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Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweights take notice:
Joe
Pyfer is one frightening individual.
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In the featured preliminary bout of UFC 303 on Saturday in Las
Vegas, “Bodybagz” came close to living up to his nickname,
obliterating Marc-Andre
Barriault with a hail of punches against the fence that left
“Power Bar” prone and senseless on the cage floor. It was barely a
fight, as Pyfer waded forward immediately, backing Barriault up
with big haymakers. Once he had corralled the Canadian against the
fence, the rest was academic:
Pyfer unleashed a series of huge punches, with a right hand
sneaking behind Barriault’s raised guard to connect on the ear.
Pyfer tacked on a left as his opponent fell, and Barriault wound up
facedown with his hands at his sides, completely separated from his
wits and referee Herb Dean waved off the fight at 1 minute, 25
seconds. The chilling knockout put Pyfer back on track
after his first UFC loss against Jack
Hermansson, and elevated his mark in the promotion to 4-1
overall. Barriault fell to 5-7 with one no contest in the UFC.
Fili Edges out Swanson
In a fight between two veterans so synonymous with the UFC
featherweight division that it’s slightly surprising they had never
met before, Andre Fili
(24-11, 1 NC) edged out Cub Swanson
(29-14) after three back-and-forth rounds. Fili, the younger man by
nearly a decade, took control of the fight early, beating the
40-year-old Swanson to the punch for much of the first round while
mixing in takedown attempts that kept his foe guessing. What was
shaping up to be an entertaining but straightforward win for
“Touchy” began to turn as the fight wore on, however, as Swanson
started landing with increasing frequency and power, denying Fili’s
efforts to bring the fight to the ground and gradually taking
control. The second and third rounds were both close, defined by
Swanson’s crisp jab, cross and constant forward pressure, and
Fili’s sharp check hooks. The judges turned in split scorecards of
28-29, 29-28, 29-28 in favor of Fili, running his Octagon mark to
12-10 with one no contest, while Swanson dropped to 14-10 since
joining the UFC out of the acquisition of
World Extreme Cagefighting over a decade ago.
Silva One-Shots Jourdain
Jean
Silva took a big step up in the featherweight division—though
he missed the divisional limit, forcing a 148-pound catchweight
booking—and along the way, became the first man to knock out
Charles
Jourdain. The numbing power of “Lord” (13-2, 2-0 UFC) was in
evidence from the onset, as he obliged “Air” Jourdain (15-8-1,
6-7-1 UFC) with his preferred kind of high-energy kickboxing match,
only to have the French-Canadian turn to his wrestling mid-round.
Silva appeared to come out slightly ahead in the wild first round,
and Round 2 offered more of the same. That is, until Silva
extricated himself from a takedown attempt near the cage, clipping
Jourdain with a pinpoint uppercut to the chin on the break.
Jourdain fell to his back, his head rebounding from the Octagon
floor, and referee Marc Goddard
had seen enough to call the fight at 1:22 of Round 2. The
sensational win was Silva’s second in a row in the UFC and 10th
overall, and while Saturday’s triumph was marred by the failure to
make weight, Silva appears to be a man of interest at featherweight
going forward.
Talbott Blitzes Ghemmouri
The buzz around Payton
Talbott is becoming deafening, as the now 9-0 bantamweight
sensation needed just 19 seconds to flatten Yanis
Ghemmouri (12-3). The 25-year-old from Reno, Nevada, was sharp
from the very first exchange,
jumping all over a Ghemmouri leg kick attempt with a blistering
one-two that leveled the Frenchman. Ghemmouri looked
up in a daze, and after a second’s pause in case referee Chris
Tognoni wished to stop the fight, Talbott tacked on a couple of
standing-to-ground punches to leave no doubt. With that quick
finish, Talbott’s second in the Octagon since joining the promotion
this year, he looks primed to face a ranked fighter within his next
bout or two; Ghemmouri has now lost his first two UFC bouts.
Robertson Mangles Retiring Waterson-Gomez
Gillian
Robertson put on one of the most impressive performances of her
career, absolutely steamrolling Michelle
Waterson-Gomez on the ground in their strawweight feature. It
was a mauling almost from the start, as Robertson (14-8; 11-6 UFC)
hauled Waterson-Gomez (18-13; 6-9 UFC) to the canvas from a
standing back take early in Round 1, landing in side control and
going to work with a steady, deliberate positional attack. It was a
fair indicator of what was to come: Robertson spent the balance of
the fight punishing Waterson-Gomez with precise ground strikes,
making life miserable with a forearm or elbow across the neck, and
constantly working to set up armbars. Any or all of the three
rounds could have been scored 10-8 for Robertson, who prevailed by
unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26). Robertson exited the
Octagon on the back of two straight dominant performances, while
former
Invicta Fighting Championships atomweight champ Waterson-Gomez,
who has now suffered “Beatdown of the Year” level setbacks in her
last two fights and five straight losses overall, retired at age
38.
Buday Prevails over Arlovski in 15-Minute Slog
The ageless Andrei
Arlovski may be nearing the end of the road, as he fell to the
younger, larger Martin
Buday in a grueling 15-minute heavyweight affair that was as
difficult to score as it was to watch. Former champ Arlovski
(34-24, 2 NC; 23-18, 1 NC UFC), despite carrying a three-fight skid
into the matchup with Buday (14-2, 5-1 UFC), had remained generally
competitive as he rounded his 45th birthday, and Saturday was no
different. The fight was characterized by long clinch exchanges
against the fence that drew audible disapproval from the T-Mobile
Center crowd and several admonishments from referee Mark Smith. All
three rounds were individually close and competitive, coming down
to a bare handful of notable punches, knees to the body and the
subjective question of who was “winning” the clinch stalemates. The
cageside judges with the unenviable task of scoring the affair were
unsurprisingly split, but “Badys” walked away with the win via
29-28, 28-29 and 30-27 marks. The win allowed the hulking Slovakian
to rebound from his loss at the hands of Shamil
Gaziev, while Arlovski suffered his fourth straight defeat.
Rei Tsuruya Impresses in Debut Win over Hernandez
Rei
Tsuruya kept his professional record spotless, putting on a
grappling clinic against Carlos
Hernandez in their flyweight preliminary clash. Tsuruya (10-0)
racked up a litany of high-level wrestling techniques and exotic
submission attempts against Hernandez (9-4), including a
belly-to-belly throw, a calf slicer and several twister variations,
but the American proved game, keeping himself out of serious danger
on most occasions. Hernandez held his own for the parts of the
fight that took place on the feet, but appeared to be down two
rounds to none going into the final frame. Hernandez got off to a
good start there, landing in top position off of a failed throw
attempt by Tsuruya, and spent the first half of the round working
from top position, but Tsuruya was patient and exploded back to his
feet once Hernandez postured up to try and throw heavier strikes.
Hernandez kept the pressure on, however, and closed out the fight
by pummeling a suddenly tired-looking Tsuruya against the fence.
The judges rendered their decision in favor of Tsuruya by unanimous
29-28 scores, giving him his first win since joining the promotion
out of the second season of “Road to UFC,” while Hernandez’s UFC
mark fell to 2-3.
Oliveira Stymies Simon
In the opening bout, Vinicius
Oliveira declared himself a force to be reckoned with in the
bantamweight division by picking up a surprisingly easy-looking win
over veteran contender Ricky
Simon. Simon, who entered the cage as a better than two-to-one
favorite struggled through much of the first two rounds with the
Brazilian’s speed and power, and on the two occasions he was able
to bring the fight to the floor, Oliveira returned to his feet
quickly and without suffering any significant damage. A potential
turning point came late in Round 2 when Simon checked a low kick
from Oliveira that left him hobbling. The cageside doctor was
brought in to examine Oliveira’s leg between rounds, but after he
pronounced him fit for duty, Oliveira went right back to work,
continuing to frustrate and neutralize his foe. After placing an
exclamation point on the performance by landing a takedown of his
own late in Round 3, Oliveira was awarded the unanimous decision,
picking up two 30-27 scorecards and one 29-28. With the win, “Lok
Dog” moved to 21-3 overall, 2-0 in the UFC with the win; Simon fell
to 20-6 (8-5 UFC).