Gunnar Nelson got back to winning ways tonight with a good performance against Albert Tumenov, keeping things competitive in the striking department and dominating the ground battle en-route to a second round submission victory.
Round One:
Nelson with a nice left hook, and then a solid one-two. Tumenov with a leg kick. Nelson burst forward with a quick left hand.
Tumenov with a body kick. Right hand for Nelson and a solid counter in return for Tumenov. Nice body punch from Tumenov. Side kick to the midsection from Nelson.
Another body punch for Tumenov now. Left hand for Nelson. Right hand for Tumenov that stung, but Nelson then responds with a nice punch of his own.
Suddenly they are into grappling range and Nelson gets Tumenov to the mat via a bodylock takedown. He’s able to move to full mount, but stays calm and looks to just lock down the position for now and take his time. He lands an elbow strike.Another slicing elbow lands to the head. 90 seconds to go and he drops another elbow to the nose.
Tumenov tries to roll, but Nelson is very solid on top. Two elbows from Nelson and that gave Tumenov the room to scramble and get quickly back to his feet with 30 seconds to go.
Kick from Tumenov. Now leaps into a left hook and lands a side kick to the body as well before the round ends.
Round Two:
Nice body punch from Tumenov. Nelson with a head kick attempt. Another kick from Tumenov. Sciffing left hook for Nelson.
Nelson presses Tumenov up against the cage, but his opponent is able to break free. Tumenov catches Nelson with a nice right hand as he moves in. Left hand for Nelson and soon after he connects again with that.
Nelson with a body kick, but Tumenov catches it and lands a couple of punches to the head before his opponent gets his limb free.
Nelson fires into another takedown and lands it. Nelson in side control, then smoothly steps over into full mount. Tumenov tries to scramble and gives up his back.
Nelson gladly works from his back, locking in the body triangle as he starts to work for a rear-naked choke. Two minutes to go. He sneaks that choke in tighter and begins to crank it, forcing Tumenov to tap with 3.15mins of the second round gone!
Good performance from Nelson all-round, showing improved striking and more of his slick grappling ability too.