Ross Pearson struggled to deal with Ryan Couture’s grinding style in the early stage of their fight at UFC On Fuel TV 9, but he got going mid-way through the second round and finished the former Strikeforce fighter in convincing fashion by TKO.
Couture immediately closes the distance and shoves Pearson up against the cage. He’s looks to be opting for a grinding strategy and successfully manages to trap him there for the first half of the round, though he’s not really throwing much in the way of offense apart from the occasional knee.
Finally Couture gets Pearson down, but it’s only for a brief moment before pearson gets up and shortly afterwards is able to break free.
Pearson begins to stalk Couture and fires off a big head kick, but it’s blocked. Surprisingly not too much offense from pearson here, perhaps wary of the takedown.
Couture looking to clinch again, but this time Pearson doesn’t get trapped for long and lands a knee and left hook as they get back into striking range. Pearson starting to let his hands go, but the bell sounds before he can really find his groove.
Onto round two and Pearson’s back to stalking his opponent. He fires off a few punches, but Couture’s just not interested in a striking battle and works into the clinch and presses him up against the cage.
Couture steps back and fires off a few kicks and Pearson takes them and then gets away from the cage. Pearson goes back to hunting down Couture, but he’s just not really getting going with his strikes as Couture circles out of his range.
Spinning kick from Couture misses and shortly afterwards Pearson lands a left hook. Couture tries a kick and Pearson catches it and gets him to the mat.
Pearson lands a little ground and pound before Couture gets back to his feet. Finally Pearson gets aggressive and stars throwing heavy lefts and rights and Couture is in trouble.
A left hook lands hard and Couture drops to the mat. Pearson swarms with more punches and with Couture turtled up the referee jumps in and Pearson gets the TKO victory with
That will no doubt come as a bit of a relief for Pearson who got off to a slow start here, but came on strong in the end for an impressive finish and becomes the first fighter to finish Couture in his young career.
