G. Espartano is defeated on the preliminary card of the ufc vegas 14. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram
Brazil started its trajectory badly in the UFC Las Vegas 14. First of the country's two representatives in the event, which takes place this Saturday (14), in the USA, the bantamweight (61,2kg) Geraldo de Freitas it was hard work, but he couldn't resist the wrestling of Tony Gravely. The fight was exciting, tense and so difficult to score that one judge gave the victory to Espartano, but two saw the North American being superior. This was the Brazilian's second consecutive defeat in three appearances for the organization.
The fight
The confrontation was another classic clash between striker and grappler. Visibly better on his feet, Espartano was comfortable, fast and his ease in striking bothered Gravely. However, when trying to take down the opponent, he fell underneath, as the opponent is a wrestler by birth. So much so that, on two more occasions, the North American applied two plastic takedowns to the Brazilian.
The second round was clear. Strangely, Espartano, who has a strong point in stand-up fighting, made the wrong choices and found himself at a disadvantage several times. In one of them, he received hard blows, got up, but was knocked down again. In total, Gravelly took four takedowns.
In the third round, the American managed to take down in less than a minute and scored a lot of points. However, the Brazilian managed to get up and applied hard blows to his opponent, who was exhausted due to so much effort. In the end, Gravely managed to land another takedown near the fence and the pair stayed there.
Despite showing value, Espartano was defeated in a split decision by the judges. The Brazilian has an attractive fighting style to watch, but he needs to win again in the organization to eliminate the risk of being cut from it once and for all.
Murata makes a good impression on debut
Kanako Murata showed that she wasn't Invicta's strawweight champion (52,2kg) for nothing and justified her signing right after her UFC debut. The Japanese faced the veteran Randa markos and there was no work. Even though she is smaller than her opponent, Murata is very strong and showed superiority, precisely, in the Canadian's strong point: grappling.
She not only avoided the fall, but also took down Markos and narrowly missed out on winning by knockout in the first round. There was more study in the second round, but Murata was once again in an advantageous position at the end of the five minutes. In the last round, the Japanese made use of her excellence in grappling, took down and was very close to finishing. By dominantly beating a well-known athlete, the Japanese can now join the top-15 strawweights in the next ranking update.
Morono dominates and recovers
A. Morono (left) dominates opponent. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram
In a very busy fight between welterweights (77,6kg), alex morono recovered from the heavy defeat suffered in his last appearance, by putting in a solid performance against Rhys Mckee. Even though he was smaller than his opponent, the North American was not intimidated and took the initiative from the beginning to the end of the 15 minutes.
In the first round, Morono was sovereign. He hit McKee well and always with very powerful blows. In the second round, the Northern Irishman improved and showed more desire to fight, but he was still inferior and started to bleed, due to the volume of his opponent's blows. In the third and final round, Morono, tired, knew the advantage he had on the scoreboard and chose to manage the fight, despite taking some risks. Intelligently, he applied two specific takedowns, attempted a submission and abused his opponent with ground strikes.
Morono's good victory was his fourth in the last five fights and has him aiming for the top-15 in the category. On the other hand, McKee was defeated again in the UFC and lost the hype that his signing had. Before, he was one of the victims of Khamzat Shimaev
Mayes wins for the first time in the UFC
D. Mayes (right) wins his first fight in the UFC. Source: Reproduction/Instagram
In a technically weak fight for the heavyweights (120,2kg), Don'Tale Mayes he made use of his size to beat Roque Martinez and thus achieve his first UFC triumph. Most of the time, the North American acted in a restrained manner, as he knew that a new setback could put an end to his career in the organization.
Even so, Mayes realized that his opponent was having trouble getting closer, attacking and applied the best blows. The only dangerous moment played by Martinez was a submission attempt in the third round. Other than that, the Guam athlete only showed the resistance to withstand the attacks, especially the opponent's knees.
With the victory, Mayes extended his stay in the UFC and put the pressure on Reyes, who was defeated in his two UFC appearances.
UFC Las Vegas 14 RESULTS
MAIN CARD
Lightweight: Rafael dos Anjos derrotou Paul felder in the judges' split decision (47-48, 50-45, 50-45)
Welterweight Weight: Khaos Williams derrotou Abdul Razak Alhassan by knockout at 0m30s of R1
Straw weight: Ashley yoder derrotou Miranda granger in the unanimous decision of the judges (30-26, 29-27, 29-27)
Net weight: Sean Strickland derrotou Brendan allen by technical knockout at 1m32s of R2
Straw weight: Cory Mckenna derrotou Kay hansen in the unanimous decision of the judges (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Straw weight: Kanako Murata derrotou Randa markos in the unanimous decision of the judges (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Bantamweight: Tony Gravely derrotou Geraldo de Freitas in the judges' split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Welterweight Weight: alex morono derrotou rhys mckee in the unanimous decision of the judges (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Heavyweight: Don'Tale Mayes defeated Roque Martinez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
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