Zachary
Reese thrives on the quick finish.
The undefeated War Training Center prospect was one of three
competitors to earn an
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract during Week 3 of
Dana White’s Contender Series, as he disposed of Eli Aronov
with an armbar in the first round of their middleweight headliner
on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Reese (6-0, 1-0 DWCS) brought it to a close 74 seconds into Round
1.
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Faced with a six-inch height and five-inch reach deficits, Aronov
(6-1, 0-1 DWCS) unleashed a multi-punch burst, tripped his
adversary to the floor and pressed his advantages with
ground-and-pound. Reese kept his composure, isolated the Israeli’s
right arm and drew him deeper into his guard before activating his
hips to force the tapout.
Reese has stopped all six of his opponents inside one round.
Featherweight Luis
Pajuelo and welterweight Oban
Elliott completed the latest crop of UFC signees, bringing the
season total to 13.
Contacto Livre’s Pajuelo put away the previously unbeaten Robbie Ring
with a grounded knee strike to the body and follow-up punches in
the first round of their featherweight pairing.
Ring (6-1, 0-1 DWCS) succumbed to blows 3:43 into Round
1.
Pajuelo (8-1, 1-0 DWCS) walked through some heavy fire and managed
to turn the tide with a pair of chopping right hands that doubled
over his counterpart. Ring secured a takedown but failed to corral
the Peruvian on the mat and resorted to pulling guard once the two
men returned to an upright position. It was not a wise move.
Pajuelo applied his ground-and-pound from top position, unleashed a
crushing knee to the body and closed it out with unanswered
punches.
The 28-year-old Pajuelo has won five fights in a row.
Shore MMA’s Elliott outlasted Oktagon MMA champion Kaik Brito
to a majority decision in a three-round welterweight affair. Two of
the three cageside judges struck 29-28 scorecards for Elliott,
while a third ruled it a 28-28 draw.
A closely contested first round gave way to a frenetic final 10
minutes. Brito (16-5, 0-1 DWCS) had the Welshman reeling in the
middle stanza, where he dazed him with a clean right hand and a
sweeping left hook, pinned him to the fence with punches and
connected with a knee up the middle. He scrambled to Elliott’s back
late in the period, trapped him in a backside crucifix and
threatened with an armbar as the horn sounded. Brito had little
left in the gas tank in Round 3. Elliott backed up the Brazilian
with jabs, thudding left hands and a devastating body kick. The
situation grew even more perilous for Brito after he slipped while
throwing a wild spinning backfist. Elliott moved into top position,
at which point he slashed away with elbows and punches in pursuit
of a finish
Elliott will carry a five-fight winning streak into his next
assignment.
Finally, Allstars Training Center prospect Josefine
Lindgren Knutsson kept her perfect professional record intact
with a unanimous decision over Isis
Verbeek in a three-round women’s strawweight affair. All three
cageside judges submitted 30-27 scorecards for Knutsson (6-0, 1-0
DWCS), the lone winner not awarded a UFC contract.
Verbeek (5-2, 0-1 DWCS) failed to exploit her four-inch reach
advantage. Knutsson staggered her with a lead-leg head kick in the
first round, bullied the Dutchwoman in the clinch and excelled in
limited exchanges on the ground. Verbeek rallied in Round 3 behind
strategic punching blitzes but saw her momentum stymied when she
slipped on an attempted kick and allowed her opponent to pump the
brakes from top position.
The setback was Verbeek’s first in nearly five years.