Julian
Erosa still has a don’t-blink quality about him.
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 22 semifinalist on Saturday moved his
Ultimate Fighting Championship record back to .500, as he
rallied to submit Ricardo
Ramos with a guillotine choke in the first round of their
featured
UFC on ESPN 53 featherweight prelim at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas.
Erosa (29-11, 7-7 UFC) drew the curtain 2:15 into Round 1, closing
the book on his two-fight losing streak.
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The 28-year-old Ramos (16-6, 7-5 UFC) employed an active kicking
game and decked the Xtreme Couture standout with a concussive right
hand before swooping in for a takedown. He connected with some mild
ground-and-pound, only to see the crafty Erosa escape to his feet.
Ramos shot on the hips soon after but left his neck exposed while
doing so. Erosa bit down on the guillotine, refused to relinquish
his grip and prompted the tapout.
Ramos has suffered consecutive defeats for the first time in his
22-fight career.
Meanwhile, perfectly executed takedowns and suffocating top control
carried onetime Fury Fighting Championship titleholder Trey Ogden
to a unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 31
winner Kurt
Holobaugh in a three-round lightweight confrontation. All three
judges struck 30-27 scorecards for Ogden (17-6, 2-2 UFC), who
nailed down his first win since Sept. 17, 2022.
Holobaugh (20-8, 1-5 UFC) could not stay upright. Ogden put him on
his back in all three rounds and climbed to advantageous positions,
often battering the Gracie United rep with shoulder strikes, short
punches and hammerfists from half guard. He progressed to full
mount late in the third round and hunted an arm-triangle, though
Holobaugh refused to give into his advances.
The setback halted Holobaugh’s run of consecutive victories at
three.
Further down the undercard, former Legacy Fighting Alliance
champion Miles Johns
called upon power punching combinations and well-timed takedown, as
he took a unanimous decision from “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 31
finalist Cody Gibson
in a forgettable three-round bantamweight clash. All three judges
scored it 30-27 for Johns (14-2, 5-2 UFC), who filled in as a
short-notice substitution for Davey
Grant.
Gibson (19-10, 1-5 UFC) lacked the firepower necessary to give the
Marathon MMA rep true pause. Johns bullied forward behind his heavy
hands, crowded the ex-Tachi Palace Fights titleholder in the clinch
and executed multiple takedowns. Gibson’s best chance came and went
in the middle stanza, where he secured a takedown of his own,
advanced to the back with a body triangle and briefly threatened
his neck. Johns stayed calm under pressure, reversed position and
eventually escaped to his feet, at which he point he resumed his
attack. Fatigue saddled both men down the stretch, the action
slowing to a crawl.
The 36-year-old Gibson has lost three of his past four bouts.
Finally, Jarno
Errens rebounded from back-to-back losses to William
Gomis and Seung Woo
Choi with a unanimous decision over three-time DWCS alum
Steven
Nguyen in a three-round featherweight affair. All three members
of the cageside judiciary scored it the same: 30-27 for Errens
(14-5-1, 1-2 UFC), who posted his first victory since Aug. 6,
2022.
Nguyen (9-2, 0-1 UFC) failed to establish a foothold in the match.
Errens wrecked his lower lead leg with repeated kicks, turning the
Fortis MMA export into more and more of a stationary target as the
situation unfolded. The Dutchman landed the vast majority of the
consequential strikes across the 15-minute encounter. He split
Nguyen’s lip with an exquisite right uppercut-left hook combination
in the first round and went on to floor the Marc Montoya protégé
twice, once in the second round and again in the third.
The loss snapped Nguyen’s three-fight winning streak.
In other action, Igor da
Silva (8-1, 0-1 UFC) channeled his inner Mike Tyson, as he was
disqualified for biting Andre Lima
(8-0, 1-0 UFC)
on the inside of the left biceps while the two men were engaged in
the clinch 2:52 into the second round of their
flyweight pairing; Dariya
Zheleznyakova (9-1, 1-0 UFC) outstruck Montserrat
Rendon (6-1, 1-1 UFC) to a unanimous verdict in a three-round
women’s bantamweight scrap, earning 29-28 marks from all three
judges; and Michael
Parkin (9-0, 3-0 UFC) kept his perfect professional record
intact with a unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season
30 finalist Mohammed
Usman (10-2, 3-1 UFC) in their three-round heavyweight tilt,
sweeping the cards with 29-28 scores across the board.