Anthony Pettis marked a return to form tonight at UFC 226 with an impressive second round triangle armbar submission against Michael Chiesa.
Round One:
Pettis with a nearly right hand. He goes for a kick and Chiesa catches it and immediately moves in for a takedown, landing it right up against the cage.
Chiesa in half-guard and prevents Pettis from using the cage to wall-walk. Chiesa attempts to take Pettis’ back, but he slips off and Pettis ends up on top pressuring his opponent. Back up they go and Pettis fails on a takedown and stumbles. Shortly afterwards he looks to separate and Chiesa grabs onto a kick but lets it go.
Back to striking range they go and both men are looking to exchange, but before long Chiesa uses punches to set up another takedown.
Chiesa gets Pettis to the mat. He’s taking his time here. He stands over him and Pettis aims a capoeira style kick at him as he stands back up.
Chiesa with a body kick as they settle back into stand-up range. Hard leg kick for Pettis. Now another one. Straight right for ‘Showtime’.
Chiesa tries a kick and now it’s Pettis’ turn to catch it. Chiesa tries to throw a kick with his other leg and stumbles to the mat, but Pettis doesn’t capitalize on it.
Final seconds of the round and Pettis is gaining confidence and comes pressing forward, landing a punch just before the bell and also stands on his foot which leads to Chiesa falling to the mat.
Round Two:
Pettis putting early striking pressure on Chiesa and after being hit with a body kick he retaliates by hurting him with a right hand. Chiesa falls and Pettis swoops in on him, but then Chiesa digs deep and grabs a hold of him and works the takedown.
However, Pettis nicely sets up a triangle choke submission and he adjusts to get it even tighter, while also applying an armbar to force Chiesa to tap out just 52 seconds into the second round! Big win for Pettis and his most impressive finish in quite some time.
