Arnold
Allen wants to make sure we don’t forget him in the
featherweight title discussion, but Melquizael
Costa didn’t do his stock too much harm either.
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In the main event of
UFC Vegas 117 on Saturday at the Meta Apex, Allen faced Costa,
with some prime space in the featherweight pecking order up for
grabs, and gave a quietly impressive accounting of his
intelligence, conditioning and well-rounded skills. Both men wasted
little time in bringing their best weapons to bear, as Costa landed
a solid spinning back kick to the midsection in the early going,
while Allen stunned the “Dalmatian” with a short right hand, then
spent the next minute or so keeping him in all sorts of trouble on
the floor. Costa recovered, however, and turned the tables on Allen
midway through the first frame, sweeping to top position and
smashing the Englishman with a couple of hard ground punches. Costa
tried to press his advantage and take Allen’s neck while he was
hurt, but the round expired without decisive action.
The second round settled into more of the expected style clash,
with Allen’s fast, accurate southpaw boxing scoring on the one side
and Costa’s arsenal of kicks on the other. The result was a much
more tense and subtle affair than the first five minutes, through
Costa’s heavy work on Allen’s lead leg was an obvious bright spot
for the Brazilian. That dynamic held true in Round 3, as Allen’s
tactical choice to meet Costa’s leg kicks with counter punches
looked first questionable, then inspired when he hurt Costa 90
seconds into the frame. In the second half of the round, Allen’s
sharp punching started to tell on Costa, who went down and
weathered a minute or more of laser ground-and-pound before he
could get back to his feet.
It may have been close on the scorecards heading into Round 4, but
the momentum clearly belonged to Allen, and he did not let up. True
to form, “Almighty” did not relax his defensive discipline, but
kept up the pressure and intensity, and simply gave Costa no
opportunity to rest or regroup. Costa never went away, and in fact
continued to put in solid work on Allen’s lead right leg while
opening up with some additional punching offense, but the gap in
output between the two seemed to be widening, and Allen’s superior
awareness and control of the fight were revealed when he struck for
an easy-looking takedown in the first half of the round.
Costa came out with purpose to open Round 5 and caught Allen
several times on the feet in the early going. Any budding momentum,
however, was nipped in the bud by another intelligently timed
takedown from Allen, which he extended with an effortless-looking
mat return seconds later. Costa did his best to return to his feet
where he could make up some of the deficit in accrued damage, but
Allen’s wrestling and grappling were simply too much. Beyond just
neutralizing and holding on, Allen took Costa’s back, pelted him
with strikes from back mount and generally made him look out of his
depth on the ground until the horn sounded.
The cageside judges awarded the verdict to Allen by 50-45, 50-45
and 49-46 scores, elevating his record to 21-4 overall,12-3 UFC,
while Costa’s first five-round assignment in the UFC saw him fall
to 26-8; 7-3 UFC.
Choi Downs Santos in Memorable Barnburner
The UFC’s matchmakers knew exactly what they were getting when they
booked the UFC Vegas 117 co-main event, and Doo Ho Choi
and Daniel
Santos lived up to expectations. The first round delivered
exactly what one might expect who had ever seen either of these two
gentlemen fight before, as they went toe-to-toe for most of the
five minutes. Both men threw defense largely to the wind, but
Santos in particular swung so hugely on some of his haymakers that
he practically came off his feet.
It did not look like a pace that the two could sustain for more
than a round but they did their best, and Santos even tried for a
couple of takedowns in the early going, demonstrating a remarkable
disregard for his gas tank. For his part, Choi willingly kept up
the pace with his frenetic foe, but chose to focus on defense and
accuracy and was rewarded with several exchanges in which he lit
Santos up with beautiful counters.
Santos’ aggression and Choi’s poise created a dynamic where
something had to give and it did; in the final moments of the
second round Choi scored with a blistering salvo of punches,
including a body shot that seemed to drain all the life out of
“Willycat.” The Brazilian slumped to the floor under the assault
and referee Kerry Hatley moved in for the save at 4:29. The win,
Choi’s third straight, left him at 17-4-1 overall; 6-3-1 in the
UFC. Santos fell to 14-3; 4-2 UFC and 2-1 since moving up to 145
pounds.
Diaz Shocks Wellmaker
Juan
Diaz’s UFC debut could not have gone much better, as he took
some of the best that Malcolm
Wellmaker could dish out in the first round of their
bantamweight clash, then made the formerly touted prospect wilt and
quit in Round 2. Wellmaker (10-2; 2-2 UFC) was tasked with bouncing
back from his first career loss, against Ethyn Ewing
at UFC 322 lat November, and for a while it worked. “The Machine”
fought off Diaz’s early takedown attempts and showed some of the
prodigious hand speed and power that made him one of the most
intriguing additions to the division over the last two years or so.
However, in the second half of the round in particular, Diaz
managed to close the distance, and from there Wellmaker was clearly
uncomfortable. Diaz took the American’s back standing, then dropped
him at the horn. Only a brief confusion over whether there was an
illegal blow after the end of the round could detract from the
stunning shift in momentum, but once the strike in question turned
out to be legal—and Diaz was given a warning anyway—the rout was
on.
When Round 2 began, Diaz once again closed the distance without
fear, grabbed Wellmaker with a body lock and took his back
standing.
Diaz sunk a hook, dragged the action to the canvas and was already
securing a rear-naked choke. The tap came at 4:08 of
the second round, and Wellmaker finds himself in an unaccustomed
deep hole after starting his professional career with 10 straight
wins. Diaz, whose record now stands at 15-1-1 (1-0 UFC) is an
immediate person of interest in his new division.
Bukauskas Outduels Edwards
Modestas
Bukauskas made the best of a bad situation, shaking off the
last-minute loss of scheduled opponent Rodolfo
Bellato, then winning a three-round decision over the debuting
Christian
Edwards in a 215-pound catchweight affair. Bukauskas (20-7; 8-5
UFC) gave up significant height and reach to Edwards, who figures
to immediately become one of the largest light heavyweights on
roster, but had little problem in pursuing his preferred outside
kickboxing match for most of the fight. Edwards, for his part, was
forced a fight out of the Lithuanian, coming forward and doing his
best to go blow-for-blow.
While Edwards was surprisingly game, especially for someone who had
fought just a month before, Bukauskas was the harder, busier and
more accurate striker and appeared to be on his way to an
uncontroversial win over the newcomer. However, Round 3 featured
some interest, as Edwards suddenly looked like the fresher fighter,
and pursued a close-quarters brawl, beating Bukauskas up against
the cage for several long stretches and probably winning the round.
It was too little, too late to affect the outcome of Saturday’s
contest, but makes Edwards (8-5; 0-1 UFC) a more interesting
addition to the division going forward. Meanwhile, Bukauskas got
back into the win column after his last-second knockout loss to
Nikita
Krylov in January.
Sopai Victimizes Cuamba
Bernardo
Sopai (13-3; 2-1 UFC) continued to put his lone UFC loss
further in the rear view, as he outclassed Timothy
Cuamba (10-4; 2-3 UFC) from the outset, then turned up the
intensity in Round 2 as he mauled him on the ground. A competitive
striking bout turned to danger late in the first round when Sopai
scored an easy takedown, took Cuamba’s back and threatened with a
rear-naked choke at the buzzer. Sopai kept the momentum going in
the second frame, dropping Cuamba with a left hook, swarming with
punches and hammerfists. Recognizing that his foe was in serious
trouble, Sopai slid into mount, took Cuamba’s back and secured a
rear-naked choke. Cuamba tapped out seconds later, punctuating a
dominant win for the 25-year-old Albanian.
The win, Sopai’s second straight since dropping his UFC debut to
Vinicius
Oliveira a little over two years ago, marks him as a person of
interest in the men’s bantamweight division, assuming he can get
back to work in less than 16 months this time. Cuamba’s loss snaps
a two-fight win streak for the Xtreme Couture product.
Williams Snipes Veretennikov
The welterweight main card opener saw Kalinn
Williams put on a clean, clear and unbothered performance
against Nikolay
Veretennikov, nailing the Kazakhstani wrestler with clean
counters in the pocket repeatedly en route to a first-round TKO
finish. The clash of styles was painfully obvious from the opening
seconds, as it became clear that Veretennikov was giving up
significant hand speed and power to the American, but would need to
navigate those hands in order to secure the takedowns that
represented his best chances at victory. “Khaos,” for his part,
refused to be lured into a wild brawl, instead engaging in a
largely disciplined display of distance management.
Sensible tactical approach or no, Williams began to land with
increasing frequency, accuracy and effect as Veretennikov continued
to march forward and enter the pocket.
The Michigan native caught Veretennikov off balance with a left
hand, dropped him with a right against the fence, and when he gave
his opponent room, it became clear Veretennikov was on shaky
legs. Williams engaged again, landing several more
unanswered blows before referee Chris Tognoni recognized that
Veretennikov was no longer in the fight. The TKO win elevated “The
Ox Fighter” to 16-5, 7-4 in the UFC; Veretennikov fell to 14-8; 2-4
UFC.