HEAVY SHOTS FROM Waldo
Cortes-Acosta 🫣
#UFCSingapore pic.twitter.com/ruoBvIgmKB— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
August 26, 2023
After two straight first-round finishes, there was no way
heavyweight bruiser Waldo
Cortes-Acosta was gonna break the steak. „Salsa Boy“ (10-1, 3-1
UFC) closed out the
UFC Fight Night 225 prelims in devastating fashion with a
first-round knockout of Poland’s Lukasz
Brzeski.
Out of the five finishes on the prelims, Acosta’s may have been the
most violent. With just over two minutes left in the round, Acosta
parried Brzeski’s jab and made him pay dearly with an overhand
right carrying the entirety of his 264-pound frame. Brzeski’s legs
stopped, dropped and rolled until he finally face-planted in his
own corner. Brzeski, a former DWCS product, has lost his first
three fights in the UFC.
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Armfield Steamrolls Kazama
Garrett
Armfield steamrolled Toshiomi
Kazama to secure his first UFC win in bantamweight action.
Armfield (9-3, 1-1 UFC) was out for nearly a year, switched camps
to Springfield Fight Club and made the most of the time off. He
looked brilliant against Kazama,
landing flush shot after flush shot until the fight
was mercifully stopped 4:16 into the opening round.
Oleksiejczuk Stops
It didn’t last very long, but middleweights Chidi
Njokuani and Michal
Oleksiejczuk put on a show to remember. Njokuani entered the
UFC with back-to-back knockouts and looked destined to return to
form after peppering up Oleksiejczuk’s body with vicious knees and
kicks. Njokuani’s explosiveness as a striker makes him frightening
as an opponent, but his vulnerable chin is a cause for concern. Oleksiejczuk discovered that midway through the opening round after
wobbling the Las Vegas native with heavy hands. Njokuani fired back
a cracking head kick and flirted with a possible finish, but
Oleksiejczuk’s Polish power would shine through. After landing a
thudding right hand flush Oleksiejczuk (19-6) had Njokuani on
noodle legs
before dropping him and finishing the fight with ground and
pound at the 4:16 mark of the first round.
Song Decisions Bedoya
Welterweight veteran Kenan Song
shook off a two-fight losing streak and a shaky start in the first
round to grind out a clear unanimous decision win over Rolando
Bedoya (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Bedoya, coming off his split decision loss to Khaos Williams last
May, took the fight to Song in the opening fight minutes. Bedoya
was adamant about keeping the fight on the feet and his pressure
paved the way to an early lead.
Despite his slow start, Song would begin to crescendo over the next
two rounds. After surviving Bedoya’s onslaught in the opening
round, Song began to pick his shots and land on Bedoya at ease.
Even though Bedoya wanted to make it a street fight, Song’s
technicality kept him a step behind. After 10 minutes of precision,
Song’s (20-7, 5-3 UFC) hands were raised in victory for the first
time since Feb. 2020.
Goff Body Shot Stuns Kinoshita
Could Billy Goff
be the UFC’s new comeback kid? After earning his spot in the
promotion last August off the back of an unbelievable comeback in
Dana White’s Contender Series, Goff followed up that performance
with a back-and-forth brawl against welterweight Yusaku
Kinoshita.
Kinoshita looked too quick, sharp and poised for Goff’s heavy
boxing style early in round one. Kinoshita routinely beat Goff to
the punch and snapped the American’s head back several times, but
Goff’s legs never buckled. Kinoshita’s did, though, after Goff
landed a paralyzing right hand to the solar plexus to end the
fight by TKO 3:49 into the first round.
Despite making his UFC debut, Goff (9-2, 1-0 UFC) has already
garnered a reputation for shrugging off slow starts and finding
exciting finishes. After taking most of 2022 off to recover from
surgery it shouldn’t be too long before Goff returns to the
cage.
Aldrich Batters Liang
After suffering back-to-back defeats, J.J. Aldrich
would not be denied victory in her flyweight fight with Na Liang.
Liang took Aldrich down to the mat in round one and felt
comfortable that she could be successful with her on the ground.
Liang’s game plan didn’t go over so smoothly in round two as
Aldrich reversed position and finished the “Dragon Girl”
with vicious ground and pound 4:49 into the round.
Aldrich (12-6, 8-5 UFC) picked up her first UFC finish.
Unfortunately for Liang, she dropped her third straight loss and
may have broken her foot during the bout.
Choi Rebounds Against Errens
Saturday morning’s card kicked off with a featherweight clash
between veteran Seung Woo
Choi and the scrappy Jarno
Errens. Errens, looking for his first UFC win, paired a high
work rate with his choppy, erratic style to give Choi problems
early and even dropped the Korean with an uppercut in round
two.
Despite Errens‘ stubbornness, Choi’s crisp striking and dominant
ground game proved key in securing a unanimous decision win (30-27,
29-28, 29-28). Choi (11-7, 4-5 UFC) returned back to the winner’s
circle after three straight losses to Michael
Trizano, Joshua
Culibao and Alex
Caceres and nearly closed the show in the final round. After
pressing Errens (13-5-1, 0-2 UFC) near the cage, Choi put Errens
down with a debilitating calf kick. Choi followed Errens to the mat
and chased a rear naked choke until the final bell.