Jones and Axel Sola
produced more spins than a washing machine.
Serving as the preliminary headliner in the easiest call for “Fight
of the Night” in recent memory, Jones and Sola (11-1-1, 1-1 UFC)
collided in an absolute rip-snorter for three bloody, tantalizing
rounds. The two threw caution to the wind across 15 violent minutes
in their featured
UFC Fight Night 270 prelim on Saturday at the O2 Arena in
London. Jones (18-2, 1 NC; 4-2, 1 NC UFC) took home the grizzly
victory with one score of 30-27 and a pair of 29-28 tallies, all in
his favor, in a back-and-forth battle that will be remembered for
some time.
Sola dazzled early with a spinning back fist that put the Welshman
down but not out, and although Jones recovered to rip open a gash
on Sola’s cheek, he had plenty of ground to reclaim. Jones put
forth a full-throated effort, even launching a tornado kick to the
body where he ended up in too close range. Jones constant attacks
transformed the Frenchman’s face to a crimson mask, as he picked up
steam and drilled Sola with high kicks and knees on the jaw. Sola
went to the well several more times with spins, but he never could
catch Jones with another quite as cleanly.
Jones ended the match firmly in the driver’s seat, rocking the
French fighter repeatedly with head kicks and knees that oft-placed
Sola on rubber legs. Sola gathered his thoughts to dump Jones
square on his head, but it did not shift the momentum, as Jones
shook out the cobwebs and unleashed a fury to conclude their banger
with a veritable avalanche of offense. “The Dragon” becomes the
first fighter to beat the former Ares FC champ as a pro.
Nathaniel
Wood (23-6, 11-3 UFC) tangled with the debuting Losene
Keita (16-2, 0-1 UFC) in an extremely tight featherweight
contest, one that did not remotely reflect the betting line where
Keita closed as a favorite around -285. All three rounds could have
gone to either fighter, with the stats close and the intensity even
closer. Both men had their successes in a tit-for-tat offering, and
when the dust settled, Wood swayed two of three judges to his side
to earn the split decision nod (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
The newcomer largely maintained a headhunting approach to score
effectively on “The Last Kingsman,” doing some damage and bloodying
Wood’s nose but never truly hurting him. Some of Wood’s best
responses came courtesy of his jackhammering calf kick, where he
forced Keita to hit the deck multiple times by sweeping the leg.
The judges only agreed that Wood won the first round, and their
opinions varied in Rounds 2 and 3.
Springing the upset over the highly touted crossover athlete, Wood
finds himself on a four-fight win streak. However, he has gone to
the scorecards in 10 straight bouts.
The prelims progressed with a heavyweight slog as the undefeated
Mario
Pinto (12-0, 3-0 UFC) did just enough to prevail over late
replacement Felipe
Franco (10-2, 0-1 UFC). Portugal’s Pinto, who came into this
pairing with momentum on his side courtesy of three straight
knockouts, relied more on his wrestling than his slugging prowess.
The action proved less-than-stellar, but Pinto got the job done
with a trio of 29-28 scores on his side.
Franco proved to be a sterner test than expected, with the
once-beaten Brazilian light heavyweight standing up to anything the
far larger Pinto threw at him. After some lackluster exchanges
replete with plenty of lulls in the action, Pinto took “Negao” out
of the game by transitioning to his wrestling attack. While he did
not manage to complete many takedowns, his approach and clinch
control allowed him to take most of the sting out of Franco’s
punches.
The 28-year-old who now trains in London remained unbeaten as a
pro, winning his third in the Octagon and placing himself ever
closer to the top 15 of the talent-starved division.
Finally, Mantas
Kondratavicius (9-1, 1-0 UFC) celebrated his organizational
debut, just not in the way he had hoped. The hard-hitting
Lithuanian ended up going the distance for the first time in his
career as he beat up an exhausted Antonio
Trocoli (12-7, 1 NC; 0-4 UFC) after three grueling rounds.
Kondratavicius earned scores of 30-27, 29-27 and 29-27 all in his
favor in a bout few will watch again.
The 26-year-old newcomer largely had his way with the Brazilian
over the course of the first two lopsided rounds, with
Kondratavicius dropping Trocoli with a vicious elbow to the temple
that nearly forced referee Rich Mitchell to step in. “Malvado”
survived and found himself motivated by his corner between rounds
to change his approach to an all-grappling attack. A pair of judges
were swayed to award the final round to Trocoli, who had lost his
previous three UFC outings, but it was not nearly enough to get the
job done. Both spent middleweights appeared relieved when time
elapsed.
The matchup marked the first time that Kondratavicius had ever even
reached the third round as a pro, with none of his prior nine
appearances lasting longer than nine minutes and four seconds.
In earlier action, heavyweight Brando
Pericic (6-1, 2-0 UFC)
sucked the air out of the O2 Arena by clobbering a
sloppy Louie
Sutherland (10-5, 0-2 UFC) with a lengthy barrage of punches
that put the Brit away at 1:48 of the opening frame; Abdul-Kareem
Al-Selwady (16-4, 1-1 UFC) outdueled a game but ultimately
overmatched Shaqueme
Rock (11-3-1, 0-2 UFC) across three clear-cut rounds, picking
up the unanimous verdict (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) over his lightweight
counterpart that had a bit of extracurricular drama after the final
bell; kicking off the day with a smokin’ debut in front of her home
crowd, Shanelle
Dyer (7-1, 1-0 UFC) clipped the wings of an overweight Ravena
Oliveira (7-4-1, 0-3 UFC) with a
head kick, a bevy of knees and some powerful finalizing punches
1:17 into the second frame after a feeling-out first
round.