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Kopylov taught the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s newest crossover kickboxing
star why they call it “mixed” martial arts.
In the top prelim of
UFC 302 on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, Kopylov (13-3) gave
Cesar
Almeida (5-1) a taste of what might await him as he scaled the
UFC middleweight ranks. Kopylov, himself usually a kickboxer by
preference, elected to test the unproven grappling of “Cesinha,”
trying for a takedown in the opening minute, then succeeding a
moment later, grounding the Brazilian at the base of the fence.
Almeida got back up quickly but was floored by a Kopylov left hand
near the midpoint of the round. Kopylov let his man back up, but
was wide open for yet another takedown late, and rode out the
balance of the round from top position. Almeida regrouped for the
second frame, turning aside Kopylov’s first several takedown
attempts, slipping his punches and landing some sharp body shots.
Kopylov finally secured a takedown with two minutes to go in the
round but failed to do any damage or threaten with dominant
positions.
Round 3 saw Almeida come out confident and sharp, landing clean
punches on an apparently fatigued Kopylov. The Russian stemmed the
tide with a well-timed takedown about a minute into the round, but
was unable to do much with the position, and after a couple of
warnings, referee HerbDean stood them up with 90 seconds to go.
Before Almeida could take full advantage, however, Kopylov plowed
him back to the canvas with an easy double-leg takedown. That was a
wrap on Almeida’s offense for the fight, and any chances of eking
out the decision. The judges awarded the fight to Kopylov via split
scores (29-28, 28-29, 30-27), bringing his Octagon mark to 5-3.
Almeida, whose chances of following onetime rival Alex
Pereira’s track to a quick UFC title shot took a serious blow
with the loss, fell to 1-1.
On an undercard that had, to that point, been full of fun fights
but still waiting for its first finish, Jailton
Almeida (21-3) wasted no time in throttling Alexander
Romanov (17-3). Faced with a skilled wrestler more than 20
pounds heavier than himself, “Malhadinho” was undaunted, going for
a takedown within seconds, hauling the hulking Moldovan to the
canvas and working for a rear-naked choke. He could not get his
choking arm under the chin and was forced to let it go, but the
crushing force of his squeeze appeared to hurt Romanov nonetheless.
When he went for the choke again moments later, the tap came
quickly and referee Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro was forced to intervene
at 2:27. The quick and dominant win got Almeida back
on track after losing Curtis
Blaydes at UFC 299 in March, elevating his mark in the UFC to
7-1. Romanov (6-3 UFC) was left reeling, having lost three of his
last four.
Tasked with bouncing back from his first loss in eight years,
Grant
Dawson (21-2-1) was more than up to the task, parlaying his
superior wrestling into a smothering, suffocating performance
against Joe Solecki
(13-5). Once referee Jason Herzog waved the lightweights into
action, Dawson launched himself at his foe immediately and was
promptly snared in a guillotine choke. A long, tense sequence
ensued in which Solecki adjusted his grip and rolled briefly to
mount as Dawson calmly worked to extricate himself from the hold.
Dawson eventually escaped, but Solecki’s choke attempt represented
the main offense of the round. Dawson was not deterred from his
wrestling, however, as he quickly took Solecki down in the second
and third frames as well. While Solecki was game and durable, and
kept Matthews honest with kimura and sweep attempts from the
bottom. It was not enough to sway the judges, however, who awarded
the fight to Dawson by 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 scores. With the win,
Dawson put his quick and brutal loss to Bobby Green
in the rearview and elevated his UFC record to 9-1-1; Solecki’s
second straight loss left his promotional record at 5-3.
Jake
Matthews (20-7) and Phil Rowe (10-5) treated the Newark crowd
to yet another high-paced slugfest in their welterweight undercard
feature. An aggressive but awkward striking match seemed to favor
Rowe in Round 1, as he landed long kicks and punches on the burly
Aussie, busting his nose open and leaving him looking a bit
frustrated. Matthews was equal to the task, however, and came back
in Round 2 to score with big punches. Both of the first two frames
were competitive, and with the fight possibly in the balance,
Matthews and Rowe fought like it, delivering the most entertaining,
competitive round of the fight. Rowe appeared to have Matthews in
some trouble on the ground, taking his back and working briefly for
a choke, but “The Celtic Kid” escaped and took top position before
the round expired. The judges saw the fight for Matthews, turning
in 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 scorecards, bringing his UFC mark to
13-7. Matthews, the picture of consistent inconsistency, has now
alternated wins and losses in his last seven fights, going back
nearly four years. Rowe’s loss, his second straight, brought his
tally to 3-3 since graduating from the Contender Series.
In an early candidate for “Fight of the Night,” Bassil
Hafez (9-4-1) and Mickey Gall
(7-6) threw everything but the kitchen sink at one another for
three back-and-forth rounds. Despite both men’s background on the
mats—they met in a grappling bout in 2017, before either was on the
UFC’s radar—the majority of the fight saw the welterweights going
toe to toe in a striking match. The early momentum belonged to
Hafez, who landed multiple heavy punches on hometown favorite Gall.
However, as the fight wore on, Gall began landing with greater
frequency, perhaps as he shook off the rust of his two-year layoff.
On the few occasions they engaged in the ground game, it was
usually Hafez initiating the takedown, but Gall was able to return
to the feet without absorbing significant damage. After three
rounds, “The Habibi” prevailed by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28,
29-28), bringing his UFC mark to 1-1 after his valiant short-notice
debut against Jack
Della Maddalena last year. Gall fell to an even 6-6 in the
Octagon in defeat.
Ailin
Perez (10-2) used aggression, takedowns and one huge strike to
carry the day against Joselyne
Edwards (13-6) in their bantamweight grudge match. It was a
wild affair, with both women willing to engage on the ground but
neither able to establish control there. The result was several
extended sequences of reversals in which both fighters took full
mount for just a few seconds before being rolled again. For the
time that they did exchange on the feet, Edwards got the better of
many exchanges, but the single hardest blow of the fight was a
spinning back fist by Perez that briefly dropped the Panamanian in
Round 2. The second round also featured a clearly blatant head butt
by Edwards while working in Perez’s guard that forced a stoppage in
the action and drew a warning from referee Gaspar Oliver, but no
point taken. A point deduction, it turns out, would not have
changed the fight’s outcome, as Perez prevailed by unanimous
decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). With her third straight win, the
Argentinian went to 3-1 in the UFC; Edwards fell to 4-4.
In the 130-pound opener, Andre Lima
(9-0) used a steady stream of leg kicks to frustrate Mitch
Raposo (8-2) across three rounds. Lima, who forced the
catchweight by missing the flyweight limit, established his kicking
assault immediately, leading Raposo to switch stances frequently.
It did not avail Raposo much, as both of his calves were visibly
compromised within minutes and his movement was visibly hampered by
the end of the fight. Much of the action was defined by Raposo’s
difficulty navigating Lima’s kicks and longer reach in order to try
and land his own offense, and the expected wrestling attack never
truly materialized. In the end, Lima prevailed by split decision,
with two 30-27 scorecards in favor and a baffling 28-29 from judge
Dave
Tirelli. With the win, Lima moved to 2-0 in the UFC, while
Raposo, who had stepped up on short notice for this fight, fell to
1-0. Raposo’s was not the only inauspicious debut, either:
Lima-Raposo was the first bout to feature the UFC’s new glove
design and was marred by three eye pokes.