida off of him and throws another left hook that lands flush on the button.

Now Almeida is backed up to the fence, out of stance and reeling from the powerful assault. Garbrandt picks up right where he left off and knocks Almeida off-balance with a right hook before sneaking in a quick left hand. As Almeida sways and swings with his head looking down at the floor Garbrandt continues to throw his hooks. Just before the two separate, Garbrandt again clips Almeida on the chin with a left hook.

The pattern should be painfully obvious by now. Garbrandt will paw and feint with his left hand before launching a missile-like right hand. The right hand will either hurt his opponent, or knock them off-balance, but both of those outcomes lead into a left hook well. When Garbrandt starts finding his opponent’s chin with his left hook it’s just a matter of time before the fight is waved off.

In this fight, Almeida’s tendency to drop his hands and swing wild played into Garbrandt’s game plan and skillset wonderfully. Almost every time Garbrandt’s right hand touched Almeida, it cued the Brazilian to plant his feet and swing with little regard for defense.

The end of the fight came just over the halfway mark of the first round. Garbrandt throws a right hand bomb that snaps Almeida’s head back and the two back up to the fence. Garbrandt keeps the combination going with two quick left hooks that deflect off of Almeida’s guard. Garbrandt then ends the fight with a perfectly placed right hand that turns Almeida’s lights off.

Notice how just before Garbrandt lands the fight ending blow Almeida attempts to throw a left hook in retaliation. Garbrandt’s right hook is much tighter than Almeida’s left hand and it ends up finding its mark quicker, ending the fight.

Before Almeida was knocked out he had a brief moment of success. Almeida was walking forward and was able to put a couple of hands on Garbrandt’s chin. As soon as Garbrandt planted his feet and answered back with hooks Almeida, wisely backed off and did not get caught up in anything dangerous.

Even though the fight between Almeida and Garbrandt was fun, we didn’t see much different from either of them. Garbrandt still lead nearly all of his attacks with hard right hands, and did much of his damage with left hooks. Almeida was still dropping his hands in exchanges, but this time his defensive flaws caught up to him.

It seems like the way to beat Almeida is to pressure him early, take advantage of his defensive shortcomings and maybe draw him into a firefight. From this point on it’ll be interesting to see if Almeida can shell up his defense to make him a more formidable pressure fighter.

It’s likely Garbrandt will have his title shot expedited as he is a member of Team Alpha Male and, like everyone from their team, has already been calling out Dominick Cruz. At the very least a fight between Garbrandt and former Team Alpha Male member TJ Dillashaw could be in the future. The two have had words since Dillashaw’s fallout, and a fight between the two would be an awesomely entertaining striking duel.

UFC Vegas’s main event fight between Almeida and Garbrandt ended with fireworks, and moved Gabrandt further up the bantamweight contender list. Keep your eyes on Cage Pages for any fight updates in the meantime, and check back after UFC 199 for another Move of the Main Event breakdown.

Follow Cage Pages on Twitter!

Want to write for Cage Pages? Click on the link here for more info.