Chris Weidman absolutely dominated Mark Munoz tonight at ‘UFC On Fuel TV 4’ before finishing him in the second round.
Less than a minute into the opening round Weidman was looking for a takedown, and secured it surprisingly easily. He immediately moves to side control and stays on him when Munoz then rolls to his knees. Munoz tries to stand and Weidman fires off knees that force his opponent to head back down to the supposed safety of the mat.
Weidman gets into the front headlock position and it’s from here that much of the round plays out with Munoz able to do little else but stay defensive as his opponent searches for a chance to apply a submission.
In the end Weidman is able to transition for a top-side guillotine choke and it’s a good attempt, but Munoz is able to sneak out of it.
Finally Munoz gets back to his feet, but Weidman’s not finished with him yet and is able to get his back and press him up against the cage, finishing the round with knee strikes to the back of his legs.
So a very dominant display from Weidman in the opening stanza, and he starts off the second in similar fashion as he quickly secures another takedown.
Weidman’s looking for a choke, but Munoz sees an opening and is able to burst back to his feet.
After a tough start Munoz appears determined to make his mark on the feet and starts to press forward looking to land a telling blow.
He overcommits though and steps straight into a beautifully timed elbow strike from Weidman that sends him toppling forward onto the mat.
Weidman’s on him immediately and starts blasting him with repeated right hands. Munoz is doing nothing to defend himself and it’s a surprise that it takes so many strikes before he finally decides to end the fight, giving Weidman the TKO victory with 1.37mins of the second round gone.
Iin my opinion this one could have been stopped earlier as I’m not altogether convinced that Munoz was actually conscious during some of those final strikes on the ground. His face looked a mess afterwards and he was literally leaking blood from his forehead, presumably from the deadly elbow strike that was the beginning of the end for him.
Very impressive stuff here from Weidman, securing a much more emphatic victory than anyone could have predicted. It was surprising just how easily he was able to outwrestle Munoz, and his striking was impressive too.
This was the kind of performance that’s going to really put Weidman on that map, and with five wins in the UFC under his belt now he’s foced himself into the title picture, though he’ll probably still need another big win under his belt before he gets that opportunity.
