Yair
Rodriguez got an important victory in the
UFC on ABC 3 headliner, but it wasn’t necessarily the statement
he wanted to make.
Rodriguez earned a technical knockout victory over Brian
Ortega on Saturday
when his opponent suffered a right shoulder injury in the first
round of their featherweight clash at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y.
The bout was waved off when Ortega appeared to dislocate his
shoulder while attempting to extract himself from a Rodriguez
armbar at the 4:11 mark of Round 1.
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“It was a really tight fight,” Rodriguez said. “It’s unfortunate
that he dislocated his shoulder. I already told him we can run it
back anytime. I prepared to win. I guess I did but not the way I
wanted.”
The fight was shaping up to be a competitive one before the
unfortunate ending. Rodriguez found success landing straight
punches and a variety of kicks during exchanges, while Ortega
looked to pressure his adversary and close the distance. “T-City”
landed a takedown late in the period, and that’s when Rodriguez
attempted to frame an armbar from his back. Shortly thereafter,
Ortega freed himself from the predicament but was rendered unable
to continue when the shoulder popped out of place. The former title
challenger was at a loss to explain what had just transpired in the
immediate aftermath.
“I don’t know how this happened. I wanted to keep going and this
thing came out,” Orteta said. “I got two shoulder surgeries
already. I might need a third, who knows? I was not in submission
danger, so I felt good.”
Lemos Chokes Out Waterson-Gomez
Amanda
Lemos added a big name to her strawweight resume, as she
submitted former
Invicta Fighting Championships atomweight queen Michelle
Waterson-Gomez with a guillotine choke in the UFC on ABC 3
co-main event. The ex-Jungle
Fight title holder elicited a tap from her opponent 1:48 into
the second frame for the second submission victory of her
promotional tenure.
Lemos (12-2-1, 6-2 UFC) was patient in finding her opening. Outside
of a late takedown, Waterson-Gomez was content to remain on the
outside in the opening round, but it was the Brazilian who appeared
to land the strikes of more consequence during exchanges.
Waterson-Gomez (18-10, 6-6 UFC) looked to ground Lemos again when
her opponent overswung in Round 2, but after failing on an initial
takedown attempt,
“The Karate Hottie” found herself ensnared in a tight guillotine
moments later. The
Jackson-Wink MMA standout resisted for as long as she could
before tapping, and Lemos graciously released the hold even before
referee Kevin MacDonald could step in to halt the bout.
‘The Leech’ Wallops Salikhov
Jinglinag Li returned to the win column in emphatic fashion,
scoring a technical knockout victory over Muslim
Salikhov in a welterweight showdown. A left hook-right hand
combination dropped “The King of Kung Fu” near the fence, and Li
(19-7, 11-5 UFC) sealed his win with a series of elbows on the
canvas. The time of the stoppage was the 4:38 mark of Round 2,
allowing the
China Top Team representative to rebound from a submission loss
to Khamzat
Chimaev this past October.
A measured opening stanza saw “The Leech” able to avoid Salikhov’s
toolbox of spinning kicks, but the Dagestani did secure a takedown
in the frame to gain a slight advantage. “The Leech” picked up the
pace in Round 2, causing swelling under his foe’s eye with a stiff
jab before slipping a punch and sending Salikhov (18-3, 5-2 UFC)
stumbling backward with a massive right hand. Sensing the finish
was imminent,
Lee stayed on the offensive to drop Salikhov and earn his eighth
KO/TKO finish in UFC competition at 170 pounds. Salikhov had a
five-bout winning streak snapped in defeat.
Schnell Submits Mudaerji in Wild Brawl
In one of the best rounds of 2022, Matt
Schnell had just a little bit more left in the tank than
Su
Mudaerji.
The 32-year-old Fortis
MMA product rallied from the brink of defeat to submit Mudaerji
in an action-packed flyweight showcase. A triangle choke rendered
the “Tibetan Eagle” unconscious and brought the show to a close at
the 4:24 mark of Round 2.
Schnell set the tone early by scrambling, threatening with
submissions and landing ground-and-pound, but the opening stanza
will ultimately serve as a mere footnote to what transpired next.
Mudaerji (16-5, 3-2 UFC) rocked Schnell (16-6, 6-4 1 NC) repeatedly
with powerful left hands and standing elbows early in the second
frame, prompting referee Jacob Montalvo to hover nearby. Schnell
never went out, however, and he shifted momentum when he backed up
his Chinese foe with a right hand. From there, “Danger” secured a
takedown and appeared to be on the verge of a stoppage with a
hailstorm of punches and elbows from above. Mudaerji, who was
gushing blood from the assault, improbably reversed into top
position,
but that only allowed Schnell to secure the fight-ending maneuver
from his back. After the hold was adjusted and tightened,
Mudaerji went out.
Burgos Uses Grappling to Edge Jourdain
Team Tiger Schulmann product Shane
Burgos delighted his hometown New York crowd, as he captured a
closely-contested majority decision triumph against former TKO
Major League MMA champion Charles
Jourdain in a featherweight clash. Two judges scored the fight
29-28 — both for Burgos — while a third submitted a 28-28
scorecard. Jourdain (13-5-1, 4-4-1 UFC) has a modest two-bout
winning streak halted in defeat.
In a matchup that was billed as a striker’s delight, Burgos (15-3,
8-3 UFC) set himself apart through his grappling. “Hurricane”
landed takedowns in the first two rounds, attached himself to
Jourdain’s back and threatened with neck cranks on multiple
occasions. Jourdain did some of his finest work in Round 3, when he
walked Burgos down and put his foe on his heels with a relentless
barrage of punching combinations and knees in close quarters. That
final surge ultimately came up short, as the judges rewarded Burgos
for his grappling in the first 10 minutes.
Murphy Spoils Tate’s Flyweight Debut
Lauren
Murphy put an end to Miesha
Tate’s flyweight title hopes before they could really begin, as
she battered and bloodied the ex-Strikeforce
champion en route a unanimous decision triumph in a 125-pound
feature. Murphy received tallies of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 to
return to the win column in her first appearance since falling to
Valentina
Shevchenko in a flyweight title bout last September. Tate,
meanwhile, has lost four of her last five in UFC competition.
Not only was Murphy (16-5, 8-5 UFC) stronger than Tate (19-9, 6-6
UFC) in grappling exchanges, but she made a mess of her opponent’s
visage as the bout progressed. A stiff jab and close-range elbows
and knees were the weapons of choice for Murphy, who bloodied
Tate’s nose and caused severe swelling under her left eye as a
result of that onslaught. Tate continued to march forward until the
final horn but was unable to impose her will in the clinch or at
range.
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