R. Whittaker (left) lands a blow on R. Jacaré (right) (Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC)
The dream is postponed. Once again, Ronaldo Jacare was close to challenging for the Ultimate middleweight belt, but the Brazilian black belt ended up being surprised by the Australian Robert whittaker and was knocked out in the second round. The setback was an attraction on the main card of UFC Kansas, an event held on Saturday night (15), in the United States.
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This is Jacaré's second defeat in Ultimate. At UFC 194, he lost by decision to Yoel romero. This time, however, the defeat came prematurely and postponed, at least for now, the Brazilian's dream of seeking the middleweight division title. From the beginning of the fight, the Amazonian's more static standing style was no match for Whittaker's movement and the New Zealander's faster hands made the difference.
The fight
When moving up from welterweight to middleweight, Robert whittaker I knew I would face stronger opponents. On the other hand, it would have the advantage of speed and precision. Against Ronaldo Jacare, this became more obvious than ever. Static, the Brazilian seemed to be looking for a winning blow, instead of looking for sequences and letting an opportunity for a takedown or knockout come naturally. Due to a mistake by the New Zealander, the black belt managed to trap him and achieved the dream takedown. Whittaker showed surprising defense on the ground and not even the attempts to take Jacaré's back made him nervous and the fight soon returned to the feet, where “The Reaper” maintained the advantage.
At the start of the second round, Whittaker's quick hands finally caught Jacaré. A straight right led the Brazilian to a knockdown, but the New Zealander didn't follow him to the ground. The X-Gym fighter got up and tried to move more, still feeling the effects of the hard blow he took. The New Zealander didn't let up and kept the pressure on, using jabs and high kicks.
Until, due to another oversight by Jacaré, he began an excellent sequence and managed another knockdown. Realizing that the knockout was close, Whittaker this time followed the Brazilian to the ground and landed hard blows until referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight and removed his compatriot, at least for now, from the hunt for the world title.
Moicano surprises experienced Stephens
R. Moicano (right) has his arm raised against J. Stephens (left) (Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC)
Even opening the main portion of a big show, the young man Renato Moicano, 27 years old, didn’t feel the pressure. With perfect game execution, he surpassed the experienced Jeremy Stephens, number five in the featherweight rankings and “announced” his arrival in the division with the biggest victory of his young career. In the first round, the Brazilian knew how to overcome the North American's strong right uppercut and scored with low kicks. A fortunate takedown put him in a great position and not even a kimura attempt from Stephens took away his dominance.
In the second round, there was less movement from Moicano and more striking. With that, he proved that his jab was up to date and opened some cuts on his opponent's face, but he also took hard blows, especially because he was more static. In the corner between the second and third rounds, the Constrictor Team coaches turned on the yellow light for Renato.
When he returned for the third round, the Brazilian repeated the strategy of the initial round: lots of movement and takedowns. When trying to move to half guard, however, Moicano was surprised by Stephens' defense, which he managed to get up without any major problems. From then until the end of the fight, Renato was more conservative, securing the round with jabs and avoiding his rival's strong blows. In the end, a fair split decision for Moicano.
UFC Kansas Results:
MAIN CARD
Fly weight: Demetrious Johnson x Wilson reis
Straw weight: Rose namajunas won Michelle Waterson via submission (rear naked choke) in R2
Average weight:Robert whittaker won Ronaldo Jacare by technical knockout at 3:28 of R2
Feather weight: Renato Moicano won Jeremy Stephens by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Heavyweight: Alexander Volkov won Roy Nelson by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)
Bantamweight: Tom Duquesnoy beat Patrick Williams by TKO at 28 seconds of R2
Lightweight: Rashid Magomedov won Bobby Green by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Fly weight: Tim Elliott won Louis Smolka by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)
Bantamweight: aljamain sterling won Augusto Tanquinho by unanimous decision (3x 29-28)
Light Heavyweight: Devin Clark won Jake collier by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Average weight: Anthony Smith won Andrew Sanchez by knockout at 3m52s of R3
Welterweight: Zak Cummings beat Nathan Coy via submission (guillotine choke) at 4:21 of R1
Bantamweight: Ketlen Scallop defeated Ashlee Evans-Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
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