Outside Source
Kevin Vallejos blew a well-respected longtime contender out of the water.
The fast-rising 24-year-old Argentinian fortified his place among the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s featherweight elite, as he annihilated Josh Emmett with punches, knees and elbows in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 269 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Vallejos (18-1, 4-0 UFC) slammed the door 3:33 into Round 1, logging his seventh straight victory.
Emmett (19-7, 10-7 UFC) was a non-factor. Vallejos stalked him from the center of the cage and let his exquisite timing and reactions light his way. He lured Emmett into an exchange, floored him with a right hook and swamped him with punches and elbows. Vallejos allowed the Californian to stand, then pinned him to the fence and launched an all-out assault on his body and head with a hailstorm of strikes, prompting the stoppage.
Meanwhile, Gillian Robertson overcame in inauspicious start to implement her game plan, impose her will and take a unanimous decision from former Jungle Fight champion Amanda Lemos in their three-round women’s strawweight co-main event. Robertson (17-8, 14-6 UFC) swept the scorecards with matching 29-28 marks from all three members of the assigned judiciary.
Lemos (15-6-1, 9-6 UFC) chipped away from the outside with punches and kicks but conceded a takedown in the first round. However, the Brazilian swept into top position and sprawled on the Canadian grappler, delivering a series of elbows to the head in the process. Robertson was undeterred. She completed a takedown early in the middle stanza, made a pass at a brabo choke and briefly climbed to full mount before settling in half guard. The shift in tone was noticeable. The Din Thomas protege followed the same route in the third round and conspired with fatigue to keep Lemos grounded after securing another takedown inside the first 90 seconds.
Robertson, 30, now finds herself on a five-fight winning streak.
Further down the main card, MMA Lab prospect Jose Delgado bounced back from an Oct. 25 decision loss to Nathaniel Wood and did just enough to get past the cagy Andre Fili, as he escaped with a split decision in a tactical three-round featherweight showcase. All three judges scored it 29-28: Michael Bell and Junichiro Kamijo for Delgado, Chris Lee for Fili.
Fili (25-13, 13-12 UFC) could not have fought smarter. He dropped Delgado briefly with a two-punch salvo at close range inside the first five minutes and executed strategic takedowns in all three rounds. Even so, he never fully seized the reins. Delgado (11-2, 3-1 UFC) made the necessary adjustments and leaned on kicks to the legs, body and head, along with a steady jab. He did his best work in close-quarters exchanges, where he unleashed elbows and punches to the Team Alpha Male product’s head. Fili made a late push with a pair of takedowns late in the third round, but his efforts fell short in the eyes of two cageside adjudicators.
Delgado, 27, has won eight of his past nine bouts.
Elsewhere, onetime Hex Fight Series champion Marwan Rahiki stayed undefeated and forced a corner stoppage on Harry Hardwick in between the second and third rounds of their featherweight feature. Hardwick (13-5-1, 0-2 UFC) informed his trainers that he believed he had suffered a broken jaw, necessitating the stoppage.
Rahiki (8-0, 1-0 UFC) dazed the Englishman on more than one occasion, as he wobbled him with a counter right hook in the first round and a head kick in the second. Only Hardwick’s steely resolve kept him upright. Rahiki swarmed with punches whenever opportunities presented themselves, only to have his hard-nosed adversary answer at every turn. While Hardwick’s mind was willing to plow ahead amid all the punishment, his body eventually broke.
The 23-year-old Rahiki has stopped all eight of his opponents inside the distance.
Deeper into the draw, Ion Cutelaba rebounded from a May 10 decision defeat to Modestas Bukauskas and did so in resounding fashion, as he dismissed Oumar Sy with a guillotine choke in the first round of their light heavyweight attraction. Sy (12-2, 3-2 UFC) waved the white flag 4:24 into Round 1.
The two men exchanged leg kicks and eventually traded takedowns. Cutebala (20-11-1, 9-10-1 UFC) sprang a reversal into top position, applied his ground-and-pound and set off a scramble after he denied an attempted leg lock from the Frenchman. Sy wandered right into his trap. Cutelaba caught the guillotine on the transition, rolled to a mounted position and forced the tap.
It was the 16th first-round finish of Cutelaba’s career.
Finally, former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Charles Johnson stepped in as a short-notice substitution for the repurposed Lone’er Kavanagh and eked out a split decision from “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” Season 4 quarterfinalist Bruno Silva in a three-round flyweight appetizer. Judges Anthony Maness and the aforementioned Lee scored it 29-28 and 30-27 for Johnson, while Bell saw it 29-28 for Silva.
Johnson (19-8, 8-6 UFC) unleashed kicks to all levels, withstood multiple low blows and answered the Brazilian’s merciless pressure with an effective clinch. He fought well at close range, where he landed knees, elbows and punches as Silva attempted to corral him along the fence. The American Top Team rep turned up the heat on Johnson in the third round with step-in uppercuts, punching flurries and even a spinning back elbow. It was not enough. Johnson stood his ground and reclaimed momentum in the waning moments of the match.
Silva, 35, has lost three of his past four bouts.
Continue Reading » UFC Vegas 114 Prelims: Elijah Smith, Manoel Sousa, Beatriz Mesquita shine on eight-fight UFC Apex undercard
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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