Michael McDonald impressed tonight on FOX Sports 1 with vicious, pin-point striking against the ultra-tough Brad Pickett and then capped off his performance with a triangle choke late in the second round.
McDonald scores with a mid-kick to start this one off. Another body kick for McDonald.
Suddenly the pace of this fight ramps up to top gear as McDonald rocks Pickett with a punch. Pickett’s wobbled and is getting no chance to recover as McDonald unleashes more offense on him.
Pickett is floored a few times under an unrelenting assault from McDonald and this fight looks in danger of being stopped at any moment.
Pickett’s hangs on for all he’s worth though with his face badly swollen, particularly around his left eye, and somehow he weathers the storm. Thankfully for him he gets some respite as McDonald realizes his opponent is going to be exceptionally difficult to put away and so he slows his pace accordingly so as not to gas out.
Pickett lumbers forward and McDonald’s happy to snipe at him on the counter for the remainder of the round.
Onto round two and Pickett’s still willing to stand and trade with his hard-hitting counterpart. Pickett pushing forward, and scoring occasionally with punches, but McDonald’s landing meaningfully on the counter too.
Suddenly Pickett swoops down and manages to get a takedown. Nice elbow lands from inside McDonald’s guard and then some body punches.
Pickett taking his time here, and rightly so given the punishment he took in the first round. This is a good position for him and could get him back into the fight, but suddenly McDonald throws up a triangle choke and it looks tight.
He adds in an armbar for good measure and Pickett is left rolling in desperation to try to break free. He gets out of the armbar, but the triangle choke is just in too tight and he’s forced to tap!
Terrific performance by McDonald showing his abilities both on the feet and on the mat. Hats off to Pickett as well though, that guy is as tough as they come!
