Geoff
Neal probably left the cage with a bittersweet taste in his
mouth.
The Fortis MMA mainstay kept his place in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight line, as he was
awarded a technical knockout over Rafael dos
Anjos after the grizzled Brazilian veteran suffered a knee
injury in the first round of their featured
UFC 308 prelim on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates.
Referee Mark Smith waved it off 1:30 into Round 1, with dos Anos
(32-18, 21-15) clutching at his left leg on his 40th
birthday.
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Neal (16-6, 8-4 UFC) was the aggressor from the start. He dropped
the Nova Uniao star with a crisp one-two and even delivered a
surprise takedown, though he chose to disengage and stand on both
occasions. Soon after, another left hand clanged off the side of
dos Anjos’ head, his knee buckling beneath him in an anticlimactic
fight-ending sequence.
Meanwhile, former Vendetta Fight Nights champion Ibo Aslan
dispatched previously unbeaten promotional newcomer Raffael
Cerqueira with punches in the first round of their light
heavyweight encounter.
Cerqueira (11-1, 0-1 UFC) checked out 51 seconds into Round
1. Aslan (14-1, 2-0 UFC) clipped the Brazilian with a left hook,
pinned him to the fence and cut loose with brutal punches to the
head and body. Cerqueira stayed upright but appeared to be out on
his feet more than once. He covered up along the cage, ate one shot
after another and left referee Marc Goddard no choice but to
intervene.
The 28-year-old Aslan has rattled off six straight wins.
Further down the undercard, American Top Team’s Mateusz
Rebecki outlasted Myktybek
Orolbai to a split verdict in a gory three-round bloodbath at a
160-pound catchweight. All three members of the cageside judiciary
submitted 29-28 scorecards: Sal D’Amato and Ben Cartlidge for
Rebecki, Jacob Montalvo for Orolbai.
The 32-year-old Rebecki (20-2, 4-1 UFC) blasted the Team Alpha Male
export with a series of overhand lefts in the first round that
resulted in a grotesque hematoma that all but swelled Orolbai’s
right eye shut. The cageside physician examined the damage before
giving him the go-ahead to continue. Orolbai (13-2-1, 2-1 UFC)
rebounded in the middle stanza, where he upped the pressure and
benefitted from an inadvertent clash of heads that resulted in a
cut to his counterpart’s right brow. Blood spurted from the wound,
drenching the canvas and both men. Rebecki nearly finished it in
Round 3, as he decked Osh, Kyrgyzstan, native with a crushing left
hook and unleashed a hellacious barrage of ground-and-pound.
Orolbai somehow withstood the assault but emerged with a badly
bloody nose as he made his way back to his feet seemingly on auto
pilot. They went tit for tat down the stretch, brining an
appreciative crowd to its feet with a likely “Fight of the Year”
contender.
Rebecki has won 17 of his past 18 bouts.
Elsewhere, UFD Gym rep Abusupiyan
Magomedov disposed of Brunno
Ferreira with an arm-triangle choke in the third round of their
back-and-forth middleweight battle.
Ferreira (12-2, 3-2 UFC) raised the white flag 3:14 into Round 3,
suffering the first submission defeat of his 14-fight
career.
Magomedov (27-6-1, 3-2 UFC) conducted business on the feet and on
the ground, but he did not escape unscathed. Ferreira staggered him
with a right hand and immediately followed it with a head kick in
the middle stanza. Magomedov then freed himself from a guillotine
choke and managed to regain at least some of his faculties during
their exchange on the mat. He waded through fatigue in the third
round, completed a pair of takedowns and eventually climbed to full
mount. From there, Magomedov framed the arm-triangle, settled in
half guard and tightened his squeeze for the tapout.
The 34-year-old Magomedov has recorded back-to-back victories since
his UFC Fight Night 232 decision loss to Caio
Borralho in November.
Deeper into the draw, Fortis MMA product Kennedy
Nzechukwu put away former Island Fights champion Chris
Barnett with a knee strike to the body and follow-up punches in
the first round of their heavyweight confrontation. A late-notice
replacement for Justin
Tafa, Barnett (23-9, 2-3 UFC) succumbed to blows 4:27 into
Round 1.
Nzechukwu (13-5, 7-5 UFC) maximized his height and reach
advantages, as he zeroed in on his counterpart with jabs, slashing
left hands and a series of front kicks to the body. Barnett
suffered a significant leg injury at some point, and it reduced him
to little more than a sitting duck.
Nzechukwu swarmed the visibly compromised Georgia-based heavyweight
behind a knee to the midsection, drove him to the mat in a
defensive shell and prompted the stoppage with one final burst of
punches.
The victory snapped a two-fight losing streak for Nzechukwu.
Finally, undefeated Xtreme Couture standout Farid
Basharat called upon clean combination punching, effective
counters, timely takedowns and deft footwork in claiming a
unanimous decision from Victor Hugo
in their three-round featherweight scrap. All three cageside judges
scored it for Basharat (13-0, 4-0 UFC): 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.
Hugo (25-5, 1-1 UFC) fought well in spurts—he made passes at
multiple leglocks, connected with spinning back elbows and landed
with authority on occasion—but had no real answer for his
opponent’s overwhelming offensive variety. Basharat piled up points
with surgical right hands, stinging leg kicks and sharp one-twos,
all while slipping smoothly in and out of range. He snuck behind
Hugo late in the third round, secured his position with a body
triangle and applied his ground-and-pound to punctuate his latest
performance.
The loss was Hugo’s first since March 22, 2014 and closed the book
on his 14-fight winning streak.
In other action, Ismail
Naurdiev (24-7, 3-2 UFC) cruised to a unanimous decision over
onetime M-1 Global titleholder Bruno Silva
(23-12, 4-6 UFC) in a three-round middleweight affair, sweeping the
scorecards with matching 30-27 marks; and American Top Team’s
Rinat
Fakhretdinov (23-1-1, 5-0-1 UFC) took a controversial unanimous
decision from former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Carlos
Leal Miranda (21-6, 0-1 UFC)—a short-notice substitution for
Nursulton
Ruziboev—in a three-round welterweight clash, drawing 29-28,
29-28 and 30-27 scores from the cageside judges.