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Ivan
Erslan did it about how they must have drawn it up in camp.
In a light heavyweight clash atop the seven-fight undercard of
UFC Vegas 117 on Saturday at the Meta Apex, the 34-year-old
Croatian faced George
Tokkos. It was a clash of styles of the kind that has
characterized mixed martial arts for three decades and counting, as
kickboxing convert Erslan faced submission specialist “Tuco.”
Despite Tokkos’ obvious need to get the action to the mat at any
cost, the fight was competitive in the early going, as Erslan was
clearly uncomfortable with Tokkos’ constant encroachment on the
feet.
Erslan may have won a competitive Round 1 anyway, but definitely
found his groove in the second frame. Tokkos looked slow and
suddenly tired on the feet, wading in from well outside with badly
telegraphed takedown attempts. These attempts Erslan punished with
accurate, solid counters in the pocket. When the action did go to
the ground, it in the place, position and time of Erslan’s
choosing, and he pelted the Englishman with deliberate ground
strikes.
As the third round began, the fight was already becoming a
slow-motion rout, with Tokkos offering little resistance but Erslan
either too tired himself or too wary to truly step on the gas pedal
and hunt for the finish. Tokkos, for his part, seemed to understand
that the fight was getting away from him and elected to stand and
swing, while Erslan punished him over and over again in close
quarters. When the final horn sounded, there was no question of who
had the momentum, nor of who had show himself to be the better
fighter on the night. The judges saw things the same way, awarding
the fight to Erslan by unanimous 29-28 scores. The win moved the
burly Croatian to 15-6, 1 NC; 1-3 in the UFC, while Tokkos’ record
dropped to 11-6; 1-3 UFC.
Gantt Grounds, Pounds Minev
In a matchup of undefeated UFC debutants thrown together on just
days’ notice, former NC State All-American wrestler Thomas
Gantt squared off with Artur
Minev. Gantt, who picked up a quick submission win on
Dana White’s Contender Series in September but appeared in
danger of losing his debut booking when Trey Ogden
withdrew from the card. Gantt’s game plan was evident from the
jump, as he immediately walked the Ukrainian to the cage and looked
for the takedown, but Minev was more than up to the challenge,
putting on a clinic in defensive wrestling against the cage for
over three minutes before the fight was paused for a groin
strike.
Minev initiated the clinch battle to start the second round, which
was apparently just what the American needed, as his wrestling
attack quickly experienced greater success. After an unsuccessful
first attempt of the round, Gantt hauled Minev to the canvas, then
sent him flying with an emphatic mat return.
Gantt pinned one of Minev’s wrists and poured on a stream of
unblocked ground strikes until referee Kerry Hatley moved in for
the TKO stoppage at 2 minutes, 51 seconds of Round 2. With the
win, Gantt moved to 12-0 with one no contest, while Minev fell to
7-1.
Vieira Outgrinds Cavalcanti
Ketlen
Vieira and Jacqueline
Cavalcanti collaborated on a women’s bantamweight contenders’
matchup that was long on divisional relevance, short on fireworks.
As might be expected of two big-bodied bantamweights who were used
to being in charge, there was not A very tentative opening round
may have gone Vieira’s way late, but neither woman truly put her
stamp on things. Round 2 saw Vieira be more aggressive, closing the
distance and corralling Cavalacanti against the cage. Vieira took
down her foe from there, continuing to put in solid work in winning
the round easily.
The final round needed in order to provide a clear winner but
arguably failed to do so, as both women contented themselves with
exchanging single, medium-speed strikes at range. The judges had
seen enough, however, and awarded the fight to the Brazilian by
unanimous 29-28 scores. The win kept Vieira in the title picture as
her record moved to 16-5 overall, 10-5 UFC. Cavalcanti, who had an
eight-fight win streak snapped in defeat, fell to 10-2; 5-1
UFC.
Brundage Shocks Petroski
Cody
Brundage needed a win in the worst way and got one, dropping
Andre
Petroski in the second round of their middleweight undercard
attraction. A very tentative first round finally broke open late
when Brundage defended at takedown with a guillotine choke attempt,
leading to a few tense moments but ultimately conceding the
takedown. As a result, Petroski clearly won the first round,
chipping away with short strikes from top position for the final
two minutes.
The second round was an entirely different story.
Brundage ducked behind a right-hand feint, floored Petroski with a
sweeping left hook and pounced with ground strikes until referee
Chris Tognoni moved in for the save. The shocking win
moved Brundage to 11-9-1 with one no contest; 5-8-1, 1 NC in the
UFC. Petroski fell to 13-6; 8-5 UFC.
Ardelean Nets Ultra-Rare Capsule Lock on Viana
Alice
Ardelean picked up her third straight UFC win, tapping out
Polyana
Viana with a never-before-seen capsule lock in their
strawweight prelim matchup. A couple of tense early exchanges led
to an awkward sequence in which referee Eric McMahon halted the
action after an apparent foul to the eye of Viana that turned out
to have been caused by a legal punch. However, once the confusion
was settled, the traffic on the feet was once again defined by
Ardelean’s apparent ease navigating the Brazilian’s superior height
and reach. Any time Viana opened up with a spinning attack,
Ardelean caught the limb in question, not making any earnest
attempt to bring the fight to the floor but disrupting her foe’s
rhythm. Ardelean caught Viana several times with clean head
strikes, including a knockdown in the second half of the round.
Ardelean kept up the solid work in the middle round, tagging Viana
cleanly and taking her down with ease. Midway through the round,
however, Viana came alive, wrapping Ardelean up in a tight body
triangle from the bottom and pelting her with elbows and
hammerfists from below.
The action was close, and Viana was making a solid case for winning
the round from her back, when with about 90 seconds left, she
frantically tapped the canvas, having suffered an injury to her
right knee. The end was a bit anticlimactic—until the
replay showed it to have been quite deliberate—but does down as a
TKO win for Ardelean (12-7; 3-2 UFC), while Viana falls to 13-8;
4-7 in the UFC.
Gurule Outslugs Barez
Luis
Gurule and Daniel
Barez left everything in the Octagon after 15 minutes of
pitched flyweight combat. Gurule had some success early pursuing
and pressuring the taller man, and when he was taken down directly
into back control near the midpoint of Round 1, he quickly reversed
Barez and threatened with a short D’Arce choke. Barez appeared
headed for a better second round when with about two minutes left
in the frame, Gurule hurt him with a left hook-right hook
combination, then took his back standing and sent him flying. Barez
kept his composure and attempted to bring the American down, but
the remainder of the round saw Gurule hurt Barez repeatedly, but
unable to pursue the finish.
Barez was game but clearly the worse for wear when the two
bantamweights came out for Round 3, and Gurule quickly went back to
mugging him against the fence with short uppercuts. Barez recovered
and never appeared in serious danger, bt the result was another
easy to score five minutes for the American, who won the unanimous
decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), moving to 11-3; 1-3 UFC. Barez fell
to 17-8; 1-3 UFC.
Caliari Grounds, Strangles Bannon
In the strawweight opener, Shauna
Bannon and Nicolle
Caliari got things kicked off, their bout largely defined by
Caliari’s ease taking the Irishwoman down and how much offense she
did or did not mount once she got her there. Within seconds,
Caliari sent Bannon flying with a hip throw, but Bannon rolled
through and got right back to her feet. Caliari spent most of Round
1 on top in Bannon’s full guard, staying busy but not doing much
damage or threatening to pass to a better position. Bannon, for her
part, was content to wrap the Brazilian up in her full guard, box
her ears with palm strikes from the bottom and otherwise concede
the position. The round ends with Caliari in top position, trying
to isolate one of Bannon’s arms.
The second round was Bannon’s best, as she fought off Caliari’s
early takedown attempts, hurt her with body kicks, and reversed a
late takedown, landing in top position, where she punished Caliari
for the second half of the round. Caliari came out like a woman
possessed for Round 3, however, rocking “Mama B” with a jab,
hauling her to the canvas and patiently setting up an arm-triangle
choke for the finish. Referee Kerry Hatley came to the
rescue at 3:08 of the final frame, awarding Caliari (9-4; 1-2 UFC)
her first win in the promotion, while Bannon (7-3; 2-3 UFC) fell
below .500 in the Octagon.