On Saturday night the UFC returned to Las Vegas for the final PPV event of the year. Ahead of a stacked PPV and BT Sports prelim card was two very exciting fights on paper to open the card.
Alex White vs Clay Collard
Collard starts the first round by coming out and attempting some highlight reel kicks but misses. Both men are mixing up well the use of body and head shots while also throwing a mixture of kicks and punches, doing all they can to keep the other fighter guessing here.Collard drops White very early in the second round with a big left hook then rushes in to try and finish the fight. By rushing in Collard not only is unable to get the fight he was looking for but also ends up getting caught in a leg lock. After a few transitions both men return to there feet.
Collard locks in a triangle towards the end of the round and White looks like he has no option other than to tap but somehow manages to pop out of it, the effect of the triangle may have also taken its toll on both men as Collard looks very tired at the end of the second round.
Joe Rogan said it best when describing this fight as "an excellent back and forth fight" both men really giving everything in that second round.
Before the third round White's corner tell him he is two rounds down and he has to finish this fight in this round. Even though the first round was very close he definitely lost the second so this was great cornering by his coach to make sure he goes out looking for the finish instead of trying to coast and hope the judges score it in his favour had they told him he was up. He certainly had his best round of the fight but unfortunately for him could not do enough to get the finish and lost the decision on the score cards.
Official Decision: Clay Collard def. Alex White via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Sergio Pettis vs Matt Hobar
Hobar comes out and drops Pettis within the first 15 seconds with a big left hook. That was the first real strike of the fight but Pettis recovers well and gets back up quickly. Hobar gets the takedown after being on the receiving end of a couple of heavy hands from Pettis. From the ground it is Pettis, with his back on the mat who is always looking to be more active landing a number of up kicks and at one stage locking in a no arm triangle choke.With two minutes left of the first Pettis manages to escape and the fight returns to the feet where both where it remains until the very end of the round when Pettis attempts the takedown but gets reversed and Hobar ends the round on top with Pettis face down on the mat but nothing comes from this and the round ends.
The first real bit of action in the second was a huge head kick landed from Pettis but Hobar takes it well but is clearly hurt and rushes in throwing bombs to the grounded Hobar until he manages to get Pettis in his guard where the fight remains until half way through the round when the ref stands them back up.
Whenever this fight is on the feet you can clearly see the technical dominance of Pettis but on the ground its much more of an even fight. Hobar is showing a lot of damage by the end of the second round with the left eye nearly closed as they go in to the third round.
The third round is a much slower affair but that is no shock after what both men put in to the first two rounds. Pettis looks to be cruising to a victory tonight at 135lbs but I can't help but think he should be part of the UFC's flyweight division as he looks much smaller than all of the guys at the top end of the UFC's bantamweight division.
Offical Decision: Sergio Pettis def. Matt Hobart via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
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