Anthony
Hernandez weathered an early storm of offense and ultimately
cruised to a lopsided fifth-round TKO victory over Michel
Pereira on Saturday at
UFC Vegas 99 in Las Vegas. The rising middleweight contender
finished Pereira with elbows at the 2:22 mark of the fifth round in
a fight that could have been stopped much earlier as Pereira ran
out of gas after the opening frame.
Seconds into the UFC Vegas 99 main event, Pereira hurt Hernandez
with a front kick to the liver and followed up with a series of
punches and knees as a wounded Hernandez covered up against the
cage. Hernandez recovered and set the tone for the rest of the
fight with a takedown into side control and some strong ground
strikes. Pereira was poked in the eye early in the second round and
he trapped Hernandez in a guillotine choke after action resumed.
Hernandez escaped and scored with elbows and punches from the top,
then threatened with an arm-triangle choke. Pereira managed to work
his way out of Hernandez’s chokes, but Hernandez punished him with
punches and elbows as Pereira’s gas tank approached empty.
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Rounds 3 and 4 were almost entirely controlled by Hernandez on the
ground as Pereira again struggled to do anything but survive. The
cage wall prevented Hernandez from getting a finish with a
third-round arm-triangle choke, so he instead continued to batter
his Brazilian foe with punches and elbows as referee Herb Dean kept
a close eye on the proceedings. Entering the fifth round, Pereira’s
corner begged him to land just one big strike. He could not do so,
and Hernandez scored yet another takedown. He cut Pereira above his
right eye with an elbow and then continued to land more elbows
until Dean finally waved off the fight. Hernandez has now won six
straight fights, including five via stoppage, and he appears to be
on track to face a title contender in his next outing following
tonight’s dominant performance.
Font Outboxes Phillips
In the bantamweight co-main event, Rob Font (21-8,
11-7 UFC) bounced back after a rough first round against Kyler
Phillips (12-3, 6-2 UFC) to take a unanimous decision victory
with scores of 29-28 thrice. Phillips dominated the opening frame
on the mat after taking Font down into side control and landing
hard elbows from the top. Font eventually scrambled up to his feet
and the fighters exchanged punches before the end of the round.
After brief takedowns from Phillips early in the second and third
rounds, Font quickly got to his feet both times and he controlled
the majority of the final ten minutes on the feet. Phillips was
constantly on the defensive and backing up as Font walked him down
with hooks to the head and body. Phillips did have brief success in
the third round with two calf kicks that knocked Font off-balance,
but Font continued his march forward and he landed jabs and right
hands late in the fight. The victory snapped a two-fight losing
skid for Font, who has battled inconsistency since his main event
loss to Jose Aldo
almost three years ago that ended an excellent four-fight winning
streak.
Johnson Wins Wild Scrap Over Mudaerji
Charles
Johnson (17-6, 6-4 UFC) extended his winning streak to four
with a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) win over Su Mudaerji
(16-7, 3-4 UFC) in featured flyweight action. Johnson pressed
forward with punches early in the fight and Mudaerji responded with
kicks to his lead leg. He stuffed a Johnson takedown attempt and
landed a hard elbow on the break. Both men scored with power
punches during the final seconds of the round. Mudaerji took
control of the striking in the second stanza by landing jabs, front
kicks to the body and lead right hooks. However, Johnson landed a
big right uppercut and then dropped Mudaerji against the cage with
a second one. He tried to finish Mudaerji with punches on the
ground, but Mudaerji recovered and he trapped Johnson in a triangle
choke during the final minute. The fighters traded overhand lefts
in the third round and Mudaerji once again targeted Johnson’s right
leg with kicks. Johnson reversed a takedown and Mudaerji held him
in a brabo choke. The fight ended with both men throwing punches,
and all three judges sided with Johnson by a close margin.
Smotherman Picks Up Short Notice Win Over Hadley
Stepping in on short notice and as a significant underdog, Cameron
Smotherman (12-4, 1-0 UFC) overcame the odds and a bad poke to
his eye in the second round to upset Jake Hadley
(11-4, 3-4 UFC) via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-27) at
bantamweight. Smotherman pressed the action in the first round and
effectively mixed up his punches to the head and body of Hadley,
who was forced to circle away to his left. Hadley landed a
three-punch flurry but Smotherman kept him on the defensive and he
landed at a much higher rate. In the second round, Smotherman was
first kicked in the groin and then poked in his right eye. The
second foul resulted in a timeout of more than four minutes, during
which Hadley was docked one point, but Smotherman fought on and
defended against Hadley’s takedown attempts in the final minute.
The final round was dominated by Smotherman early on, as he once
again backed Hadley up with punches and also landed three knees to
the body. Hadley rallied after being kicked in the groin, however,
and wobbled Smotherman with a left hook late in the fight. Despite
Hadley’s late offense, the judges returned a clear verdict in favor
of Smotherman, who impressed in his UFC debut.
Elkins Outlasts Pineda
Opening up the main card, Darren
Elkins (29-11, 19-10 UFC) won a highly-entertaining unanimous
decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) against fellow veteran Daniel
Pineda (28-17, 3 NC; 5-8, 1 NC UFC) at featherweight. Pineda
got off to a strong start in the opening round with a spinning back
kick to Elkins’ liver and a tight mounted guillotine choke. Elkins
impressively escaped and he opened a bad cut above Pineda’s left
eye with an elbow. Pineda attempted another guillotine and landed
elbows of his own from mount. He began the second round with his
right eye heavily swollen from a punch sustained in the first
round, and Elkins kept the pressure on him with two takedowns and
some hard punches and elbows from mount before the bell. In the
final round, after being cleared by the doctor to continue, a
battered Pineda reversed a takedown and briefly took Elkins’ back.
The fight returned to the feet and Pineda knocked Elkins down with
a leg kick, but Elkins took top position in Pineda’s guard and
stayed there until the final bell for a close but deserved
victory.
Prelims: Almabaev Tops Nicolau, Matsumoto Stays Undefeated
In the featured preliminary bout, Asu
Almabaev (21-2, 4-0 UFC) took a hard-fought unanimous decision
(29-28, 29-28, 29-28) win over Matheus
Nicolau (19-5-1, 7-4 UFC) at flyweight; bantamweight Jean
Matsumoto (16-0, 2-0 UFC) kept his unblemished record intact
with a unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) verdict over two-time TUF
winner Brad Katona
(14-4, 4-4 UFC) in an excellent fight; Joselyne
Edwards (14-6, 5-4 UFC), who came in three pounds overweight
for her bantamweight matchup against Tamires
Vidal (7-4, 1-3 UFC), submitted Vidal with a face crank at the
4:33 mark of Round 3; former CFFC champion Elise Reed
(8-4, 4-4 UFC) won her strawweight duel with Jessica
Penne (14-8, 3-6 UFC) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28,
29-28); also at 115 pounds, Melissa
Martinez (8-1, 1-1 UFC) secured her first UFC victory via
unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) against Alice
Ardelean (9-7, 0-2 UFC); and Austen Lane
(13-5, 1 NC; 1-2, 1 NC UFC) opened the card with a unanimous
decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) victory over Robelis
Despaigne (5-2, 0-2 UFC) at heavyweight.