Joshua
Van may be rough around the edges, but he has the look of a
future contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight
division.
Stellar takedown defense and superior standup carried the onetime
Fury Fighting Championship titleholder to a unanimous decision over
the previously unbeaten Rei Tsuruya
in their featured
UFC 313 prelim on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All
three cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Van (13-2, 6-1
UFC).
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Tsuruya (10-1, 1-1 UFC) offered little outside of repeated takedown
attempts, many of which went nowhere. Van called upon an effective
sprawl and peppered the ex-Pancrase champion with a variety of
strikes to the head and body. Frustration built for Tsuruya over
time. Van increased the intensity of his attacks down the stretch,
putting even more distance between himself and his one-dimensional
opponent.
Meanwhile, Brazilian TKO standout Brunno
Ferreira bounced back from his Oct. 26 submission loss to
Abusupiyan
Magomedov and disposed of Armen
Petrosyan with a triangle armbar in the second round of their
middleweight clash.
Ferreira (13-2, 4-2 UFC) drew the curtain 4:27 into Round
2.
Petrosyan (9-5, 3-4 UFC) targeted the Brazilian powerhouse with
kicks to all levels, though two of them strayed below the belt and
cost him a point in the first round. Ferreira pressed forward
behind winging power punches in the middle stanza, completed a
double-leg takedown and went to work with ground-and-pound. He then
progressed to the back, set off a scramble and transitioned
beautifully to the triangle armbar, leaving Petrosyan no choice but
to tap.
All 13 of Ferreira’s victories have resulted in finishes.
Further down the undercard, Carlos
Leal Miranda tore through Alex Morono
with a devastating clinch game and stopped the ex-Legacy Fighting
Championship titleholder with punches in the first round of their
welterweight encounter.
Morono (24-12, 13-9 UFC) succumbed to blows 4:16 into Round 1,
suffering his third consecutive defeat.
The 30-year-old Miranda (22-6, 1-1 UFC) crashed forward, trapped
the Texan in close quarters and unleashed hell. He linked knees and
punches to the body with tight standing elbows upstairs, eventually
breaking Morono’s competitive spirit. Miranda bottled up the Fortis
MMA export along the cage in their final exchange and let fly with
power punches to the head, prompting the stoppage.
Miranda has rattled off three wins in four outings.
Elsewhere, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 32 winner Mairon
Santos eked out a contentious split decision over American Top
Team’s Francis
Marshall in a three-round featherweight pairing. Judges Chris
Lee and David Lethaby saw it 29-28 for Santos, while Derek Cleary
scored it 30-27 for Marshall.
Santos (15-1, 2-0 UFC) bloodied the Kurt
Pellegrino protégé’s nose with a persistent jab and called upon
thunderous leg kicks, but he struggled to sustain offense with any
consistency. Marshall (8-3, 2-3 UFC) floored the Xtreme
Couture-trained Brazilian with an overhand left inside the first
five minutes and seemed to build a lead from there, mixing in
tactical takedowns with occasional punching combinations in the
second and third rounds. Those efforts went for naught, much to his
surprise and dismay.
The 24-year-old Santos has strung together three straight
victories.
Finally, former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Osman Diaz
rebounded from a Nov. 23 technical knockout loss to Mingyang
Zhang and outlasted Djorden
Santos to a three-round unanimous decision in a back-and-forth
middleweight tilt. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for
Diaz (10-3, 1-1 UFC), who has won three of his past four bouts.
Santos (10-2, 0-1 UFC) enjoyed a strong start, as he tipped his
spear with maniacal forward pressure, stout leg kicks and clean
one-twos, often pairing a sharp jab with clubbing overhand rights.
Diaz steadied himself in a competitive middle stanza, then turned
up the heat in the third round. There, he mixed in standing elbows
and a few knee strikes to the body from the clinch. Diaz had his
counterpart reeling with a multi-punch burst at one point but eased
his foot off the gas once it became apparent a finish was not in
the cards.
The setback snapped a five-right winning streak for Santos.