For the second week in a row, the UFC had an underdog walk out the victor.
Admittedly, Kelvin Gastelum was only the slight favorite to win, but nevertheless, Neil Magny’s performance was a stellar display, mixing up striking and wrestling for the first three rounds of the main event fight, before Gastelum made a comeback in the later stages.
It’s those later stages that will be drawing the attention this morning, as Gastelum came out in the fourth with a vengeance, dropping Magny twice and dominating on the ground. Yet, despite suggestions it could have been a 10-8 round, no judge marked it as such and so Magny walked out the winner with a split decision victory.
Magny’s cardio was supposedly going to be his difference maker, but in actuality Gastelum came into the fight looking in better shape than he’d ever been previously, making weight with minimal difficulty. The 24-year-old seemed to suffer no ill effects as he turned up the heat in the later rounds, but Magny had done enough in the earlier stages to sway the judges.
The win showed Magny’s bounce back from a loss to Demian Maia at UFC 190, with massive improvements in his grappling. The loss puts Gastelum down the pedestal at 170lbs, but with his age, he still shows much promise in the sport.
In the co-main event, Diego Sanchez made his featherweight debut, hoping that a drop in weight class would turn his career around after a recent decline, but came up short against #3 ranked Ricardo Lamas. Lamas overcame the size difference (Sanchez was reported to have weighed around 170lbs on fight night) by using wrestling and devastating leg kicks.
Sanchez, as per usual, refused to go out quietly. At one point the veteran was unable to stand on his right leg, had his back against the fence and still beckoned Lamas to come and fight him.
As Joe Rogan once said “Diego Sanchez is a savage.”
The 33-year-old TUF winner put forth a valiant effort, but Lamas was too skilled at closing him down and holding him against the fence. Sanchez, despite the loss, looked competent against a genuine contender at featherweight, and so perhaps shouldn’t be too disheartened. His size advantage will certainly serve him well in the lower weight division, and it’ll be interesting to see who the UFC pairs him up with next.
Elsewhere, we saw Olympic gold medal winner Henry Cejudo get a split decision victory over Jussier Formiga at flyweight.
Cejudo, who won his medal in wrestling, once again showed his boxing improvements as the two engaged in a fight that primarily took place on the feet. Formiga threw great kicks throughout the bout, but really struggled to land much significant offense. The two would get into a clinch and exchange knees repeatedly, but you never got the sense Cejudo was struggling against his game opponent.
After the fight, Cejudo made his case for the next title shot against Flyweight champion, and pound for pound great, Demetrious Johnson. Cejudo, despite his olympic background and his ever improving hands said he has been unable to show all his skills in the ring, and believes a fight against the champion would offer him that chance.
Full Results:
Main card
Neil Magny def. Kelvin Gastelum via split decision (47-48, 48-47 x2)
Ricardo Lamas def. Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Henry Cejudo def. Jussier Formiga via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
Erick Montano def. Enrique Marin via split decision 28-29, 29-28 x 2)
Enrique Barzola def Horactio Gutierrez via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Leandro Silva def. Efrain Escudero via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Undercard
Erik Perez def. Taylor Lapilus via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Bartosz Fabinski def. Hector Urbina (29-28, 30-27 x2)
Alejandro Perez def. Scott Jorgensen via submission (leg injury) (2nd, 4:26)
Andre Fili def. Gabriel Benitez via first-round KO (3:13)
Alvaro Herrera def. Vernon Ramos via first-round TKO (:30)
Marco Polo Reyes def. Cezar Arzamendia via first-round KO (3:42)
Michael Prazeres def. Valmir Lazaro via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
