Carlos Diego Ferreira reached six consecutive victories. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram@UFC
Without making much fanfare, the Brazilian Carlos Diego Ferreira has been growing consistently within the UFC lightweight division in recent years. Undefeated for five years in the largest MMA organization on the planet, the Amazonian based in the United States, Ferreira achieved this Saturday (19), in Las Vegas (USA), the biggest triumph of his career. In a safe and dominant performance, the only athlete to represent Brazil in the UFC 246 finished the former world champion Anthony Pettis and could get closer to a place in the top-15 of the under-70kg division.
Right away, Carlos Diego demonstrated that his strategy was to “stifle” Pettis, with constant advances and giving little time for the former champion to try his usual punches. The Brazilian managed to put his rival down and take his back, but ended up losing his good position. Back on his feet, the initial scenario repeated itself again, with Ferreira advancing without giving space to Pettis, who eventually succumbed to leg attacks and ended up on the ground once again.
If in the first round the first takedown took around a minute to happen, in the second round the Brazilian managed to take the duel to the ground in the opening seconds. Once again working on his position and managing to stay behind Pettis' back, Carlos Diego undermined his opponent's physical momentum, at the same time as he scored important points on the judges' scorecards.
Carlos Diego Ferreira, however, had other plans and taking the fight to the end of the regulation 15 minutes was not among them. With around two minutes remaining in the second round, the Brazilian took advantage of a mistaken movement by Pettis and managed a very tight choke, forcing “Showtime” to quickly tap out and guaranteeing his sixth consecutive victory in the Ultimate Championship.
After the victory, Ferreira assured that the fight script continued as planned. “I escaped the leg kicks, which really hurt a lot. If you notice, I even left limping after the fight. But that was the strategy, I even trained this specific choke with my coaches backstage before entering the Octagon. I'm very happy to be here, to win, but I'm already thinking about going back to the gym, training hard and fighting again as soon as possible”, said Ferreira, in an interview in the octagon.
In a warm fight, Holly holm wins Rachel Pennington
Former UFC bantamweight champion, Holly holm There is a curious coincidence in his professional record. The “Shepherd's Daughter” was only defeated by athletes who had been, or became, at the time, world champions. Before Rachel Pennington, the kickboxer kept the writing in a rematch of the duel that marked Holm's debut in Ultimate.
Without straying from her characteristics, Holm played a safe game, keeping Pennington against the fence and trying to avoid her rival's takedowns. In moments when both were in the middle of the octagon, Holly preferred front kicks, avoiding long sequences and always looking for contact to take her opponent back to the fence, where she tried to develop her strength. clinch e dirty boxing.
The strategy, efficient for Holm, generated such frustration in Pennington that it ended up causing one of the most unique moments of the night, with one of her corners asking successively for the public to demonstrate by booing against the game played by the former champion. Interestingly, however, it was Pennington who took the fight to the cage in the third and decisive round.
The public, in turn, responded to Pennington's coach's request, but not exactly what he requested, and flooded the arena with boos when the fight came to an end, which generated an apology from Holm on the microphones. “I apologize for the way the fight went, but we needed it. She has a very aggressive style and we came away with the victory. That was the most important thing and I obviously want to perform better in the next fights”, said the former champion.
Check out the UFC 246 results below:
MAIN CARD
Conor McGregor derrotou Donald Cerrone by technical knockout (punches) at 40s of R1
Holly holm won Rachel Pennington in unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 29×28, 30×27)
Heavyweight (up to 120.2 kg.): Alexey Oleinik won Maurice Greene by submission (armbar) at 4m38s of R2.
brian kelleher won Ode Osbourne by submission (guillotine) at 2m49s of R1.
Carlos Diego Ferreira won Anthony Pettis by submission (rear naked choke) at 1m36s of R2.
PRELIMINARY CARD
Roxanne Modafferi won Maycee barber in unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 30×27 and 30×26)
Sodiq Yusuf won André Fili in unanimous decision of the judges (29×28, 29×28 and 29×28)
Askar askarov won Tim Elliott in unanimous decision of the judges (29×28, 30×27, 30×27)
Drew dober won Nasrat Haqparast by technical knockout (punches) at 1m10s of R1.
Aleksa Camur beat Justin Ledet in a unanimous decision by the judges (29×28, 30×27 and 30×27)
Sabina mazo won JJ Aldrich in a split decision by the judges (29×28, 29×28 and 28×29).
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