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Nathaniel
Wood continued his quiet climb up the UFC featherweight
ranks—but Daniel
Pineda made things interesting, as he always seems to do.
In the top preliminary bout of UFC 304 on Saturday in Manchester,
England, “The Prospect” entered as a prohibitive four-to-one
favorite and, for a few minutes at least, fought like it. Wood
(20-6; 8-3 UFC) got out to a hot start, nailing Pineda (28-16, 3
NC; 5-7, 1 NC UFC) with a front kick to the body that folded him in
half. “The Pit” managed to snare Wood in his guard as the
Englishman swarmed to finish, buying himself time to recover.
Pineda did a good job working his way back from the near finish,
sweeping Wood and landing some hard ground shots as the round
expired. Wood picked the gauntlet right back up in Round 2, hurting
Pineda with a pinpoint punch that left him blinking and pawing at
his right eye. Again, Pineda plied his veteran savvy and toughness
to ride out the storm and recover, but Wood was relentless, going
to work with a series of brutal calf kicks that took Pineda’s
wheels out from under him. Pineda again survived, buying himself
time with a takedown attempt, but he was only delaying the
inevitable. Once they returned to their feet, Wood continued the
assault, and everything he threw seemed to hurt Pineda. The round
expired with Wood on top in Pineda’s full guard as they exchanged
punches and elbows.
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The cageside physician took a long look at Pineda’s right eye
before allowing him to continue in Round 3, but with a temporary
reprieve, he made the most of it, taking down Wood immediately,
perhaps trying to keep his shin and face off the artillery range
for a while. Wood quickly swept and escaped, and while Pineda
stayed stuck to his man, working to keep things on the ground where
he might find a submission win, but Wood hung on, defended himself
capably and was never in real danger of being finished, despite
giving up position to his desperate foe. The judges rightfully saw
the fight in favor of Wood via 29-27, 29-27 and 29-28 scores,
righting the ship after his loss to Muhammadjon
Naimov last October. Pineda’s second straight loss left him at
2-3 with one no contest since rejoining the UFC four years ago.
Brasil Rides Bodywork to Upset of McCann
Bruna
Brasil played spoiler in a big way, upending heavy betting
favorite and local heroine Molly
McCann in their strawweight prelim. For a moment, it looked as
if the fight might not make it out of the first round, as Brasil
(9-4-1, 2-2 UFC) chose to bypass the chin that helped earn McCann
(14-7, 7-6 UFC) her “Meatball” nickname, instead blasting the body
with a series of kicks and knees that left the Liverpudlian
staggering and covering up. McCann recovered and fought through to
the end of the round, and had perhaps her best round in the middle
frame, as she turned to her underrated ground game. McCann took
Brasil down with a big slam, and while they returned to the feet
almost instantly, the takedown itself was the most impactful moment
of offense in the round—until the closing seconds, when Brasil
floored an off-balance “Meatball” with a punch off of a missed
wheel kick. The final round was a back-and-forth affair, with both
women landing takedowns and having moments of success on the feet,
but Brasil continued to be the more effective woman in all phases.
The judges scored the fight for Brasil by unanimous decision
(30-27, 30-27, 29-28), getting her back on track after her loss to
Konklak
Suphisara earlier this year; the loss by McCann evens up her
record at 1-1 since dropping from flyweight to strawweight.
Heavy Hadley Turns Away Loughran
Jake
Hadley made the most of his short-notice opportunity, edging
out Caolan
Loughran in their 137-pound catchweight contest. Hadley (11-3),
who accepted the call on a week’s notice when Ramon
Taveras dropped out, stepped up from his customary flyweight to
bantamweight and missed even that mark, necessitating the
catchweight. Once the cage door shut behind them, however, “White
Kong” was on point, outlanding his shorter, stockier foe with jabs
and kicks, while largely turning aside the Irishman’s takedown
attempts. Loughran was mostly reduced to throwing single punches
that missed short, and takedown attempts leading to clinches
against the fence. Hadley gained separation as the fight wore on,
and spent much of Round 3 skipping away from Loughran at range,
pot-shotting and then evading his foe’s charges. The judges scored
the fight for Hadley (30-27, 30-27, 29-28), bringing him to 3-3
overall in the UFC, while Loughran saw his promotional ledger fall
to 1-2 in defeat.
Mokaev Remains Undefeated in Bizarre Scrap
While the multiple pre-fight dustups between Muhammad
Mokaev and Manel Kape
seemed to imply fireworks for their flyweight contenders’ matchup,
the actual fight ended up fizzling rather than sizzling. In
contrast to the obvious hostility between the two—which led to them
being separated by security personnel during fight week and even in
the cage before the fight—the first round was a tense, tentative
affair, with Mokaev reduced to throwing single front kicks at range
and Kape attempting next to no offense until the final minute, when
he landed two big punches that might have been enough to win the
round. The second round featured more offense but was a strange
five minutes in its own right, as Kape injured the big toe on his
right foot early in the round, but managed to continue, only for
Mokaev to have a takedown and top position taken away by an
incensed referee Mike Beltran, thanks to a blatant grab of Kape’s
trunks. The final round was the most conventional of the three, and
Kape acquitted himself well considering the obvious damage to his
right foot, but there was little suspense when the judges’
scorecards were read, formalizing the unanimous decision (30-27,
29-28, 29-28) in favor of “The Punisher.” The win brought Mokaev
(13-1, 1 NC) to 7-0 in the UFC, though it will remain to be seen
whether he impressed UFC matchmakers enough to leapfrog the likes
of Steve Erceg
and Kai
Kara-France, who meet in another flyweight contenders’ matchup
next month. Kape (19-7) dropped to 4-3 in the UFC in defeat.
Elliot Sprawls, Brawls His Way Past Parsons
Oban
Elliott (11-2) and Preston
Parsons (11-5) entertained the British crowd with a tactical,
tense three-round welterweight scrap that felt more competitive
than the final score indicated. The first two rounds were closely
contested, as Elliott turned aside Parsons’ repeated takedown
attempts and landed with clean jabs and one-twos, while Parsons
damaged the Welshman’s lead leg with heavy low kicks and scored
with short punches and elbows in the clinch. Patterson finally
landed a solid takedown in Round 3 but was immediately forced to
defend himself from an armbar attempt, after which, Elliot popped
back up to his feet in time for the final horn. The judges rendered
the decision in favor of “The Welsh Gangster” by unanimous decision
(30-27, 30-27, 29-28), running his record to 2-0 since joining the
UFC out of
Dana White’s Contender Series last year. Parsons saw his
Octagon mark fall to 2-3.
Bukauskas Arm-Triangles Prachnio
Modestas
Bukauskas (16-6) picked up a badly needed win, tapping out
Marcin
Prachnio (17-8) to cap off a wild light heavyweight scrap.
Prachnio made some headway early on the strength of his powerful
low kicks and awkward flurries of hooks, but Bukauskas was the much
cleaner puncher inside, and gained momentum as Prachnio appeared to
tire late in Round 1. Prachnio came back strong in the middle
frame, catching Bukauskas with a close-quarters head kick during a
wild exchange, but Bukauskas shut down the rally with an easy
takedown that allowed him to recover and ride out the round. Round
3 began yet again with Prachnio connecting cleanly during a brawl,
and he emptied the clip in pursuit of the finish, chasing Bukauskas
across the cage with haymakers, but Bukauskas again short-circuited
things by dragging Prachnio to the canvas, where he set up in top
position and chipped away with short punches and elbows. Prachnio
did nothing to escape or even improve his position, but
Bukauskas, rather than cruise and run out the clock, set up an
arm-triangle choke. “The Baltic Gladiator” squeezed and, despite
being in half guard on the wrong side to finish, elicited the tap
from an exhausted and overwhelmed Prachnio at 3 minutes, 12
seconds. The win was Bukauskas’ first by submission in
the UFC and equalized his mark in the promotion at 4-4; Prachnio
fell to 4-6 in the UFC.
Patterson Strangles Crosbie
Sam
Patterson made a seamless transition from outlandishly tall
lightweight to outlandishly tall welterweight, grounding Kiefer
Crosbie with ease and closing things out with an arm-triangle
choke. Patterson (13-2-1, 2-1 UFC) wasted little time in showing
his superiority on the feet, tagging Crosbie (10-5, 0-2 UFC) with a
long uppercut that rocked him. From there, Patterson hustled the
Irishman to the floor, landing in full mount, and immediately
cinched up an arm-triangle. Patterson jumped to side control and
looked close to getting the finish, but was forced to move back to
mount, readjust his grip and try again. This time, the tap came
within seconds and referee Lukasz Bosacki moved in for the rescue
at 2:50 of Round 1. The quick finish was the 6-foot-4 Englishman’s
second straight in the UFC, his first since moving up from 155
pounds after his submission win over Yohan
Lainesse in January.
Parkin Pummels Brzeski
Michael
Parkin (10-0) kept his professional record spotless and
thrilled the Manchester crowd, crushing Lukasz
Brzeski (9-5-1, 1 NC) with punches in the first round of their
heavyweight undercard attraction. Brzeski had the right idea, using
kicks and footwork to try and keep the much heavier Brit out of
boxing range. However, Parkin simply walked through Brzeski’s
shots, including a clean head kick that he shook off with no
apparent ill effect, and went to work with big punches in the
pocket.
Parkin caught the Pole with a flush right hook and, as Brzeski
staggered away toward the fence, gave chase, throwing heavy leather
with both hands. Five or six unanswered punches later,
referee Marc Goddard
stepped in to save Brzeski as he slumped against the cage. The win
came at 3:23 of Round 1, elevating Parkin’s Octagon tally to 4-0
and likely leaving him knocking on the door of the UFC’s
heavyweight Top 15; Brzeski dropped to 1-4 in the UFC.
Bannon Edges Ardelean
In the opening bout, Shauna
Bannon (6-1) turned aside a spirited charge from late
replacement Alice
Ardelean (8-6), holding on to prevail by split decision in
their strawweight affair. Ardelean, who stepped in on two weeks’
notice for Bannon’s originally scheduled opponent, Ravena
Oliveira, experienced some success early on by taking down the
Irish kickboxer—despite a blatant fence grab—and putting in work as
Bannon hunted for armbars and triangle chokes from the bottom.
Through the first two rounds, Bannon’s submission attack was
arguably enough to outweigh Ardelean’s sporadic ground strikes, but
it still appeared to be either woman’s fight for the taking heading
into the final frame. From there, however, “Mama B” pulled ahead as
Ardelean, perhaps showing the effects of the shortened camp, began
to flag. Bannon carried the day with 30-27, 29-28 and 28-29
scorecards, elevating her UFC mark to 1-1; Ardelean fell to 0-1 in
the promotion.