Cigano (right) and the blows to the belt that bothered Rothwell (left). Photo: Srdjan Stevanovic/UFC
After a performance to forget in the defeat against alistair overeem, in his last fight in the octagon, Junior Gypsy won again in style this Sunday (10), in the main fight of UFC Croatia. Acclaimed by the local fans, who adopted him as a home athlete, Cigano reciprocated the fans' support with a confident performance and words of affection.
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“You made this experience in Croatia incredible for me. Thank you very much, I'm very, very happy to have won for you! About the fight, you can't go up against a guy that size. That's why I used movement. Forget my jiu-jitsu, forget wrestling, I'm a boxing guy!”, said the Brazilian, who even said a few words in Croatian, after the triumph.
With the victory over Ben Rothwell, Cigano should climb back up the rankings in the heavyweight category, where he currently occupies fifth place. In his career, the Brazilian has a record of 18 wins and four losses.
The fight
Right away, the former Brazilian champion already received the support of the home crowd, with shouts of “Cigano! Gypsy!". Excited by the encouragement, Cigano connected the first blow of the fight, an overhead right. Cigano even managed a few more good combinations, but ended up pointing a finger in his rival's eye, which was not seen by the referee. From then on, Dos Santos relied on movement, avoiding the cage and on strikes to the belt line to undermine Rothwell's resistance.
In the second round, Cigano again insisted on punches to the waistline, but started to vary it with some direct punches. In the final stretch of the partial, another finger in the Brazilian's eye, but this time referee Leon Roberts stopped the fight and gave the North American a warning. In the last seconds, Junior dos Santos hit an overhead shot on Rothwell's right eye, which immediately opened a cut in the area, and completed the sequence with a front kick that knocked his opponent down.
In the third round, contrary to what could be expected, Rothwell came back better and began to control the center of the octagon even more, starting to feel more comfortable in the fight. Cigano, however, regained his distance midway through the session and added waist-level kicks to his arsenal of blows, hitting his rival at least three times.
Aiming to avoid a reaction from his rival, as had happened in the previous round, Cigano began the fourth round using jabs to control the distance. Despite this, at times, Rothwell threatened the Brazilian and managed to connect at least two sequences. At the end of the partial, both Cigano and Rothwell showed signs of fatigue.
In the fifth and final round, after almost two minutes of jabbing, Cigano landed a direct knee to Rothwell's face and shook the American. In the final stretch of the fight, the Santa Catarina native returned to the series of jabs to guarantee victory and even risked a high kick, but only to lift the crowd.
At the end of the fight, a calm decision was made in favor of the Brazilian, with a victory by five rounds to zero in the opinion of the three judges, winning again in Ultimate.
Napão is brutally knocked out by Lewis in the co-main fight
The Brazilian Gabriel Napao well he had his chance on the ground against Derrick Lewis. But, without taking advantage of the opportunity on the ground, the former heavyweight title challenger ended up succumbing to his rival's powerful right hand and was knocked out in the final stretch of the first round of the co-main fight of the night in Zagreb.
Right away, Napão suffered a high kick that opened a cut on his nose. Even after the hard blow, the Brazilian managed to take down his rival and take his back. Despite his good position, Napão ended up losing his grip and saw the fight return to standing. Already tired and bleeding a lot, Napão ended up becoming an easy target and was hit by a hard right hand from Lewis, which immediately took him to the ground. Derrick still had time to land two more blows before the judge interrupted.
With the reverse, Gabriel Napao he has had four defeats in his last five fights in Ultimate. In his career, the jiu-jitsu specialist has 17 wins and eleven losses.
In a busy fight, Pokrajac loses and Croatia leaves without a win
In one of the busiest fights of the night, Croatian Igor Pokrajac tried hard, but ended up succumbing to the Pole Jan Blachowicz and was defeated in his re-debut in the octagon. With Pokrajac's setback, Croatia ended up leaving its first hosted Ultimate event without a victory.
After a less emotional first round, and with an advantage over Pokrajac, Blachowicz seems to have returned with renewed spirits for the second half and staged a real fight with his rival. The scenario was also repeated in the third stage, but with the Pole always having the advantage, mainly with providential falls to avoid the Croatian's momentum and guaranteed victory in the judges' decision.
Check out the UFC Croatia results:
MAIN CARD
junior gypsy defeated Ben Rothwell by unanimous decision (50×45, 50×45 and 50×45)
Derrick Lewis derrotou Gabriel Napao by technical knockout (punches) 4m48s from R1
Francis Ngannou defeated Curtis Blayde via TKO (eye injury) in R2
Timothy Johnson defeated Marcin tybura in unanimous decision of the judges (29×28, 29×28 and 29×28)
Jan Blachowicz defeated Igor Pokrajac in a unanimous decision by the judges (29×28, 29×28 and 29×28)
Maryna moroz defeated Cristina Stanciu in a unanimous decision by the judges (30×27, 30×27 and 30×27)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Zak Cummings defeated Welterweight by unanimous decision (30×27, 30×27 and 30×27)
Alejandro Pérez defeated Ian Entwistle via TKO (punches) at 4:04 of R1
Mairbek Taisumov defeated Damir Hadzović by knockout (uppercut) at 3m44s of R1
Damian Stasiak defeated Filip Pejic via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:16 of R1
lucas mineiro defeated Robert Whiteford in a split jury decision (29×28, 28×29 and 30×27)
Jared Cannonier defeated Cyril Asker by technical knockout (punches and elbows) at 2:44 of R1
Bojan Velickovic defeated Alessio diChirico in a unanimous decision by the judges (29×28, 29×28 and 30×27)
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