Brutal ground and pound gets Alexandr
[
Romanov the W
#UFCVegas39 | Prelims LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/lm6KCi7EVT— UFC (@ufc)
October 9, 2021
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC,
PFL, Dana White’s Contender Series and “The Ultimate Fighter” live
on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via
the ESPN app. Alexander
Romanov moved another step closer to relevance in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division, as he
disposed of Team Quest’s Jared
Vanderaa with punches in the second round of their featured
UFC Fight Night 194 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. The undefeated Romanov (15-0, 4-0 UFC) drew the curtain 4:43
into Round 2.
Vanderaa (12-6, 1-2 UFC) never moved out of his defensive posture.
Romanov chipped away at the Team Quest product with takedowns in a
largely one-sided first round, then turned up the heat in the
second. The Moldovan tripped his counterpart to the floor, landed
in side control and ultimately climbed to full mount, at which
point he started to cut loose with damaging ground-and-pound.
Vanderaa tried and failed to get back to his feet, ate a sustained
barrage of punishing blows and failed to answer referee Mark
Smith’s calls to intelligently defend himself.
Romanov has finished 14 of his 15 opponents, 12 of them inside two
rounds.
Bloodied Jackson Handles Rosa
Repeated takedowns and dogged top control carried Fortis MMA’s
Damon
Jackson to a unanimous decision over Charles
Rosa in a three-round featherweight affair. Jackson (19-4-1,
2-2-1 UFC) swept the scorecards with 29-28, 29-27 and 30-27 marks
from the cageside judges.
The first two rounds were relatively straightforward, as Jackson
operated behind an active kicking game and remained a step ahead in
a majority of the wrestling and grappling exchanges. Everything
changed at the start of Round 3. Rosa (14-6, 5-6 UFC) blindly
connected with an upward reverse elbow and opened a horrendous
vertical cut close to the onetime Legacy Fighting Championship
titleholder’s right eye. Blood streamed from the wound, pooled on
the Octagon floor and drenched the two men in plasma. It turned all
subsequent scrambles into 50-50 propositions and made control
virtually impossible—a development that proved unfavorable for
Rosa, who found himself in a two-rounds-to-none hole from which
there was no escape.
The 33-year-old Jackson has rattled off eight wins across his last
10 appearances.
Godinez Armbar Submits Juarez
Former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Lupita
Godinez submitted Silvana
Gomez Juarez with an armbar in the first round of their women’s
strawweight clash. A short-notice substitution for Sam Hughes,
Juarez (10-3, 0-1 UFC) conceded defeat 4:14 into Round 1.
Godinez (6-1, 1-1 UFC) closed the distance with jab-cross
combinations and executed multiple takedowns. She eventually
advanced the Entram Gym rep’s back, secured a dominant position
with her legs and went to work. Godinez, 28, caught the belly-down armbar on the transition,
activated her hips and forced the tapout.
The setback was Juarez’s first since March 3, 2018.
Resilient Garcia Batters Ontiveros
Jackson-Wink MMA export Steve
Garcia rebounded from a Feb. 29 decision loss to Luis Pena, as
he put away Charlie
Ontiveros with punches in the second round of their lightweight
pairing. Garcia (12-4, 1-1 UFC) brought it to a close 1:51 into
Round 2.
Ontiveros (11-8, 0-2 UFC) had the “Mean Machine” reeling early in
the first round, where he staggered the Bellator MMA veteran with
an axe kick and decked him with a left hook. Garcia did not go
away. He struck for a pair of takedowns, settled in the north-south
position and snuck in a between-the-legs elbow strike that opened a
deep gash near Ontiveros’ right eye. It was a harbinger of what was
to come. Garcia moved into top position again at the start of the
second round, climbed to full mount and unleashed elbows before
sealing the deal with a burst of punches and hammerfists.
Garcia has won five of his past six bouts. 
