Curtis
Blaydes capitalized on an opponent’s overconfidence and lack of
vision.
The Elevation Fight Team standout reasserted himself in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division, as he took
out Jailton
Almeida with punches in the second round of their featured
UFC
299 prelim on Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami. Blaydes
(18-4, 13-4 UFC) pulled the plug 36 seconds into Round 2, authoring
his fourth win in five appearances.
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Almeida (20-3, 6-1 UFC) executed repeated takedowns and mat returns
in the first round but did nothing to accrue damage in what turned
out to be a meaningless exercise.
Blaydes sprawled on an attempted takedown to start the middle
stanza and let fly with rapid-fire hammerfists while the Brazilian
stubbornly clung to his leg. Eventually, the shots took their
intended toll and prompted referee Mike Beltran to
intervene.
The loss was Almeida’s first since Jan. 28, 2018 and halted his run
of consecutive victories at 15.
Meanwhile, a bullying clinch and timely takedowns carried Team
Alpha Male’s Maycee
Barber to a unanimous decision over ex-Cage Fury Fighting
Championships titleholder Katlyn
Cerminara in a three-round women’s flyweight clash. All three
members of the cageside judiciary turned in scorecards for Barber
(14-2, 9-2 UFC): 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Cerminara (18-6, 11-6 UFC) enjoyed success at range but had issues
controlling distance. Barber lured her into repeated clinches and
unleashed all her weapons in close quarters, from knees, elbows and
short punches to violent shoulder strikes and foot stomps. She
upped her aggression in Round 3, where she completed a pair of
takedowns to put the final touches on another triumphant
performance.
Barber, 25, now finds herself on a six-fight winning streak.
Further down the undercard, former two-division KSW champion
Mateusz
Gamrot overcome a poor start to capture a unanimous decision
over Rafael dos
Anjos in a three-round lightweight altercation. Gamrot (24-2,
7-2 UFC) swept the scorecards with 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 marks
from the cageside judges.
The 39-year-old Dos Anos (32-16, 21-14 UFC) staggered the American
Top Team standout with a knee strike, sprawled on an attempted
takedown and clipped him with a right uppercut early in Round 1.
However, Gamrot stayed composed under duress, managed to
recalibrate his efforts and slowly but surely turned the tide in
his favor. He secured repeated takedowns, applied occasional
ground-and-pound and cut off counterattacks from dos Anjos by
deploying a grimy clinch game.
Dos Anjos has lost three of his past four bouts.
Elsewhere, MMA Lab rep Kyler
Phillips put together arguably the most complete performance of
his career, as he outstruck onetime Resurrection Fighting Alliance
champion Pedro
Munhoz to a unanimous decision in a three-round bantamweight
battle. All three judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Phillips
(12-2, 6-1 UFC).
Munhoz (20-9, 10-9 UFC) struggled and ultimately failed to navigate
the seven-inch reach disparity with which he was presented.
Phillips leaned on evasive lateral movement and creative three-,
four- and five-strike combinations against the highly regarded
American Top Team product. Under constant fire, Munhoz, 37, never
seemed to settle on a comfortably rhythm. Phillips buckled the
Brazilian with a knee strike and opened a cut near his left eye in
the first round, kept his foot on the gas and overwhelmed his
adversary with activity across 15 minutes.
The 28-year-old Phillips has rattled off three straight
victories.
Deeper on the preliminary bill, surging Overcome Academy export
Michel
Pereira put Michal
Oleksiejczuk to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the first
round of their middleweight tilt.
Oleksiejczuk (19-7, 7-5 UFC) lost his grip on consciousness 1:01
into Round 1.
The 30-year-old Pereira (30-11, 8-2 UFC) needed no time to feel out
the Pole. He doubled over Oleksiejczuk with a stabbing right hand
to the body, gave chase and fired a knee to the midsection. Pereira
maneuvered behind the ex-Serbian Battle Championship titleholder,
cinched the choke and let his squeeze do the rest.
Pereira will ride a seven-fight winning streak into his next
assignment.
Finally, acclaimed Cuban taekwondo stylist Robelis
Despaigne dazzled in his hotly anticipated promotional debut,
as he buried two-time Dana White’s Contender Series alum Josh
Parisian with punches in the first round of their heavyweight
pairing.
Parisian (15-8, 2-5 UFC) checked out 18 seconds into Round
1.
Despaigne (5-0, 1-0 UFC) slipped while throwing a head kick,
immediately made his way back to his feet, retreated while throwing
punches and sat down his opponent with a clean right hook.
Follow-up shots from the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist followed,
forced the dumbfounded Parisian into a submissive shell and
prompted the stoppage.
The unbeaten 6-foot-7 Despaigne, 35, has finished all five of his
fights inside the first round, four in less than a minute.
In other action, onetime Professional Fighters League champion
Philipe
Lins (18-5, 4-2 UFC) called upon repeated kicks to the lower
leg in taking a unanimous verdict from Ion
Cutelaba (17-10-1, 6-9-1 UFC) in a three-round light
heavyweight scrap, earning 29-28 scores from the cageside
judiciary; Asu
Almabaev (19-2, 2-0 UFC) recorded his 15th consecutive victory
with a unanimous decision over former Fury Fighting Championship
titleholder C.J. Vergara
(12-5-1, 3-3 UFC) in a three-round flyweight affair, drawing 30-27
marks from all three judges; and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 20
quarterfinalist Joanne Wood
(17-8, 9-8 UFC) avenged a 2015 defeat to Maryna
Moroz (11-6, 6-6 UFC) and retired with a split decision—28-29,
29-28, 29-28—over the American Top Team-trained Ukrainian in a
three-round women’s flyweight rematch.