//

UFC London results & video: Pearce TKO’s Amirkhani in lone prelim finish

July 23, 2022
Jonathan Pearce TKO’d Makwan Amirkhani on the UFC London prelims
Jonathan Pearce TKO’d Makwan Amirkhani on the UFC London prelims | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

On the UFC London prelims, Jonathan Pearce stopped Makwan Amirkhani with strikes.

The UFC London prelims weren’t exactly the most exciting we’ve ever seen, with seven decisions across eight bouts. A lot of these matches involved a bunch of control grappling, which made for quite a few lackluster moments. We did get one finish, and then also one knockdown in the card’s featured prelim.

Closing out this portion of UFC London, Ludovit Klein won each scorecard against Mason Jones. Klein scored a big knockdown in the second, which aided him in picking up his second straight victory. Before that, Marc Diakiese handily out-grappled Damir Hadzovic for pretty much the entire there rounds to get two scores of 30-26, and one of 30-27. It might be Marc’s least exciting fight to date, but at least it was a shutout?

Also on the prelims, Nathaniel Wood put on a dominant performance against Charles Rosa to take a unanimous decision. Wood showed of crisp boxing right away, and delivered several stinging calf kicks that badly chewed up the leg of Rosa. This was a strong showing to get himself back into the win column.

The first finish of the card came when Jonathan Pearce punished Makwan Amirkhani with a plethora of ground strikes to get a second round TKO. The opening round was pretty competitive, but ate a bunch of elbows while attempting to get the fight tot he ground. The second stanza was all JSP, who got on top and forced Makwan to wilt under him. This is the fourth straight win for Pearce.

Making good on his sophomore appearance in the UFC, Muhammad Mokaev dominated Charles Johnson in the grappling department to earn three scores of 30-27. Mokaev attacked with a grapple-heavy attack that rendered Johnson defensive for most of the match, and we even got a couple of suplexes in there. Mokaev remains undefeated and extends his perfect record to 7-0. In the lightweight division, Jai Herbert won a unanimous decision over Kyle Nelson, and then in the women’s flyweight division, Victoria Leonardo took a unanimous nod over Mandy Bohm.

Opening up the show, Nicolas Dalby overcame a poor opening round to pick up the next two and win a unanimous decision over Claudio Silva. Dalby was stuck on the bottom for pretty the entire first round, but made up for it with a ton of strikes in the second act, and then some more blows in the third. One judge even gave him a 10-8 in there.

**See complete results below

Prelims:

Ludovit Klein def. Mason Jones by unanimous decision (30-27x3): Lightweight

The fighters met in the middle to exchange strikes, with Jones closing the distance. Jones clinched up to press Klein against the cage, but wasn’t able to pin him there for very long at all. In open space, Klein landed a couple of head kicks that Jones somehow ate without issue.

Early in the second round, Klein clipped Jones with a right to left hand that dropped Jones. Klein got on top, and controlled for awhile, and when Jones scrambled back up, Ludovit stayed attached to his back. Jones eventually broke free, but wasn’t able to do anything to take back the round.

Jones pressed forward in the final round, but ended up pulling guard. Klein proceeded to control Mason for a bunch of time, and then Jones stood up with about a minute to go. The fighters exchanged strikes down the stretch, but none were really substantial.

Marc Diakiese def. Damir Hadzovic by unanimous decision (30-26x2, 30-27): Lightweight

Diakiese came out and shot in for the takedown right away to put Hadzovic on his back. After a few minutes, Hadzovic finally stood to his feet, just to get taken right back down. Diakiese came out deploying the same strategy in the second round. Hadzovic was having trouble improving his position, although he wasn’t absorbing much damage. The most significant strike was an accidental clash of heads, which caused a cut around Hadzovic’s left eye. The final round saw more ground control for Marc.

Nathaniel Wood def. Charles Rosa by unanimous decision (30-26 x2, 30-27): Featherweight

Wood marched forward behind a stiff 1-2, while Rosa was countering with body kicks. Rosa was stepping in with crafty knees that were catching Wood, but the hand speed of Nathaniel was the story here. The boxing of Wood was shining through, as he was clipping Rosa with fluid combinations. He was also complimenting his hands with damaging calf kicks that were compromising the footwork of Rosa. With just over 30-seconds to go, Rosa snagged a takedown and attacked with a modified guillotine.

Wood continued to lead the dance into the second round. He was blasting calf kicks that were dropping Rosa, but he elected to not follow Charles to the ground. Credit to Rosa for gritting through and continuing to throw back, but he wasn’t hitting his target nearly as much as Wood was. This was a pretty dominant round for Wood.

Nathaniel kept kicking the leg out from under Rosa in the final round. No matter what he did, Rosa just wasn’t able to get Wood to engage with him on the ground. When Rosa would stand up, he was throwing spinning elbows and overhands, but struggled to find the mark. Wood stayed with his calf kicks, and caused Charles to hit the deck a couple more times before the bell.

Jonathan Pearce def. Makwan Amirkhani by TKO at 4:10 of round 2: Featherweight

Amirkhani shot in to get things going, and Pearce instantly started attacking with a whole bunch of elbows. Amirkhani kept looking for the takedown, but he was split open by those elbows. A crazy scramble ensued, and JSP was being threatened with an anaconda choke, but was able to make the adjustments to defend properly. Amirkhani returned to his takedowns, but ate more and more of those elbows.

Pearce closed the distance in the second stanza to get his own takedown. JSP got away with a big fence grab that might have prevented Amirkhani from improving his position. The ref only warned him and Pearce continued to work from the top. He began blasting the body with knees, and then attacked the head with ground and pound. JSP began overwhelming Amirkhani, dropping punches and elbows until the referee stepped in.

Muhammad Mokaev def. Charles Johnson by unanimous decision (30-27 x3): Flyweight

Mokaev was aggressive from the get go. He was pressuring Johnson with heavy strikes, which allowed him to close the distance. Mokaev hit a sick suplex, and credit to Johnson to explode right back up, but another suplex was on its way. Johnson returned to his feet right away, but Mokaev was attached to his back for the rest of the round.

Mokaev aggressively pursued the takedown in the second stanza, and was able to get Johnson down, but not for long. Johnson was doing a good job of not staying down for long at first, but he just couldn’t find any real seperation. That lead to Mokaev getting more takedowns, and racking up a ton of control time. The final round saw more of the same. Mokaev going hard for the takedowns, getting them, and then Johnson working to get up.

Jai Herbert def. Kyle Nelson by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Lightweight

Nelson was kicking the body and the legs to get things going. Herbert was showing a lot of feints, but wasn’t landing as much. Nelson caught a kick and went for a takedown, which caused the fight to drift to the cage. Herbert was able to stay on his feet, but he got hit with some elbows on the inside. back in the middle of the cage, Herbert went back to attacking the calf.

Herbert opened the second act with some urgency. He was flowing on the feet, chaining combos together and picking Nelson apart from range. After about two-minutes of that, Nelson entered the clinch to put Herbert up against the cage. They jockeyed for position there, with Herbert ultimately taking control. Nelson seemed to be slowing down, just as Herbert was finding his groove.

Nelson opened the final frame with a thudding leg kick that seemed to really bother Herbert. Just as Nelson went for a takedown, Herbert defended well and managed to get on top. It took quite some time for Nelson to get back to his feet, and didn’t do much besides look for a takedown with the little bit of clock remaining.

Victoria Leonardo def. Mandy Bohm by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) : (W) Flyweight

The fighters clinched up early in the fight, with Leonardo pressing Bohm against the fence. After an extended period of time, Bohm finally escaped into open space. At range, Bohm began to let some leg kicks go, but Leonardo was launching body kicks of her own. Leonardo then clinched back up against the cage, and that’s where the round came to a close.

Leonardo continued to close the distance in the second round. Despite remaining vertical, Bohm was struggling to get her back off of the cage. When she finally did get off the fence, she was able to land an elbow on the break. In open space, Leonardo was striking her way into close quarters, and went back to pinning Bohm against the cage. With about 30-seconds to go, Bohm got free and started to connect with hard body kicks that seemed to bother Leonardo.

Leonardo punched her way into the clinch again in the third, but just could not get the fight down to the ground. In open space it was Leonardo who was actually showing the urgency with her punches, and Bohm who was initiating the clinch. The fight went back to the cage, but the referee refused to allow any stalling and broke them back apart. With just under 30-second left, Leonardo got her takedown to finish up the round on top.

Nicolas Dalby def. Claudio Silva by unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 29-27): Welterweight

Silva was looking to close the distance right away, working hard to get Dalby down to the mat. Dalby was doing a good job of defending and staying on his feet, but the persistence of Silva won out. Silva got on top and went right to full mount, and spent some time there before Dalby was able to get to half guard. Silva wasn’t doing much damage, but he was controlling for the entire round.

The second round saw Dalby land a couple of kicks before get taken down. On the ground, Silva went to the back and locked up a body triangle. Dalby managed to spin around into top position and had his turn at controlling. He was also dropping some elbows and punches. Silva stood up and Dalby began to tee off, landing clean punches in bunches. The desperation wrestling wasn’t working for Silva, and Dalby started to unload knees from the clinch.

Silva tried for a takedown to begin the final round, but ended up flopping to his back instead. Dalby took top position inside of the full guard, and was sprinkling in elbows when the opportunities presented themselves. Silva was split open, and Dalby elected to stand back up. The striking onslaught continued to pour on, but Silva was able to change levels and score a takedown. Dalby locked up an omoplata, which ate up some clock, but Silva was able to escape into side control. The round ended with Dalby exploding back up to his feet.

Post a Comment

No comments

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )