Craig Jones needed overtime to defeat 2017 Abu Dhabi Combat Club
Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist Felipe Pena
in the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 4 headliner on Thursday at the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Jones, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor for reigning Ultimate
Fighting Championship titleholder Alexander Volkanovski, was
credited with the fastest escape time in OT and awarded the
victory. Neither man budged during regulation, as they dug in their
heels in a virtual stalemate.
Meanwhile, Nicky Rodriguez submitted Dan Manasoui with a rear-naked
choke in overtime to win the $30,000 absolute tournament. Rodriguez
turned away Roberto Jimenez in the quarterfinals, then tapped
Vagner Rocha with an overtime rear-naked choke in the semis.
Manasoui had put away Gabriel Arges with a heel hook in 3:21 and
dispatched Fedor Nikolov with a kneebar in 38 seconds to punch his
ticket to the final.
In other action, Glover Teixeira took a unanimous decision from
Anthony Smith in the three-round co-main event; Nick Meregali
dismissed Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu with an overtime armbar in their
encounter; two-time NCAA wrestling champion Roman Bravo Young
misfired on a late triangle choke and settled for a draw with UFC
flyweight contender Alex Perez; Helena Crevar, 16, forced Emily
Fernandez to surrender to a rear-naked choke 7:26 into their
confrontation; Rocha eliminated Fellipe Andrew with an inside heel
hook 6:18 into their absolute tournament quarterfinal; and Nikolov
showed Haisam Rida the door via fastest escape time, as their
tournament quarterfinal went to overtime.