Gegard Mousasi claimed a knockout victory over Thiago Santos tonight on the preliminary card of UFC 200.
Round One:
Cautious feeling out process to start here. nice one-two from Mousasi. Santos returns with a solid punch of his own.
Blocked kick from Mousasi. He snaps out his jab. Leg kick attempt from Santos, but Mousasi gets out the way.
Leg kick apiece from the two fighters. Another leg kick for Mousasi. Now Santos returns the favor.
Jab for Mousasi. Right hand for Mousasi, then Santos connects. However, that just seems to fire Mousasi up and he blasts his opponent with repeated blows close to the cage.
Santos in defensive mode and they go to the mat with Mousasi on top. Santos works his way back up, but it’s not long before Mousasi brings him back down again.
Mousasi working from side control now. Elbow strike for Mousasi and tries to pass to full mount, but has to settle for half guard.
Mousasi pushes Santos knee down and tries to get to mount again, but it doesn’t work out and Santos brings him into his full guard.
Santos is able to kick Mousasi off of him and gets to his feet, but as he does so Mousasi clocks him with an uppercut that sents him to the canvas, with a left hook also landing on the way down.
Mousasi continues to land a few accurate strikes on the mat, and that’s it, he’s won by KO at 4.32mins of the first round.
A very assured performance from Mousasi there against a potentially dangerous opponent.
