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.
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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.
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