Yana
Santos met aggression with precision and held her ground in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight
division.
The onetime Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder
outmaneuvered and outstruck Miesha Tate
for 10-plus minutes, then withstood a late rally from “Cupcake” to
post a unanimous decision in their feature
UFC on ESPN 67 prelim on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des
Moines, Iowa. Santos (16-8, 6-5 UFC) swept the scorecards with
29-28s from all three members of the assigned judiciary.
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Tate (20-10, 7-7 UFC) was overzealous initially, as she crashed
forward behind wild punching combinations. Santos kept her
composure and answered with sharp jabs, slashing crosses and
damaging leg kicks. Tate finally executed a takedown a little more
than a minute into the third round and peppered the Russian with
ground-and-pound before advancing to the back. There, her progress
stalled. Santos slipped out of repeated rear-naked choke attempts,
managed to bleed the remaining time off the clock and avoided a
late comeback from the Xtreme Couture mainstay.
Meanwhile, American Top Team’s Azamat
Bekoev wiped out “The Ultimate Fighter 32” winner Ryan Loder
with punches in the first round of their middleweight clash.
Loder (7-2, 1-1 UFC) succumbed to blows 2:44 into Round 1, his
three-fight winning streak at an end.
Bekoev (20-3, 2-0 UFC) shook off clinches and takedown attempts
from the Team Alpha Male rep, floored him with a right hand,
flurried for a potential finish and reset. Loder fired back but
left his chin exposed and paid the price. Bekoev decked him a
second time with an overhand right and cut loose with follow-up
punches until referee Gary Copeland had seen enough.
The 29-year-old Bekoev has posted eight straight victories.
Further down the undercard, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 26
graduate Gillian
Robertson disposed of Marina
Rodriguez with punches in the second round of their women’s
strawweight pairing.
The resurgent Robertson (16-8, 13-6 UFC) slammed the door shut 2:07
into Round 2.
Rodriguez (17-6-2, 7-6-2 UFC)—who announced her retirement
afterward—offered little resistance outside of her trusted jab.
Robertson secured multiple takedowns, then consolidated them with
crushing top control and punishing ground-and-pound. She climbed to
full mount in the middle stanza, forced Rodriguez to turn away from
contact with a series of elbow strikes and sealed the deal with
unanswered punches.
Robertson, 29, has rattled off four consecutive wins.
Finally, Quang Le put
Combat Sports Academy export Gaston
Bolanos to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the second round of
their bantamweight encounter.
Bolanos (8-5, 2-2 UFC) lost consciousness 1:54 into Round 2,
suffering his first submission loss in more than five
years.
Le (9-2, 1-2 UFC) neutralized his counterpart with takedowns and
positional control. After the first five minutes featured mostly
one-way traffic, the Greg Nelson made a more significant move in
the second round. Le unleashed sharp punching combinations, swooped
in for a takedown and progressed to the back. Once his position was
secure, he cinched the choke, tightened his squeeze and waited for
Bolanos to black out.
The decisive victory snapped a two-fight losing streak for Le.
In other action, Thomas
Petersen (10-3, 2-2 UFC) rode repeated takedowns and sustained
ground-and-pound to a lopsided unanimous decision—30-25, 30-26,
30-26—over Don’Tale
Mayes (11-9, 4-7 UFC) in a three-round heavyweight affair; and
Juliana
Miller (4-3, 2-2 UFC) outgrappled Ivana
Petrovic (7-3, 1-3 UFC) to a unanimous decision in their
three-round women’s flyweight tilt, drawing 29-28 marks from all
three cageside judges.