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\nGetty Images\/UFC<\/b><\/p>\n
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Ivan In a light heavyweight clash atop the seven-fight undercard of Erslan may have won a competitive Round 1 anyway, but definitely As the third round began, the fight was already becoming a In a matchup of undefeated UFC debutants thrown together on just Minev initiated the clinch battle to start the second round, which Ketlen The final round needed in order to provide a clear winner but Cody The second round was an entirely different story. Alice Ardelean kept up the solid work in the middle round, tagging Viana Luis Barez was game but clearly the worse for wear when the two In the strawweight opener, Shauna The second round was Bannon\u2019s best, as she fought off Caliari\u2019s Getty Images\/UFC Ivan Erslan did it about how they must have drawn it up in camp. In a light heavyweight clash atop the seven-fight undercard of UFC Vegas 117 on Saturday at the Meta Apex, the 34-year-old Croatian faced George Tokkos. It was a clash of styles of the kind that has characterized mixed martial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nErslan<\/a> did it about how they must have drawn it up in camp.<\/p>\n
\n
\nUFC Vegas 117<\/a> on Saturday at the Meta Apex, the 34-year-old
\nCroatian faced George
\nTokkos<\/a>. It was a clash of styles of the kind that has
\ncharacterized mixed martial arts for three decades and counting, as
\nkickboxing convert Erslan faced submission specialist \u201cTuco.\u201d
\nDespite Tokkos\u2019 obvious need to get the action to the mat at any
\ncost, the fight was competitive in the early going, as Erslan was
\nclearly uncomfortable with Tokkos\u2019 constant encroachment on the
\nfeet.<\/p>\n
\nfound his groove in the second frame. Tokkos looked slow and
\nsuddenly tired on the feet, wading in from well outside with badly
\ntelegraphed takedown attempts. These attempts Erslan punished with
\naccurate, solid counters in the pocket. When the action did go to
\nthe ground, it in the place, position and time of Erslan\u2019s
\nchoosing, and he pelted the Englishman with deliberate ground
\nstrikes.<\/p>\n
\nslow-motion rout, with Tokkos offering little resistance but Erslan
\neither too tired himself or too wary to truly step on the gas pedal
\nand hunt for the finish. Tokkos, for his part, seemed to understand
\nthat the fight was getting away from him and elected to stand and
\nswing, while Erslan punished him over and over again in close
\nquarters. When the final horn sounded, there was no question of who
\nhad the momentum, nor of who had show himself to be the better
\nfighter on the night. The judges saw things the same way, awarding
\nthe fight to Erslan by unanimous 29-28 scores. The win moved the
\nburly Croatian to 15-6, 1 NC; 1-3 in the UFC, while Tokkos\u2019 record
\ndropped to 11-6; 1-3 UFC.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\nGantt Grounds, Pounds Minev<\/h2>\n
\ndays\u2019 notice, former NC State All-American wrestler Thomas
\nGantt<\/a> squared off with Artur
\nMinev<\/a>. Gantt, who picked up a quick submission win on
\nDana White’s Contender Series<\/a> in September but appeared in
\ndanger of losing his debut booking when Trey Ogden<\/a>
\nwithdrew from the card. Gantt\u2019s game plan was evident from the
\njump, as he immediately walked the Ukrainian to the cage and looked
\nfor the takedown, but Minev was more than up to the challenge,
\nputting on a clinic in defensive wrestling against the cage for
\nover three minutes before the fight was paused for a groin
\nstrike.<\/p>\n
\nwas apparently just what the American needed, as his wrestling
\nattack quickly experienced greater success. After an unsuccessful
\nfirst attempt of the round, Gantt hauled Minev to the canvas, then
\nsent him flying with an emphatic mat return.
\nGantt pinned one of Minev\u2019s wrists and poured on a stream of
\nunblocked ground strikes until referee Kerry Hatley moved in for
\nthe TKO stoppage at 2 minutes, 51 seconds of Round 2.<\/a> With the
\nwin, Gantt moved to 12-0 with one no contest, while Minev fell to
\n7-1.<\/p>\nVieira Outgrinds Cavalcanti<\/h2>\n
\nVieira<\/a> and Jacqueline
\nCavalcanti<\/a> collaborated on a women\u2019s bantamweight contenders\u2019
\nmatchup that was long on divisional relevance, short on fireworks.
\nAs might be expected of two big-bodied bantamweights who were used
\nto being in charge, there was not A very tentative opening round
\nmay have gone Vieira\u2019s way late, but neither woman truly put her
\nstamp on things. Round 2 saw Vieira be more aggressive, closing the
\ndistance and corralling Cavalacanti against the cage. Vieira took
\ndown her foe from there, continuing to put in solid work in winning
\nthe round easily.<\/p>\n
\narguably failed to do so, as both women contented themselves with
\nexchanging single, medium-speed strikes at range. The judges had
\nseen enough, however, and awarded the fight to the Brazilian by
\nunanimous 29-28 scores. The win kept Vieira in the title picture as
\nher record moved to 16-5 overall, 10-5 UFC. Cavalcanti, who had an
\neight-fight win streak snapped in defeat, fell to 10-2; 5-1
\nUFC.<\/p>\nBrundage Shocks Petroski<\/h2>\n
\nBrundage<\/a> needed a win in the worst way and got one, dropping
\nAndre
\nPetroski<\/a> in the second round of their middleweight undercard
\nattraction. A very tentative first round finally broke open late
\nwhen Brundage defended at takedown with a guillotine choke attempt,
\nleading to a few tense moments but ultimately conceding the
\ntakedown. As a result, Petroski clearly won the first round,
\nchipping away with short strikes from top position for the final
\ntwo minutes.<\/p>\n
\nBrundage ducked behind a right-hand feint, floored Petroski with a
\nsweeping left hook and pounced with ground strikes until referee
\nChris Tognoni moved in for the save.<\/a><\/strong> The shocking win
\nmoved Brundage to 11-9-1 with one no contest; 5-8-1, 1 NC in the
\nUFC. Petroski fell to 13-6; 8-5 UFC.\n<\/p>\nArdelean Nets Ultra-Rare Capsule Lock on Viana<\/h2>\n
\nArdelean<\/a> picked up her third straight UFC win, tapping out
\nPolyana
\nViana<\/a> with a never-before-seen capsule lock in their
\nstrawweight prelim matchup. A couple of tense early exchanges led
\nto an awkward sequence in which referee Eric McMahon halted the
\naction after an apparent foul to the eye of Viana that turned out
\nto have been caused by a legal punch. However, once the confusion
\nwas settled, the traffic on the feet was once again defined by
\nArdelean\u2019s apparent ease navigating the Brazilian\u2019s superior height
\nand reach. Any time Viana opened up with a spinning attack,
\nArdelean caught the limb in question, not making any earnest
\nattempt to bring the fight to the floor but disrupting her foe\u2019s
\nrhythm. Ardelean caught Viana several times with clean head
\nstrikes, including a knockdown in the second half of the round.<\/p>\n
\ncleanly and taking her down with ease. Midway through the round,
\nhowever, Viana came alive, wrapping Ardelean up in a tight body
\ntriangle from the bottom and pelting her with elbows and
\nhammerfists from below.
\nThe action was close, and Viana was making a solid case for winning
\nthe round from her back, when with about 90 seconds left, she
\nfrantically tapped the canvas, having suffered an injury to her
\nright knee.<\/a><\/strong> The end was a bit anticlimactic\u2014until the
\nreplay showed it to have been quite deliberate\u2014but does down as a
\nTKO win for Ardelean (12-7; 3-2 UFC), while Viana falls to 13-8;
\n4-7 in the UFC.<\/p>\nGurule Outslugs Barez<\/h2>\n
\nGurule<\/a> and Daniel
\nBarez<\/a> left everything in the Octagon after 15 minutes of
\npitched flyweight combat. Gurule had some success early pursuing
\nand pressuring the taller man, and when he was taken down directly
\ninto back control near the midpoint of Round 1, he quickly reversed
\nBarez and threatened with a short D\u2019Arce choke. Barez appeared
\nheaded for a better second round when with about two minutes left
\nin the frame, Gurule hurt him with a left hook-right hook
\ncombination, then took his back standing and sent him flying. Barez
\nkept his composure and attempted to bring the American down, but
\nthe remainder of the round saw Gurule hurt Barez repeatedly, but
\nunable to pursue the finish.<\/p>\n
\nbantamweights came out for Round 3, and Gurule quickly went back to
\nmugging him against the fence with short uppercuts. Barez recovered
\nand never appeared in serious danger, bt the result was another
\neasy to score five minutes for the American, who won the unanimous
\ndecision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), moving to 11-3; 1-3 UFC. Barez fell
\nto 17-8; 1-3 UFC.<\/p>\nCaliari Grounds, Strangles Bannon<\/h2>\n
\nBannon<\/a> and Nicolle
\nCaliari<\/a> got things kicked off, their bout largely defined by
\nCaliari\u2019s ease taking the Irishwoman down and how much offense she
\ndid or did not mount once she got her there. Within seconds,
\nCaliari sent Bannon flying with a hip throw, but Bannon rolled
\nthrough and got right back to her feet. Caliari spent most of Round
\n1 on top in Bannon\u2019s full guard, staying busy but not doing much
\ndamage or threatening to pass to a better position. Bannon, for her
\npart, was content to wrap the Brazilian up in her full guard, box
\nher ears with palm strikes from the bottom and otherwise concede
\nthe position. The round ends with Caliari in top position, trying
\nto isolate one of Bannon\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n
\nearly takedown attempts, hurt her with body kicks, and reversed a
\nlate takedown, landing in top position, where she punished Caliari
\nfor the second half of the round. Caliari came out like a woman
\npossessed for Round 3, however, rocking \u201cMama B\u201d with a jab,
\n
\nhauling her to the canvas and patiently setting up an arm-triangle
\nchoke for the finish.<\/a><\/strong> Referee Kerry Hatley came to the
\nrescue at 3:08 of the final frame, awarding Caliari (9-4; 1-2 UFC)
\nher first win in the promotion, while Bannon (7-3; 2-3 UFC) fell
\nbelow .500 in the Octagon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"