Rick Story put ina a good performance tonight against Leonardo Mafra at UFC Fight Night 45, controlling the action before forcing a tapout due to an arm triangle choke in the second round.
Round One:
Good body shot from Story to start the opening round. He targets the body again. Mafra unleashes a high kick followed by a flurry of strikes, but then Story immediately counters with a clipping shot to the head.
Story gets a takedown and has Mafra pressed up close to the cage. Hard elbows from Story postured up in his opponents open guard.
Mafra gets up to his feet, but Story immediately takes him straight back down again. He’s in half-guard this time and looking to pass. Story gets to mount for a moment, but Mafra gets him back to half-guard.
Mafra tries to scramble to his feet, but Story is able to keep him down with a bout a minute and a half of the round remaining.
Inside Mafra’s open guard now Story lands some elbow strikes. He backs off and up for a moment and Mafra lands some kicks to his body from his back.
Mafra gets up, but not for long as Story lands one more takedown before the round draws to a close.
Round Two:
Mafra looked tired and disillusioned inbetween rounds, but lands a few confidence boosting low kicks to start the second.
Unfortunately for him Story then goes in pursuit of a takedown, and while he was able to get straight back up on the first attempt, Story wouldn’t be denied and landed a more powerful one right afterwards.
Story in half-guard and thinks about a kimura, but Mafra rolls and Story uses the opportunity to get to mount. Credit to Mafra though for getting him back to his half-guard again.
Story is looking for an arm triangle choke though and he manages to switch off to side control to lock it in tight and force the tap. Story was the big favorite going into this bout, but it was a good performance nonetheless.
