Blaydes lands a knee on Cigano. Photo: Reproduction / Twitter@UFC
The long-awaited return of former Ultimate Junior heavyweight champion “Cigano” dos Santos ended up being frustrated by the guest of the night, Curtis blaydes. Returning to fight after more than six months, Cigano was unable to find his game, had difficulty connecting his powerful right hand and ended up surprised by the wrestler Blaydes where he least expected it, in a stand-up fight, being knocked out in the second round of the main fight at UFC Raleigh, this Saturday (25).
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With the setback, Cigano suffered his second consecutive defeat in the organization – the last one had been in June 2019 against Francis Ngannou. In his career, the Brazilian has accumulated 21 wins and seven defeats. Already Curtis blaydes he reached 13 victories as a professional, also adding two defeats (coincidentally, both against Ngannou) and one fight without result. With the victory, the North American should get closer to the top of the 120kg category and can start to dream of a title fight.
The fight
The fight started tensely, with Blaydes trying to avoid Cigano's cocked right hand, which, in turn, denied two takedown attempts by his American rival. In the following minutes, the dynamic was repeated, until Blaydes finally managed to make contact with Cigano, but the Brazilian defended himself in time to only have his back against the fence. Curtis ended up landing a hook in Cigano's genital region, which ended up helping the former champion, as it separated the clinch. In the final stretch of the round, Blaydes loosened up more and ended up connecting some good blows, which was enough to take the advantage in the very even split.
The second round began with Blaydes surprising Cigano with a good straight right. Cornered, the Brazilian retreated and ended up being immediately caught by another good right blow, which opened the way for an overwhelming sequence of blows, which quickly cornered the former heavyweight champion with knees and punches, forcing the central referee to interrupt.
After the fight, Curtis blaydes praised Cigano and told a little about his fighting plan going into the fight. “Man, a legitimate legend like Junior dos Santos, one of the original tough guys in this sport, and beating a guy like that is quite an achievement, I'm really happy! I knew he was going to try to avoid my takedowns, but I had some surprises with his straight rights and uppercuts,” said the American.
Check out the UFC Raleigh results below:
MAIN CARD
Heavyweight: Curtis blaydes derrotou Junior Gypsy by technical knockout (knee and punches) at 1m00s of R2
Welterweight Weight: Michael chiesa won Rafael dos Anjos in unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 29×28 and 29×28)
Fly weight: Alex Perez beat Jordan Espinoza via submission (katagatame) at 2m33s of R1
Straw weight: Angela Hill beat Hannah Cifers by technical knockout (punches) at 4m26s of R2
Light Heavyweight: Jamahal hill beat Darko Stosic in a unanimous decision by the judges (29×27, 29×27 and 29×27)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Middleweight: Bevon Lewis beat Dequan Townsend via unanimous decision (30×27, 30×27 and 30×27)
Feather weight: arnold allen won Nik lentz in unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 29×28 and 29×28)
Flyweight: Justine Kish won Lucie Pudilova in unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 30×27 and 30×27)
Bantamweight: Montel Jackson won Felipe Cabocão in unanimous decision of the judges (30×26, 30×26 and 30×25)
Bantamweight: Sara McMann beat Lina Lansberg in a unanimous decision by the judges (30×27, 30×26 and 30-25)
Bantamweight: Brett johns won Tony Gravely via submission (rear naked choke) at 2m53s of R3
Feather weight: Herbert Burns won nate landwehr by technical knockout at 2m43s of R1
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