Dan Ige
passed another difficult test in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division.
The Xtreme Couture mainstay rebounded from back-to-back losses to
Diego
Lopes and Lerone
Murphy, as he turned away Sean
Woodson with punches in the third round of their featured
UFC 314 prelim on Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
Ige (19-9, 11-8 UFC) brought it to a close 1:12 into Round 3,
though it was not without controversy.
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Woodson (13-2-1, 7-2-1 UFC) leaned on his seven-inch reach
advantage and managed to keep the Hawaiian at bay with a persistent
jab, unorthodox hand movements and evasive footwork through much of
the first half of the bout. Ige staggered the Wolves Den Training
Center product with a counter left hook at close range in the third
round and gave chase with brutal body blows. Woodson ducked into a
desperation single-leg, at which point he absorbed a series of
short hammerfists that drew enough attention from referee Andrew
Glenn to result in the stoppage. He protested immediately, to
no avail.
Meanwhile, Fight House Academy standout Virna
Jandiroba almost certainly cemented herself as the No. 1
contender at 115 pounds with a clear-cut unanimous decision over
Xiaonan
Yan in a three-round women’s strawweight battle. All three
cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Jandiroba (22-3, 8-3
UFC).
Yan (19-5, 9-4 UFC) never solved the puzzle with which she was
presented. Jandiroba completed takedowns in all three rounds, then
proceeded to run circles around the Team Alpha Male rep on the
ground. The accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt floated
from one dominant position to the next, kept Yan guessing and
flirted with a variety of submissions, including several near-miss
armbars.
Jandiroba has notched five wins in a row.
Elsewhere, Chase
Hooper called upon repeated takedowns, positional advances and
suffocating control ahead of a unanimous decision over ex-Cage Fury
Fighting Championships titleholder Jim Miller in
a three-round lightweight affair. The 25-year-old Hooper (16-3-1,
8-3 UFC) carried all three scorecards: 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.
Miller (38-19, 27-18) threatened with a guillotine choke and scored
with a few elbows while in top position in the first round but
otherwise proved ineffective. Hooper grounded the New Jersey native
repeatedly across the final 10 minutes, advanced to the back on
more than one occasion, applied his ground-and-pound whenever
possible and even made a few passes at modified heel hooks. Miller,
41, was exhausted by the time it was over.
Hooper has strung together five consecutive victories.
Further down the undercard, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 22
semifinalist Julian
Erosa swept aside Darren
Elkins with punches in the first round of their featherweight
scrap.
Finished for the first time in more than three years, Elkins
(29-12, 19-11 UFC) met his end 4:15 into Round 2.
It was never competitive. Elkins executed a single-leg takedown and
walked into a burst of upkicks, one of which struck him across the
bridge of the nose and appeared to leave him permanently
compromised. Erosa (31-11, 9-7 UFC) cracked the Team Alpha Male
export with a one-two, backed him to the fence and followed a
concussive knee strike with a thudding elbow. The impact dropped
Elkins to all fours and had him clinging to an ankle on autopilot.
From there, Erosa unleashed a series of hammerfists to the side of
the head, forcing referee Mike Beltran to intervene.
Erosa, 35, has rattled off three straight wins, all via
stoppage.
Not to be outshined, former Thunderstrike Fight League champion
Michal
Oleksiejczuk dismissed Sedriques
Dumas with punches and elbows in the first round of their
middleweight pairing.
Dumas (10-3, 3-3 UFC) bowed out 2:49 into Round 1, losing for the
second time in three outings.
Oleksiejczuk (20-9, 8-7 UFC) entered the Octagon on a career-worst
three-fight losing streak, then proceeded to march forward with
almost no regard for his opponent. He dropped Dumas with a looping
left hook—it was more clothesline than punch—and assumed a dominant
position above him before he cut loose with a volley of unanswered
elbows and punches to prompt the stoppage.
The victory was Oleksiejczuk’s first since Aug. 26, 2023.
Deeper into the prelims, Chute Boxe standout Marco Tulio
disposed of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 29 semifinalist Tresean
Gore with punches in the second round of their middleweight
tilt.
Gore (5-3, 2-3 UFC) succumbed to blows 3:16 into Round
2.
Tulio (14-1, 2-0 UFC) weathered a few harrowing exchanges in the
first round—a left hook nearly sat him down—and overwhelmed his
counterpart with vicious variety. The Diego Lima protégé unleashed
all his weapons on Gore, from punishing jabs and leg kicks to a
spinning backfist, upward step-in elbows, a wheel kick and more
than one spinning back kick to the body. Tulio staggered the
American with a head kick in the second round and bullied him to
the canvas behind heavy ground-and-pound before returning to his
feet to reset. He then backed Gore to the fence with a jumping
switch kick, floored him with a lightning bolt of a right hand and
flurried until referee Marc Goddard
had seen enough.
The 30-year-old Tulio now finds himself on a 10-fight winning
streak.
Finally, Nora
Cornolle put away Blitz Sport rep Hailey
Cowan with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their
women’s bantamweight affair.
Cornolle (9-2, 3-1 UFC), who missed weight for the match by one and
a half pounds, drew the curtain 1:52 into Round 2.
Cowan (7-4, 0-2 UFC) powered into top position in the first round,
freed herself from an armbar and controlled the French muay thai
practitioner from half guard. However, she exacted little damage
during an extended ground exchange and failed to build much
momentum as a result. Cornolle made the American pay. She scrambled
behind Cowan on a failed takedown attempt early in the middle
stanza, immediately threatened the neck, readjusted her grip and
closed it out with the choke.
Cornolle, 35, has won nine of her past 10 bouts.
In other action, Su Mudaerji
(17-7, 4-4 UFC) outstruck Mitch
Raposo (9-3, 0-2 UFC) to a split decision—28-29, 29-28,
29-28—in a three-round flyweight clash.