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Chris
Padilla may not be able to sneak up on the
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight division for much
longer.
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In the featured prelim of
UFC London on Saturday at O2 Arena, “Taco” spoiled Jai
Herbert’s UK homecoming in a matchup that promised fireworks
but failed to deliver them until the final round. Round 1 was a
tentative five minutes, with the hard-hitting lightweights seeming
to struggle to deliver their power to their opponent’s chin.
Padilla appeared stymied by Herbert’s enormous reach and height
advantages, while Herbert was content to chip away at range, wary
of Padilla’s takedown attempts. That dynamic carried over to the
middle frame, but gradually gave way to a close-quarters,
clinch-heavy slog. Padilla finally secured a hip toss only to have
“The Black Country Banger” bounce back to his feet instantly.
Ultimately, Round 2 was another near stalemate, difficult to score.
Herbert came out aggressive in the final frame, advancing and
backing “Taco” up to the fence, only to have Padilla tie him up and
look for trips and throws. Herbert succeeded in landing some clean
punches to the head as well as some glancing kicks that kept
Padilla backing away. Herbert pulled away as Round 3 wore on,
hurting the American and wobbling him with punch combinations in
the final minute. One of those close-quarters exchanges left
Padilla with a deep gash on the left eyebrow, a nasty souvenir of
his trip to London. The judges, given the unenviable task of
deciding a fight that only truly opened up in the final few
minutes, unsurprisingly failed to achieve consensus, awarding
Padilla the win via 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29 scores. Padilla’s
unlikely UFC run moved to 3-0, while Herbert’s Octagon record
dropped to 3-5-1.
Kavanagh Takes Blood-Soaked Win Over dos Santos
One might not have thought it to look at them after the fight, but
Lone’er
Kavanagh (9-0) not only kept his professional record spotless
against Felipe
dos Santos (8-3, 1 NC) but looked largely impressive in doing
so. The clash of offense-minded flyweights did not disappoint, as
the two began exchanging hard, fast kicks immediately. The first
round saw dos Santos a half-step ahead of the undefeated Brit,
tagging him with fast low kicks at range, then meeting him with
short punches and elbows when he closed the distance, including a
spinning back elbow that split Kavanagh’s forehead open. Kavanagh
began bleeding heavily from a cut near the hairline, which soon
covered both men in crimson but did not seem to affect Kavanagh’s
vision or focus. Kavanagh increasingly took over as the fight wore
on, landing more sporadically but with much more impact, and
spending much of Rounds 2 and 3 slamming the Brazilian all over the
cage. The cageside judges rewarded Kavanagh’s most complete Octagon
performance to date with unanimous 29-28 scores, running his UFC
record to 2-0 and certifying him one of the division’s most
intriguing prospects; dos Santos fell to 1-3 in the UFC.
Tybura Takes Parkin’s “O”
Mick
Parkin may be part of the future of the heavyweight division,
but Marcin
Tybura served notice that the future has not arrived just yet.
The 39-year-old Tybura (27-9) faced Parkin, undefeated and a decade
his junior, and refused to hold up his end of the expected torch
passing. Surprisingly, despite Parkin’s reputation as a crisp
boxer, “Tybur” appeared to have the superior hand speed, and threw
a variety of punches to the body and head that Parkin struggled to
deal with. Equally surprising was the ease with which Parkin took
down Tybura—usually one of the heavyweight division’s most reliable
wrestlers and grapplers—and put him in serious peril on the ground.
Round 2 saw Parkin take Tybura down directly into side control,
where he pelted him with a stream of punches and hammerfists that
had referee Marc Goddard
hovering close to the action. Tybura survived and escaped, and
appeared to take back control of the fight in Round 3. The judges
appeared to agree, awarding Tybura the decision via unanimous 29-28
scores. Tybura elevated his UFC tally to 14-8, while Parkin’s first
professional loss left him at 10-1 overall, 4-1 in the UFC.
Duncan Outstrikes Pulyaev
Christian
Leroy Duncan (11-2) entered the Octagon as the biggest betting
favorite on the card and held serve, spoiling the promotional debut
of Andrey
Pulyaev (9-3) in their middleweight undercard feature. “CLD”
came out aggressive, lighting the Russian up with a flurry of kicks
in the early going. Pulyaev weathered the attack and threw back,
and the two kickboxers settled into a back-and-forth affair in
which Duncan appeared to get the better of most of the exchanges.
The Brit appeared well on his way to a straightforward if somewhat
lackluster win, but made things interesting in the closing moments
as he landed his best offense since the first minute of the fight,
blasting Pulyaev with punches and elbows against the cage. Pulyaev
may have been saved by the final horn, but he held on to hear
scorecards of 30-27 (twice) and 30-26 in favor of Duncan, who moved
to 4-2 since joining the UFC out of
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship. Pulyaev fell to 0-1 in the
UFC.
Bannon Shocks Tomar
Shauna
Bannon (7-1) snatched victory from the jaws of defeat,
recovering from a near-knockout to armbar Puja Tomar
(9-4) in their strawweight contest. Through a round and a half, the
two women had engaged in a tentative striking battle, with Bannon
and Tomar exchanging kicks to all levels but failing to inflict any
major damage. That changed in a flash midway through the second
frame, when Tomar dropped Bannon with a blistering high kick. “The
Cyclone” pounced and swarmed for the finish, landing several clean
hammerfists, but Bannon kept moving and recovered her wits, then
threw her legs up for a triangle choke. She quickly switched to an
armbar, and as Tomar attempted to extricate herself from the hold,
calmly adjusted her grip. Finally left with no other option, Tomar
was forced to ask out of the fight at 3:22 of Round 2. The shocking
submission win—which cashed at 12-to-1 for those with the foresight to
grab that particular prop—raised “Mama B” to 2-1 in the
Octagon; Tomar’s mark stands at 1-1 after the stunning loss.
Loughran Edges Out Fletcher
Caolan
Loughran (10-2) exacted a measure of payback, squeaking out a
win over Nathan
Fletcher (9-2) and avenging a 2018 amateur loss in their
bantamweight preliminary matchup. The fight was a back-and-forth
affair, with Round 2 for Fletcher appearing to be the only
clear-cut round for either fighter. Loughran committed to the
takedown early and often, and succeeded in dragging Fletcher to the
canvas nearly 10 times, but struggled to get off much offense once
they were there. Round 2 was defined by Fletcher taking standing
back mount, then pummeling “The Don” with punches before attempting
a rear-naked choke that left the Irishman on the defensive for much
of the round. Loughran returned the favor in Round 3, but his time
in the driver’s seat was relatively much shorter and it appeared to
be anyone’s round. The judges saw things similarly, turning in
split scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29 in favor of Loughran, who
elevated his FC record to 2-2, while Fletcher dropped to 1-1.
Fernandes Hammers Kutateladze
In the opening bout of UFC London, Kaue
Fernandes (10-2) delivered a pillar-to-post drubbing of
Guram
Kutateladze (13-5) that belied his status as a greater than
-300 underdog. The 30-year-old Brazilian lightweight was quicker
and sharper on the feet from the outset, lighting up his opponent
with kicks to all levels. One early head kick briefly dropped the
Georgian, but the real telling damage came from the steady diet of
low kicks that had Kutateladze limping on reddened legs by the end
of the first frame. Things only got worse for Kutateladze from
there, as he was dropped by leg kicks in Rounds 2 and 3. Fernandes
did not spare the rest of his foe’s body, either, mixing in kicks
to the body and punches to the head. Kutateladze’s offense never
seemed to get untracked; while he never completely wilted in the
fact of Fernandes’ relentless attack, he appeared a step behind
throughout and was visibly frustrated as time expired. The cageside
judges turned in unsurprising but well-deserved unanimous
scorecards of 30-27 for Fernandes, who moved to 2-1 in the UFC;
Kutateladze fell to 2-3 in defeat.