Refreshed Brandon Moreno Sharp as Ever & Primed to make another Run at the Top
The former flyweight champion is back and looked better than ever.
The time away from the fight game did wonders for Brandon Moreno who looked calm, composed, and happy to be in the octagon once again. The six-fight win streak of Amir Albazi is a thing of the past thanks to the multiple layered attack of Brandon Moreno.
Early on the Mexican fighter was sticking and exiting away from any return fire. As the Moreno jab piled up on Albazi’s nose Moreno built on his offense adding leg kicks, left hooks, and overhands from both sides to vary his offensive attack. From exiting and not being around to be hit to walking down his counterpart as the aggression rose so did the creativity. A game Albazi kept coming and had his best round in the fourth biting down on the mouthpiece and moving forward taking the round on one scorecard.
The dominate performance shows that Moreno is still in the thick of the title conversation at 125 lbs.
Erin Blanchfield scored the biggest win of her career defeating former champion Rose Namajunas by unanimous decision. The first two rounds belonged to Namajunas with her accurate striking and constant movement. In the third Namajunas went for a takedown attempt leading Blanchfield to finishing the round in top position. The fourth is where the Blanchfield pressure and aggression translated in success brawling forward with straight punches. Putting a bow on the performance Blanchfield put Namajunas on her back and kept her there till the bell.
The win should place Erin Blanchfield within the grasp of earning a title shot.
A couple big punches in the pocket garnered the judges favor towards Brendson Ribeiro taking a split decision over the kick heavy Caio Machado.
Jasmine Jasdavicious looks ready to face top ten competition after a third win in a row. Ariane Da Silva got the better of the striking in the pocket in the first round before a caught kick showed Jasdavicious her path to victory. After finishing the first round on top Jasdavicious went right at DA Silva putting her on her back. For the second time in her last three fights Jasdvicious secure a D’Arce choke for the win.
Early in the first round Marc-Andre Barriault slipped on a kick placing him on the mat where he spent most of the first round under Dustin Stolzfus. When he saw the opportunity Barriault returned to his feet looking to brawl. A short right cross on the chin from Stolzfus put the Candian out cold. Mike Malott rebounded from his first setback in the UFC out pointing Trevin Giles with a kick heavy offense never allowing Giles to find his rhythm.
Aiemann Zahabi has positioned himself to start facing ranked opposition after a fifth win in a row. The tight defense and volume counter striking of Zahabi busted up the face and nearly closed the left eye of the longtime ranked Brazil.
The move down to Bantamweight provided spectacular results for Charles Jourdain. Jourdain’s leg kick and straight punches forced Victory Hery into his plane B, wrestling. Canada’s “Air” countered the takedowns with his guillotine. Going to the well on several occasions Jourdain secured the victory with a high elbow guillotine forcing Henry to tap for his third win in the UFC from the same choke. Youssef Zalal continues to make the most of his second run with the UFC recording a third submission in his third fight since returning. Zalal dropped Jack Shore with a step-in knee flush on the chin. Once on the ground Zalal secured his 9th submission win with an Arm-Triangle.
Alexandr Romanov & Cody Gibson collected unanimous decisions thanks to their wrestling. Romanov took Rodrigo Nascimento down six times to maintain his number thirteen in the Heavyweight rankings. Gibson made it consecutive wins on the strength of taking down Chad Anheliger five times. And a couple Canada’s benefitted from pair of eyebrow raising split decisions. Jamey-Lyn Horth got past Ivana Petrovic and even Serhiy Sidey looked surprised it was his hand instead of Garret Armfield’s that was raised.
Armfield’s boxing was on point, but he did have to fight off a D’Arce choke and the red on Sidey’s face suggested Armfield was winning the striking till Sidey landed his right hand to Armfield’s temple. The third was a clear Armfield round thanks to three takedowns.
Ivan Petrovic controlled more than half the fight in the clinch and looked to be frustrating Jamey-Lyn Horth with her movement in and out of the pocket, but Horth did fire in bunches with intention.
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