Caio
Borralho broke down the door to the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight elite.
A potent jab, punishing leg kicks and powerful punching
combinations carried the Fighting Nerds star to a unanimous
decision over Jared
Cannonier in the
UFC on ESPN 62 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. Borralho (17-1, 7-0 UFC) swept the scorecards with 49-45,
49-45 and 48-46 marks from the cageside judiciary, as he posted his
14th consecutive win.
Cannonier (17-8, 10-8 UFC) made him earn it and kept the fight
competitive for four-plus rounds. The MMA Lab mainstay unleashed
multi-punch volleys of his own and did visible damage to the
Brazilian, opening a sickle-shaped cut underneath Borralho’s right
eye in the fourth round. However, much of his good work was erased
in the fifth. There, Borralho sent him crashing to the canvas with
a crisp one-two, piled on with elbow-infused ground-and-pound and
framed an arm-triangle choke in the waning seconds. A finish did
not materialize, but the 31-year-old Dana White’s Contender Series
graduate made a strong closing argument nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Brazilian Thai product Tabatha
Ricci nailed down the most significant victory of her career,
as she laid claim to a unanimous decision over former Invicta
Fighting Championships titleholder Angela Hill
in their three-round women’s strawweight co-main event. All three
cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Ricci (11-2, 6-2
UFC), who won for the sixth time in seven outings.
Ricci pushed a frenetic pace from the outset. She pursued clinches
behind multi-punch volleys, rarely affording Hill (17-14, 12-14
UFC) a chance to breath, much less operate in her comfort zone.
Ricci executed a pair of takedowns in the second round and never
took her foot off the gas despite mounting fatigue and considerable
resistance from her opponent. Hill answered with combinations of
her own, mixed in short-range elbows and deployed her counters to
greater effect as time wore on. Even so, Ricci stuck to her game
plan, refused to give ground and stayed busy until the final bell
sounded.
In “The Ultimate Fighter 32” middleweight final, Team Alpha Male’s
Ryan
Loder put away Robert
Valentin with a sustained burst of second-round elbows from a
topside crucifix.
Valentin (10-4, 0-1 UFC) bowed out 1:49 into Round 2, the loss
closing the book on his three-fight winning
streak.
The two men traded submission attempts—a scarf hold armlock from
Loder, a rear-naked choke from Valentin—and advantageous positions
during a hyperactive first round. A onetime NCAA All-American
wrestler at the University of Northern Iowa, Loder (7-1, 1-0 UFC)
made his move in the middle stanza. He scrambled into top position,
advanced to the crucifix and cut off Valentin’s avenues of escape.
From there, Loder drove repeated elbows into the Swiss
middleweight’s exposed head until the job was done.
The 33-year-old Loder has won three fights in a row.
In “The Ultimate Fighter 32” featherweight final, Xtreme Couture’s
Mairon
Santos buried onetime Hex Fight Series champion Kaan Ofli
with second-round punches.
Ofli (11-3-1, 0-1 UFC) crashed and burned 1:30 into Round 2, his
run of eight straight victories at an end.
Santos (14-1, 1-0 UFC) was superior in all phases. He held his own
in the clinch, stymied Ofli’s bid for takedowns and tore into him
with damaging leg kicks and clean combinations to the head. Santos
backpedaled early in the middle stanza and sat down on a lightning
bolt of a left hook that dropped his Australian opponent to his
knees in a semi-conscious state. He then let fly with punches from
both hands and left Ofli face down on the mat.
The setback was Ofli’s first since June 18, 2016. He had never
before been finished.
Further down the card, undefeated Entram Gym prospect Michael
Morales took care of Neil Magny
with punches in the first round of their welterweight showcase.
Magny (29-12, 22-11 UFC) succumbed to blows 4:39 into Round 1, as
“The Ultimate Fighter 16” semifinalist suffered his first knockout
loss in nearly six years.
Morales (17-0, 5-0 UFC) tore into his veteran opponent’s lead leg
with kicks, then stayed composed when the Elevation Fight Team
mainstay closed the distance to clinch. After an extended struggle
along the fence, the Ecuadorian created some space and connected
with a spinning back elbow on the break that sent Magny crashing to
the canvas. Morales plowed into top position, applied his
ground-and-pound, progressed to full mount and eventually moved to
the back. He then flattened out Magny and cut loose with unanswered
punches until referee Dan Miragliotta had seen enough.
Finally, former Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Gerald
Meerschaert disposed of Xtreme Couture’s Edmen
Shahbazyan with an arm-triangle choke in the second round of
their middleweight appetizer.
Meerschaert (37-17, 12-9 UFC) sealed the deal 4:12 into Round 2,
winning for the sixth time in nine appearances.
Shahbazyan (13-5, 6-5 UFC) snatched defeat from the jaws of
victory. He picked apart Meerschaert in the first round and for
much of the second, as he fed the Kill Cliff Fight Club export
body-head combinations, front kicks to the gut and occasional
inside leg kicks. Shahbazyan had the 54-fight veteran in genuine
peril in the middle stanza. A right hook to the solar plexus
doubled over Meerschaert and a follow-up knee strike prompted his
retreat to the canvas. Ferocious ground-and-pound ensued, as
Shahbazyan hit the accelerator in a bid to procure the stoppage. It
was not to be. Meerschaert withstood the onslaught, escaped to his
feet and secured a takedown. Soon after, he framed the arm-triangle
on the exhausted Shahbazyan, tightened his squeeze and elicited the
tapout.
Meerschaert now holds the all-time record for finishes by a UFC
middleweight with 12.
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