Garrett
Armfield proved he belongs, and he did so in hostile
territory.
The Marathon MMA representative took a significant step forward in
the
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division, as he
outstruck two-time “The Ultimate Fighter” winner Brad Katona
to a unanimous decision in their featured
UFC 297 prelim on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Armfield (10-3, 2-1 UFC) swept the scorecards with matching 29-28
marks.
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Katona (13-3, 3-3 UFC) had issues getting in gear initially.
Armfield called upon an effective jab and multi-punch volleys, all
while keeping the Canadian honest with well-disguised kicks, and
appeared to have built a narrow lead through two rounds. Katona
turned up the heat in Round 3, where he executed multiple takedowns
and overwhelmed his opponent with pace and output. By the time it
was over, Armfield was gasping for air but had done enough to curry
favor with the judges.
The setback closed the book on Katona’s run of five consecutive
victories.
Meanwhile, clean combination punching, stellar head movement and
bulletproof takedown defense carried Wolves’ Den Training Center’s
Sean
Woodson to a split verdict over former TKO Major League MMA
champion Charles
Jourdain in a three-round featherweight confrontation. All
three members of the judiciary submitted 29-28 scorecards: Declan
Woods and Derek Cleary for Woodson, Patricia
VanderMeer for Jourdain.
The 6-foot-3 Woodson (11-1-1, 5-1-1 UFC) made the most of his
nine-inch reach advantage, as he pecked away with punches on the
perimeter, mixed in occasional front kicks to the body and checked
his adversary’s chin with a few knees and shovel uppercuts.
Jourdain (15-7-1, 6-6-1 UFC) responded with leg kicks but
struggled—and ultimately failed—to successfully navigate the
considerable distance between the two. Even so, he appeared to
rally in Round 3, where he bullied Woodson into the clinch and went
all-in on a late guillotine choke. Those efforts fell short.
Woodson will enter his next assignment on the strength of
back-to-back victories.
In the second of two bantamweight prelims, Bulldog Boxing mainstay
Ramon
Taveras evened his head-to-head series with Serhiy
Sidey at 1-1 by outlasting the Canadian to a split decision in
their highly entertaining rematch. All three cageside judges scored
it 29-28: Eric Colon
and Saleem Haniff for Taveras, the aforementioned Cleary for
Sidey.
Taveras (10-2, 1-0 UFC)—who missed weight by 3¾ pounds—put an
enormous amount of damage on the former Battlefield Fight League
champion, highlighted by a bloodletting cut across the bridge of
his nose and a grotesque hematoma under his left eye. Sidey, who
defeated the Floridian on Dana White’s Contender Series in
September, answered with merciless forward pressure and output. He
slammed kicks into the body, legs and arms, operated behind an
effective jab and controlled the cage. Taveras dropped him to a
knee with a left hook to the body and stunned him with an overhand
right in the first round, then leaned heavily on counterstriking
for the duration of the fight.
The loss snapped Sidey’s six-fight winning streak.
Meanwhile, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 26 alum Gillian
Robertson turned away ex-Jungle Fight champion Polyana
Viana with punches in the second round of their women’s
strawweight encounter.
Viana (13-7, 4-6 UFC) succumbed to blows 3:12 into Round 2, losing
for the third time in four appearances.
Robertson (13-8, 10-6 UFC) consumed the Brazilian with cold
calculation. She secured takedowns in both rounds, shifted from
full mount to the back while meeting little resistance, chased a
few submissions and bolstered her efforts with heavy
ground-and-pound. Robertson moved to mount midway through the
middle stanza, unleashed elbows and sealed the deal with a
sustained burst of unanswered punches.
Viana had never before been stopped by strikes.
Further down the card, Team Crossface rep Sam
Patterson disposed of onetime Cage Fury Fighting Championships
titleholder Yohan
Lainesse with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their
welterweight clash.
Lainesse (9-3, 1-3 UFC) raised the white flag of surrender 2:03
into Round 1, as he suffered his second setback in as many
outings.
Patterson (11-2-1, 1-1 UFC) walked through an overhand right and
dragged the Tristar Gym export to all fours with a basic front
headlock. The 2022 Dana White’s Contender Series graduate put his
Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt to use, made a smooth progression to
the back, secured his position with hooks and slipped the blade of
his forearm under Lainesse’s chin. In an instant, the outcome
became a formality.
It was the fifth first-round finish of Patterson’s career.
Not to be outdone, Niagara Top Team standout Jasmine
Jasudavicius tormented Priscila
Cachoeira for the better part of 14 minutes before she took out
the Brazilian with a mounted anaconda choke in the third round of
their women’s bantamweight tilt.
Cachoeira (12-6, 4-6 UFC) checked out 4:21 into Round
3.
The 34-year-old Jasudavicius (10-3, 4-2 UFC) struck for takedowns
in all three rounds, floated from one dominant position to the next
and tore into her counterpart with punches and elbows. By the time
they made it to the third round, a virtually defenseless Cachoeira
was bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth. Jasudavicius
assaulted her with combination punching, scrambled into a takedown
and progressed to a mounted crucifix, at which point the Canadian
poured on the punishment with punches and elbows. She then bit down
on the choke, shifted to mount and brought an epic beatdown to its
inevitable conclusion.
Jasudavicius has won three of her past four bouts.
Finally, former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Jimmy Flick
weathered a significant storm and put away Malcolm
Gordon with an arm-triangle choke in the second round of their
flyweight affair.
Flick (17-7, 2-2 UFC) brought it to a close 77 seconds into Round
2, as the Oklahoma native posted his first win since Dec. 19,
2020.
Gordon (14-8, 2-5 UFC)—who missed weight for the match by 1½
pounds—lit the crowd on fire with a fast start. The Canadian
overwhelmed Flick with activity in the first round, where he paired
a takedown with punishing ground-and-pound, escaped a triangle
choke and threatened with a guillotine. Gordon cut loose with
punches from both hands early in the middle stanza but paid a price
for his overzealousness in a rush to finish. The resourceful Flick
ducked behind him, powered into top position and moved on the
arm-triangle. From there, he tightened his squeeze, cleared
Gordon’s guard and prompted the tapout.
The 33-year-old Gordon has lost three fights in a row.