Jared
Cannonier may not be as far over the hill as some thought.
The 40-year-old MMA Lab star stood his ground in the Ultimate
Fighting Championship middleweight division, as he punched out
Gregory
Rodrigues in the fourth round of their
UFC Fight Night 251 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in
Las Vegas. Cannonier (18-8, 11-8 UFC) closed it out 21 seconds into
Round 4, rebounding from back-to-back defeats to Nassourdine
Imavov and Caio
Borralho in resounding fashion.
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Rodrigues (16-6, 7-3 UFC) roared out of the gate with an
overwhelming first round, as he decked “The Killa Gorilla” twice
with right hands. However, it proved to be an unsustainable pace
for the Brazilian. Cannonier called upon his guile and big-fight
experience to push the former Legacy Fighting Alliance titleholder
out of his comfort zone and beyond his bounds. He leveled Rodrigues
with a standing elbow and followed up with ground-and-pound near
the end of the third round, and as the Brazilian meandered back to
his corner, it became clear his time was almost up.
Cannonier pressed him into the fence at the start of Round 4 and
uncorked a volley of right hooks to the body and head. Rodrigues
folded where he stood, bringing about the
stoppage.
Meanwhile, resurgent Factory X rep Youssef
Zalal outstruck and outmaneuvered Calvin
Kattar to a unanimous decision in their three-round
featherweight co-main event. All three judges scored it the same:
29-28 for Zalal (17-5-1, 7-3-1 UFC), who has posted seven straight
wins.
The 36-year-old Kattar (23-9, 7-7 UFC) spent much of the match
giving chase and swinging at air. Zalal’s skill, athleticism and
mobility proved to be too difficult a puzzle to solve for the
Massachusetts native. He hammered away at Kattar with jabs—two,
three and four at a time—and sharp leg kicks while also putting
stance switches, feints and level changes to use. All of it
conspired to keep Kattar frustrated and off-balance. “The Boston
Finisher” applied maximum pressure in the third round, and while he
enjoyed some late success against a backpedaling Zalal, the outcome
had already been decided.
Kattar now finds himself on a career-worst four-fight losing
streak.
Further down the draw, Xtreme Couture’s Edmen
Shahbazyan put away fellow Dana White’s Contender Series
graduate Dylan Budka
with punches in the first round of their middleweight showcase.
Budka (7-5, 0-3 UFC) bowed out 1:35 into Round 1 and remains
winless inside the Octagon.
Shahbazyan (14-5, 7-5 UFC) left his footprint on the Demolition
Fight Team rep’s ribcage with a savage body kick and stayed on the
hunt. He slipped two jabs from Budka and countered with a crushing
right cross, the impact of the blow echoing through the arena. It
was the beginning of the end. Budka stumbled backward and collapsed
at the base of the cage, where he was met with a few follow-up
punches that necessitated the stoppage.
The 27-year-old Shahabzyan has 12 first-round finishes to his
credit.
Elsewhere, Serra-Longo Fight Team export Nazim
Sadykhov prompted a doctor stoppage against Ismael
Bonfim in between the first and second rounds of their
lightweight feature.
Referee Mark Smith waved it off after it became clear Bonfim (20-5,
2-2 UFC) was having issues with his vision.
Sadykhov (10-1-1, 3-0-1 UFC) withstood the aggression and ferocity
from his Brazilian counterpart, who pressed forward behind winging
power punches and high-velocity kicks. However, perfectly executed
question mark kick from the Russian-born Azerbaijani permanently
altered the trajectory of the fight. It sent Bonfim reeling
backward and opened a horizontal gash below his right eye. He
survived to reach the end of the first round, but the damage had
been done and did not allow him to continue.
Nine of Sadykhov’s 10 career victories have resulted in
finishes.
Finally, ex-Art of War champion Andre
Petroski leaned into mean leg kicks and virtually airtight
takedown defense, as he laid claim to unanimous decision over
Rodolfo
Vieira in a three-round middleweight showcase. A short-notice
substitution for Jacob
Malkoun, Petroski (13-3, 8-2 UFC) swept the scorecards with
matching 29-28 marks across the board.
Vieira (10-3, 5-3 UFC) showed considerable improvement in his
standup, but his inability to procure takedowns proved costly.
Petroski invested heavily in kicks to the lower lead leg of the
2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championships
gold medalist, committed to his jab and managed to string together
enough punching combinations to stay in front. Vieira’s output
dwindled noticeably in Round 3, perhaps a byproduct of fatigue and
the damage sustained to his lower extremities.
Petroski, 33, has won three fights in a row.
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