No. 6-ranked light heavyweight contender Ovince Saint Preux (19-7) defeated No. 13-ranked Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (12-7, 1 NC) at UFC Fight Night 82 in Las Vegas.
The decision victory put Saint Preux back in the win column and inched him closer to contender territory in the 205-pound division. Feijao had opportunities in the fight, but faltered in capitalizing with a lackluster showing. MMADecisions.com posted the fight's media scores:
The majority of the first round was nothing of legend. It was a slow pace with Saint Preux moving forward, and Feijao circling away. The first significant happening came unexpectedly when Saint Preux landed a leg kick, but instantly showed he damaged his foot.
A hobbled OSP stayed active, but Feijao unleashed two nice leg kicks to the damaged leg. OSP responded by landing sharply with punches at the end of the round. Feijao ended up on his back with OSP landing elbows as the horn sounded.
The respect of each other's power gave the fans another slow start to a round when the second frame got underway. Feijao was not making any attempts to get inside of OSP's range. A course of boos reigned down on the fighters for their inaction. OSP caught Feijao off guard and put the Brazilian on his back with under two minutes remaining in the round. Bleacher Report MMA pointed out OSP had "powered through" his foot injury:
Saint Preux began landing heavy ground and pound from top position. Feijao was merely trying to hold OSP in place. It would not score him any points, but it would get him to the final round.
OSP came right out in the third to press the action. Feijao finally found some fire and countered effectively. The former Tennessee Volunteer landed more strikes on the feet, changed levels and put Feijao on the canvas again. The crowd grew restless as Feijao once again held OSP in place preventing offense and not attacking on his own.
Referee Yves Lavigne allowed them to ride out the position until OSP decided to stand up on his own. Saint Preux dove back into guard with a big punch in the final 20 seconds. He started pelting the former Strikeforce champion repeatedly as time ticked away, and the horn sounded before a finish would come. Both Robert Sargent of MMARising.com and Michael Carroll of FightMetric.com noted Feijao's inability to effectively utlize his talents to win fights:
Options are not plentiful for either man in the division, but a possible idea for the UFC would be to align OSP with fellow Ultimate Fight Night 82 winner Misha Cirkunov.
Cirkunov has been impressive in his young career and should be a breath of fresh air for the division. A fight against OSP would put his place in the division into perspective and elevate the winner to a possible title eliminator in late 2016.
Feijao's back-to-back losses may put him on the cutting block, but in a shallow division he will likely get at least one more chance under the UFC banner. A fighter such as Sean O'Connell makes sense for a rebound fight and would give Feijao a final chance to impress.
This was not a great fight, but Saint Preux came through with a solid performance he can build off moving forward. He is a tough out for anyone at 205 pounds, and will not be too far out from title contention with repeat performances.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
No comments:
Post a Comment