Charles Oliveira claimed victory tonight at UFC Fight Night 67 in his rematch with Nik Lentz, but he had to work very hard for it in an action-packed battle that was finally put to bed with a third round guillotine submission.
Round One:
Both men kick together. Lentz kicks to the body and gets the body lock looking for a takedown. Oliveira defending this against the cage for now.
They spin around and Lentz looking to land quick punches and then back to the clinch. Oliveira with a guillotine attempt and drops down with it, but Lentz gets away from it and gets up while Oliveira stays down. Lentz goes down with him for a moment, but Oliveira stands.
Now it’s Oliveira who has Lentz down, but can’t get a submission in and Lentz is back up and they go back to striking range.
Lentz coming forward with punches that are landing and then into the clinch. Lentz finds some room to land a good right and then to the clinch again. They jockey for position and eventually Lentz gets the takedown, but only briefly. Lentz landing some nice punches. Both men looking to exchange, but Oliveira appears to have suffered a cut in the midst of all this action, perhaps from an elbow
Oliveira landing a nice combination including a knee and elbow. A big knee strike suddenly drops Lentz! Oliveira hovering over him looking to land a few more punches and hammerfists. Lentz clearing the cobwebs as Oliveira goes down into his guard. Oliveira looking to work into a submission attempt, but Lentz is ok for now.
Oliveira constantly moving on top and gets into the mount. Final 10 seconds of a hectic round though and Lentz hangs on until the bell.
Round Two:
Aggressive exchange in close that Oliveira gets the better of and so Lentz gets into the clinch. He uses the body lock to get Oliveira to the mat. He moves into half guard. Oliveira lands a nice elbow from his back.
Lentz stifling Oliveira and then moves into side control. Oliveira rolls to his knees and then stands. However, Lentz bangs him back down to the mat. That was a hard landing.
Lentz stands over him and Oliveira blasts him with a couple of hard upkicks. Lentz comes down and is trying for a guillotine choke. He rolls on top, but Oliveira gets out of the submission attempt.
Lentz in half guard and lands a nice punch. He postures up and lands a couple of right hands. Oliveira in on a leg lock attempt. 90 seconds to go and they are in 50/50 position here. Lentz manages to spin and end back on top again with Oliveira pressed to the cage.
Lentz almost into full mount, but Oliveira prevents that from happening. Oliveira around to his knees and stands again. Oliveira with a knee and one in return from Lentz.
Oliveira drops down with a submission attempt, but nothing doing and Lentz ends the round on top.
Round Three:
Leg kick for Oliveira and Lentz returns fire with punches. Another kick for Oliveira. Lentz presses forward with tired looking punches. Hard knee for Oliveira and Lentz gets into the clinch and pulls Oliveira’s head down. Oliveira rolls and stands.
Oliveira lands a knee and immediately follows that with a guillotine choke quickly afterwards, hopping up onto Lentz and then drops down with it. Oliveira rolls on top in an instant with this and it looks exceptionally tight, but Lentz is doing his absolute best to gut this one out as long as he can. He’s not getting out though and in the end he reluctantly has to tap out.
Really fun fight between these two and Oliveira’s relentless pursuit of a submission finish finally pays off.
