I already thought very highly of Quillan Salkilld prior to UFC Vegas 120.
The 26-year-old Aussie standout has consistently shown many of the traits one looks for in a future champion. He has a diverse mix of skills. Perhaps more importantly, he knows when to employ what strategy and how to blend those tactics together. Salkilld is also big and strong for the division, which is an absolute prerequisite for high-level success.
Even so, I picked Mateusz Gamrot to score the upset win … which turned out to be quite wrong.
Gamrot is a famously difficult fight. He’s tough as an old shoe and crafty as can be, an extremely dedicated wrestler who is quite good at forcing opponents to fight his style of high-paced grappling match. He’s perfectly built to spoil the win streaks of talented young fighters — just ask Arman Tsarukyan! Outside of pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev, Gamrot is the only man to out-hustle the talented Armenian.
Even more specifically, Gamrot seemed like a trap for Salkilld. The Australian is a generalist, the kind of good-at-everything athlete who came up doing MMA. Often, that style of fighter can struggle when faced with a specialist who knows how to force the fight into their avenue and excel in that realm. Salkilld is accustomed to blending his striking and wrestling, yet that would appear the wrong move versus such an ace scrambler with loads of five-round experience in Gamrot.
None of that mattered in the least.
From the first bell, Salkilld was hurting Gamrot with clean, accurate kickboxing. Gamrot tried to earn his opponent’s respect with a couple heavy right hand swings, but Salkilld stabbed at him with jabs and kicks up and down the body. Before long, a heavy left hook fired as his kicking leg returned to stance wobbled Gamrot, forcing the Polish fighter to desperately wrestle onto a single leg.
The scrambles in this fight were genuinely shocking. Gamrot’s single-leg finishes failed him so spectacularly that he opted to pull guard into a leg lock attempt, which we’ve never seen before from “Gamer.” Later, Salkilld scored an effortless double leg along the fence — easily set up by having previously hurt Gamrot with strikes — and jumped his back.
Gamrot bucked and rolled like a cat dunked in water. On his third attempt to frantically spin into top position, he nearly achieved his goal. Instead, Salkilld caught his far wrist and kept up with him, resettling his back control. Exhausted by the scrambles of his own making and stuck beneath a bigger, stronger fighter, Gamrot was vulnerable to the rear naked choke that soon ended the fight.
This was a masterclass victory over a more experienced opponent who theoretically had the skills to trouble Salkilld. How often have we seen members of the Lightweight old guard deny their replacement by the next generation? It’s a common theme of recent years, and yet Salkilld barely broke a sweat in dispatching Gamrot.
Now 6-0 inside the Octagon, Salkilld looks like a world-class contender and likely future champion. He would not look out of place versus any top contender in the 155-pound division even if he doesn’t have the same level of experience yet. Frankly, I think he would be a more compelling and difficult matchup for Tsarukyan than Mauricio Ruffy, who was grounded and strangled by Benoit Saint Denis far too recently to seriously consider against “Ahalkalakets.”
If there are any Salkilld doubters left, I would strongly advise reconsidering.
For complete UFC Vegas 120 results and play-by-play, click here.