T. Leites wins another one in the UFC. Photo: Josh Hedges
Black belt Thales showed that he returned to Ultimate to stay. The only Brazilian representative on the UFC 167 card, an event that takes place tonight (16), in Las Vegas, and celebrates the 20th anniversary of Ultimate, didn't give Ed Herman a chance. He dominated the American and scored his second consecutive victory in the Octagon.
The fight
In the duel between two experts in ground fighting, Thales leites He started surprising in his striking. In his first movements, the Brazilian closed the distance, connected with a good right blow and took down his rival. On top of that, he even escaped a few pedal strokes to stabilize his position on the ground. With dominance in the first half, the Brazilian reached his back, but despite many attempts, he was unable to secure the choke.
History repeated itself in the second round. Thales closed the distance, took down Herman and kept the American on the bottom in the ground fight. However, just like in the previous part, despite dominating the fight, the Brazilian was unable to end the dispute.
With a disadvantage on the judges' scorecards, the North American returned for the third round ready to knock out the Brazilian athlete. But after a bad moment in the standup, Thales again managed to close the distance and get a takedown, even with Ed holding the bars.
Tired due to the intense pace in the previous parts, Leites controlled the fight, finished the duel mounted and won the judges' unanimous decision (30×27, 30×27, 30×27).
Brother of Anthony Pettis debut with victory
At just 20 years old, Sergio Pettis, brother of the lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, debuted with the right foot in the octagon. In a good duel, the “Phenomenon”, as he is nicknamed, dominated Will Campuzano and won by unanimous decision from the judges.
The result marked Anthony's brother's ninth victory in MMA.
Check out the complete results from the UFC 167 preliminary card below:
Preliminary Card
Donald Cerrone finished Evan dunham with a triangle on R2;
Thales leites defeated Ed Herman via unanimous decision;
Rick Story defeated Brian Ebersole via unanimous decision;
Erik Perez defeated Edwin Figueroa via unanimous decision;
Jason High defeated Anthony Lapsley via unanimous decision;
Sergio Pettis defeated Will Campuzano via unanimous decision;
Gian Villante defeated Cody Donovan via TKO in R2;
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