By: Daniel Kendrick
Main Card
Main Event
Bantamweight
Renan Barao def. Michael McDonald via 4th round submission
In the main event, Renan Barao retained his Interim Bantamweight title by submitting the very game Michael McDonald with an arm triangle at the 3:57 mark of the 4th round. Barao weathered an early storm by McDonald which put Barao in some real danger, but the Black House product hung tough and even returned fire to stave off the scrappy challenger.
Barao took over in true championship fashion in the 3rd and gave the London crowd a pleasing 4th round arm triangle finish when he was able to put McDonald on his back. Barao will now have to once again decide whether he’ll stay active in defending his share of the bantamweight crown or if he’ll wait for division king, Dominique Cruz, to make it back from his ACL injury. With his successful defense, Barao moves to a very impressive 32-1-0 with 1 no contest while McDonald drops only his second loss bringing him to 15-2-0.
Featherweight
Cub Swanson def. Dustin Poirier via UD
In typical fashion, Cub Swanson came out hell-on-wheels from the opening bell. Unsurprisingly dominating the striking exchanges, Swanson also showed why he’s one of the most well rounded in the division by stuffing Poirier’s takedown attempts, as well. When Poirier was able to finally put Swanson on the ground, Swanson either came right back to his feet and in the final round, took Poirier down and did some effective ground work of his own, putting an exclaimation point on yet another impressive performance and bringing him one step closer to his much coveted rematch with division kingpin, Jose Aldo.
The dominant performance now takes Swanson to 19-5-0 while Poirier falls to 13-3-0.
Light Heavyweight
Jimi Manuwa def. Cyrille Diabate via 1st round TKO
Jimi Manuwa continued to make a case for himself as one of the next studs of the light heavyweight division by taking out striking vet, Cyrille Diabate, rendering him unable to continue following a punishing first round. Manuwa tendered up the feared striker on the ground and even got the better of some of the striking exchanges in the only round of action. Heading into the second round, Diabate wasn’t able to come out and forced the stoppage, giving Manuwa his 13th professional win and remaining undefeated.
Manuwa now moves his unbeaten record to 13-0-0 with Diabate dropping his 9th loss and bringing his overall record to 20-9-3.
Welterweight
Gunnar Nelson def. Jorge Santiago via UD
In what was possibly the most action loaded fight of the night, Gunnar Nelson kept the 0 in his loss category of his record by weathering an early onslaught by Jorge Santiago and turning the tide after the opening round. In the second round, Nelson established early ground control and remained dominant throughout the round from there. Finally, in the third, Nelson was able to showcase his striking by getting the better end of that action as well en route to securing the unanimous decision victory.
Nelson remains basically unblemished in his professional career with a 11-0-1 record as Santiago falls to 25-11.
Light Heavyweight
James Te Huna def. Ryan Jimmo via UD
James Te Huna showed tremendous tenacity in surviving a scary first round that saw him get dropped by a well placed head kick that was reminiscent of the one Minotauro got dropped with by Heath Herring in his Octagon debut. Like the Pride legend, Te Huna was able to make it out of extreme danger and come out to dominate the second round with some grueling and vicious ground ‘n’ pound. The third round was another convincing round for the New Zealand native and was apparently convincing to the judges, as well, who awarded him the unanimous decision nod.
Te Huna gets closer to the deeper waters of the sharktank division with his victory and takes his record to 18-5-0. Meanwhile, Jimmo takes a step back and sees his record fall to 17-2-0.
Welterweight
Matthew Riddle def. Che Mills via SD
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……….Oh, sorry. Let me go back to see what happened after the first round. I’m glad I DVR’d this. Whew! That was close.
Matthew Riddle continuously resorted to takedown attempts and when successful, maintained ground position, doing little, if any, damage. In other words, as it’s known in various MMA forums, Riddle pulled a lay ‘n’ pray for 3 rounds, was awarded the decision, and fans breathed a huge sigh of relief that it was finally over.
In looking on the bright side in analyzing Riddle’s bright spots, he at least didn’t get baited into a slugfest and showed that he could stick to a gameplan, though it left much to be desired from the young prospect. On the flipside, Mills showed an obvious and gaping hole in his game with poor takedown defense.
Riddle now bolsters his record to 7-3-0 with 1 no contest while Mills drops to 15-6-0 and 1 no contest.
Undercard
Renee Forte def. Terry Etim via UD
Danny Castillo def. Paul Sass via UD
Andy Ogle def. Josh Grispi via UD
Tom Watson def. Stanislov Nedkov via 2nd round TKO
Vaughan Lee def. Motonobu Tezuka via UD
Phil Harris def. Ulysses Gomez via UD
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