Alex
Morono did just enough to skate by inside the
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division.
The longtime Fortis MMA rep rebounded from his Oct. 7 defeat to
Joaquin
Buckley with a workmanlike unanimous decision over “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 winner Court McGee
in the featured
UFC Fight Night 240 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. Morono (24-9, 13-6 UFC) carried all three scorecards by
29-28 margins.
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McGee (21-13, 10-12 UFC) stayed busy and spent a significant chunk
of time in top position in the second round but had no real answer
for the speed disadvantage with which he was faced. Morono peppered
him with one-twos, threw in the occasional spinning attack and made
multiple passes at submission attempts, including a tight
guillotine in the middle stanza. McGee executed a takedown in the
waning seconds of Round 3, but by then, the decision was lost.
Meanwhile, Kotwica MMA Team product Lukasz
Brzeski experienced his first taste of success inside the
Octagon, as he outlasted former Titan Fighting Championship
titleholder Valter
Walker to a unanimous decision in a three-round heavyweight
confrontation. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28
for Brzeski (9-4-1, 1-3 UFC).
Walker (11-1, 0-1 UFC) leaned heavily on takedowns and positional
control but managed to produce almost no meaningful offense outside
of a few unsuccessful submission attempts. Brzeski carved up the
Brazilian newcomer in the standup exchanges, calling upon ringing
uppercuts, occasional combos, a steady jab and stinging leg kicks.
Walker climbed to full mount in the third round but squandered the
position and ended up in a series of scrambles where neither man
made much progress.
The victory snapped Brzeski’s three-fight losing streak.
Further down the undercard, Jean
Matsumoto kept his perfect professional record intact when he
took care of Dan Argueta
with a guillotine choke in the second round of their bantamweight
affair.
Matsumoto (15-0, 1-0 UFC) drew the curtain 4:59 into Round
2.
Argueta (9-2, 1-2 UFC) controlled a significant portion of the bout
with clinches and takedowns, moving to full mount for a brief time
in the first round. However, his persistence strained his cardio
and slowed him down just enough to create some vulnerability.
Matsumoto pieced together punching combinations, mixed in a few leg
kicks and countered effectively to keep his head above water. He
triggered a scramble late in Round 2, bit down on an arm-in
guillotine and tightened his squeeze, forcing Argueta to tap an
instant before he appeared to lose consciousness.
Matsumoto, 24, has delivered nine of his 15 wins by knockout,
technical knockout or submission.
Elsewhere, undefeated Dana White’s Contender Series graduate
Cesar
Almeida disposed of Dylan Budka
with punches in the second round of their middleweight pairing. A
short-notice replacement for Josh Fremd,
the overmatched Budka (7-3, 0-1 UFC) succumbed to blows 2:13 into
Round 2.
Almeida (5-0, 1-0 UFC) conceded a few takedowns but made his
counterpart pay with damage and energy.
A visibly depleted Budka closed the distance in the second round
and attacked the hips, only to be met with a series of elbows to
the side of the head. The Demolition Fight Team export collapsed at
the base of the cage, turtled in a defensive position and absorbed
a series of unanswered punches that necessitated the
stoppage.
The 36-year-old Almeida has finished four of his first five
opponents.
Finally, French muay thai stylist Nora
Cornolle put away previously unbeaten Team Renegade rep
Melissa
Mullins with a brutal knee strike to the body and follow-up
head kicks in the second round of their women’s bantamweight tilt.
Cornolle (8-1, 2-0 UFC) brought it to a close 3:06 into Round
2. Both participants missed weight for the match:
Mullins by two pounds, Cornolle by two and a half pounds.
Mullins (6-1, 1-1 UFC) pursued a largely aimless clinch and
executed a takedown in the first round, only to get stonewalled on
the ground. Cornolle trapped the ex-gymnastics coach on the feet in
the middle stanza, buried a knee into her breadbasket and prompted
her retreat. Two head kicks connected next and drove Mullins to the
canvas, where she ate a few punches before referee Chris Tognoni
could arrive on the scene.
Cornolle, 34, has rattled off eight consecutive victories.
In other action, Norma
Dumont (11-2, 7-2 UFC) took a unanimous verdict from the
returning Germaine
de Randamie (10-5, 7-3 UFC) in a three-round women’s
bantamweight scrap, sweeping the scorecards with matching 29-28
marks across the board; and Astra Fight Team’s Victor
Hugo Silva (25-4, 1-0 UFC) extended his winning streak to 14
fights with a unanimous decision over Nova Uniao standout Pedro
Falcao (16-4, 0-1 UFC) in a three-round bantamweight pairing,
drawing 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 scores from the cageside judges.