Jhonata
Diniz can be described in one word at this stage of his career:
upside.
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The Santa Fe Team export was one of five competitors to book spots
on the
Ultimate Fighting Championship roster during
Week 6 of
Dana White’s Contender Series, as he buried Legacy Fighting
Alliance champion Eduardo
Jose Neves with punches in the first round of their heavyweight
showcase.
Neves (7-2, 0-2 DWCS) succumbed to blows 3:15 into Round
2, his path to the UFC cut off for a second time.
The 32-year-old Diniz (6-0, 1-0 DWCS) weathered some early
adversity, as he met with jabs, front kicks to the body and a few
combinations from his aggressive countryman. He eventually pushed
Neves to the fence before uncorking a right hook and a plunging
right cross upstairs. It proved to be the beginning of the end.
Neves marched forward and walked into a searing one-two that
leveled him where he stood in the center of the cage. No follow-up
shots were required.
Diniz has finished all six of his opponents inside one round.
Lightweight James
Llontop, featherweight Steven
Nguyen, women’s strawweight Julia
Polastri and bantamweight Jean
Matsumoto are set to join Diniz in the UFC.
A Fusion Fighting Championship titleholder, Llontop called upon
violent creativity in a unanimous decision over Malik Lewis
in their three-round lightweight attraction. Llontop (14-2, 1-0
DWCS) swept the scorecards with 30-27, 30-26 and 30-26 marks from
the cageside judiciary.
Lewis (6-2, 0-2 DWCS) had no answer for the utter relentlessness
his adversary brought to bear. Llontop dazed him with a stabbing
right hand in the waning seconds of Round 1 and never looked back.
He racked Lewis’ body with a painful kick in the second and put the
impressive depth of his tool box on display with shovel uppercuts,
takedown-deterrent elbows to the side of the head and close-range
knees. Llontop made even more progress on the ground, where he
hammered away with knees and elbows before threatening with a late
face crank to close the third round.
Llontop, 24, has rattled off 12 consecutive victories.
Meanwhile, Fortis MMA’s Nguyen took care of Attitude MMA
titleholder A.J.
Cunningham with punches in the second round of their
featherweight clash.
Cunningham (10-3, 0-1 DWCS) met his end 4:06 into Round
2, his three-fight winning streak having run its
course.
Nguyen (9-1, 2-1 UFC) controlled much of the action with a potent
jab. Cunningham inflicted some damage of his own—he split open the
bridge of his opponent’s nose—but ran aground at the end of the
first round. Nguyen floored him with a devastating left hook-right
hook combination and swarmed with punches for a potential finish.
The bell saved Cunningham but only prolonged the inevitable. Nguyen
stayed patient in the middle stanza, staggered the Law School MMA
product with a chopping right hand and let the power punches fly to
prompt a standing stoppage from referee Mark Smith.
The 30-year-old Nguyen has won three fights in a row.
Not to be outdone, Polastri put away Patricia
Alujas with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their
women’s strawweight battle.
Polastri (12-3, 1-1 DWCS) drew the curtain 4:05 into Round
2, putting her third straight victory in the
books.
Alujas (9-3, 0-1 DWCS) fought fire with fire initially—windmilling
punches were her weapons of choice—but the Paraguayan prospect ran
out of steam in a hurry. Polastri unleashed push kicks to the body,
clean combinations and collar-tie knee strikes at close range
throughout a competitive first round. The CWB Fighter rep stepped
into a few sharp right hands to start the middle stanza, then
surprised Alujas with a takedown. It was all one-way traffic from
there. Polastri slipped behind her kneeling counterpart, softened
her with ground-and-pound and applied maximum pressure. She
eventually climbed to the back, cut loose with punches and slid her
arms into place for the fight-ending choke.
The setback snapped a five-fight winning streak for Alujas.
Finally, Inside Muay Thai’s Matsumoto kept his perfect professional
record intact and did so in impressive fashion, as he laid claim to
a unanimous decision over Kasey
Tanner in a three-round bantamweight pairing. All three
cageside judges scored it for Matsumoto (14-0, 1-0 DWCS): 30-27,
29-28 and 29-28.
Tanner (6-1, 0-1 DWCS), the B-side in one of the season’s best
fights, executed takedowns in the second and third rounds, proved
effective at close range and punched well in combination. However,
Matsumoto overwhelmed him with variety and output. The 24-year-old
Fight Pro Championship titleholder dug repeated kicks into Tanner’s
lead leg, giving the Fight Ready rep pause and leaving him with a
compromised base. Matsumoto backed them up with crisp four-, five-
and six-punch volleys.