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Thiago
Moises may have punched his ticket to another competitive tax
bracket in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division.
Crushing low kicks, efficient counters and stellar striking defense
spurred the American Top Team rep to a unanimous decision over
Alexander
Hernandez in the featured
UFC Fight Night 186 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. All three judges sided with Moises (15-4, 4-2 UFC): 30-27,
30-27 and 29-28.
Hernandez (12-4, 4-2 UFC) fought fire with fire for much of the
three-round encounter. Moises kept him off-balance with kicks to
the lower leg, occasional spinning attacks and more basic
techniques. The Brazilian hit the accelerator in the third round,
invited Hernandez to try to keep up and unleashed his hands and
feet in a steady but violent burst of offense that put the
finishing touches on his latest conquest.
Moises, 25, has posted three straight wins.
Davis Denies Prospect Mazo
Alexis
Davis recorded her first win in more than three years, as she
laid claim to a unanimous decision over former
Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Sabina Mazo
in a three-round women’s bantamweight clash. Davis (20-10, 7-5 UFC)
swept the scorecards with 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 nods from the
judges.
Mazo (9-2, 3-2 UFC) was effective in spurts with crisp punching
combinations, but her porous takedown defense betrayed her. Davis
tore into her lower lead leg with kicks, then struck for takedowns
when the opportunities presented themselves. She advanced to Mazo’s
back without facing much resistance in the second and third rounds,
threaded her hooks and fished for chokes, all while corralling the
Colombian
Kings MMA export and bleeding valuable time off the clock.
The loss snapped a three-fight winning streak for Mazo.
Debuting Lawrence Overwhelms Cachero
American Top Team’s Ronnie
Lawrence dazzled in his promotional debut, as he put away
Vince
Cachero with a sustained burst of ground-and-pound in the third
round of their bantamweight pairing. Cachero (7-4, 0-2 UFC)
succumbed to blows 2:38 into Round 3, as he lost for the fourth
time in five outings.
The 28-year-old Lawrence (7-1, 1-0 UFC) met the A4
Fitness export with overwhelming offense force. He wore down
Cachero with repeated takedowns, positional advances and airtight
submission defense. Lawrence connected with a spinning back kick to
the body in the third round, executed a belly-to-back suplex and
ultimately climbed to full mount. Cachero surrendered his back,
only to wander into a fight-ending rush of
punches, elbows and hammerfists.
Lawrence will carry a four-fight winning streak into his next
assignment.
Surging Jacoby Edges Grishin
Damaging kicks to the lower leg and a penetrating jab carried
Factory
X standout Dustin
Jacoby to a unanimous decision in a closely contested
three-round light heavyweight affair. All three cageside judges
scored it the same: 29-28 for Jacoby (14-5, 2-2 UFC), who has
rattled off four consecutive victories.
Grishin (31-9-2, 1-2 UFC)—who missed weight by 4.5 pounds for the
match—had the
Dana White’s Contender Series graduate reeling on more than one
occasion in the first round but failed to close the deal. Jacoby
found another gear in the middle stanza, chipped away at the
Akhmat Fight Team rep’s base with kicks and checked his chin
with a counter left hook. Both men had their moments in the third,
where Jacoby continued his assault on the lead leg and Grishin
answered with forward pressure and power punches.
The 36-year-old Grishin has lost two of his last three fights.
