A.J.
Dobson let his actions speak, and they spoke loudly.
The
Strong Style Fight Team standout was one of four competitors to
land
Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts on
Week 4 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as he submitted
Hashem
Arkhagha with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their
middleweight feature on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Arkhagha (6-1) conceded defeat 4:21 into Round 1.
Dobson (6-0)—who was cornered by UFC hall of famer Mark
Coleman—trusted his hands against the Jordanian, engaged him in
a firefight and dropped him with a volley of power punches. After a
prolonged ground exchange that had Arkhagha on the brink of being
stopped, the two men were back on their feet. Dobson fired away with power punches, moved into a
dominant position on the turtled K Dojo Warrior Tribe product and
applied his ground-and-pound before snaking his arms in place for
the fight-ending choke.
In addition to Dobson, UFC President Dana
White awarded contracts to former Jungle
Fight champion Kleydson
Rodrigues, undefeated Entram Gym prospect Michael
Morales and Fortis
MMA’s Victor
Martinez.
A vast array of high-impact weaponry carried Rodrigues (7-1) to a
unanimous decision over Santo
Curatolo in a three-round flyweight battle. The polished
Brazilian swept the scorecards with matching 30-27 marks from all
three judges.
Curatolo (6-2) was out of his depth. Rodrigues unleashed a variety
of techniques, from wheel kicks, jumping switch kicks and flying
knees to close-range knee strikes, jab-cross combinations and
spinning backfists. The
Team Nogueira prospect controlled the center of the cage like a
seasoned veteran, used feints to keep Curatolo off-balance and
attacked his base with brutal inside leg kicks. Rodrigues conceded
a few takedowns to the Catone MMA rep but managed to return to his
feet without issue, at which point he resumed his assault.
Rodrigues, 25, now finds himself on a six-fight winning streak.
Meanwhile, Morales (12-0) kept his perfect professional record
intact when he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Nikolay
Veretennikov in a three-round welterweight showcase. The
Ecuadorian swept the scorecards with 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 marks
from the judges.
Veretennikov (9-4) enjoyed some initial success, but his
effectiveness waned as the match moved forward. Morales executed a
takedown inside the first minute of the second round, took a bite
out of the
Kings MMA product with his ground-and-pound. He dazed
Veretennikov with a left hook later in the middle stanza, swarmed
with punches and scrambled to his back in a kneeling position
before letting his fists fly again. Morales dictated the terms of
their exchanges in Round 3, on the feet and on the ground. He iced
the victory with an exquisite belly-to-back suplex and subsequent
ground-and-pound.
The defeat snapped Veretennikov’s run of consecutive victories at
eight.
Elsewhere, Martinez (13-4) overcame a slow start to nail down a
unanimous decision over Jacob
Rosales in a three-round lightweight encounter. All three
cageside judges scored it 29-28.
Rosales (13-7) tore into the Fury Fighting Championship titleholder
with leg kicks and hooks to the head and body from both hands
throughout a largely one-sided first round. He sat down Martinez
with a two-punch combination near the end of the period and
followed with ground-and-pound for a potential finish. Those hopes
burned out at the bell. Martinez emerged from the intermission with
a renewed sense of purpose. He zeroed in on Rosales with left
hooks, increased his activity level and slowly seized control of
the match. A back-and-forth third round appeared to be up for
grabs—Rosales fought through what was later revealed to be a broken
arm—until the waning seconds, when Martinez executed a tactical
takedown and punctuated his performance.
Martinez has rattled off seven consecutive victories.
Finally, Fortis MMA rep Steven
Nguyen outstruck previously unbeaten Ultimate Battle Grounds
champion Theo
Rlayang to a unanimous decision in a three-round featherweight
attraction. All three cageside judges struck scorecards for Nguyen
(8-1): 29-27, 29-27 and 30-26.
Rlayang (5-1) failed to navigate the four-inch height and
eight-inch reach disadvantages with which he was presented. Nguyen
backed him to the fence and cut loose with punches but fought at a
leisurely pace and never showed a willingness to break out of his
comfort zone. Instead, he extended his lead with his hands,
connected with the occasional leg kick and benefitted from a
third-round point deduction due to an inadvertent eye poke.
Nguyen has won back-to-back bouts since he suffered his first
professional setback—a knockout loss to Aalon Cruz
during Season 3 of
Dana White’s Contender Series.