Takedowns were the different for Cezar ‘Mutante’ Ferreira tonight at ‘UFC Fight Night 32’ as he claimed a split decision win over Daniel Sarafian.
Round One
Sarafian moving forward quickly to start, but ‘Mutante’ keeps him at bay with push kicks. Sarafian continues to push forward and gets into the clinch against the cage though.
Something of a stalemate here as Sarafian tries to find the leverage for a takedown and ‘Mutante’ defends. Sarafian doggedly sticks to it until the referee separates them.
After they reset Sarafian lands a nice combination of punches. Now it’s ‘Mutante’s’ turn to go looking for a takedown, but it’s stuffed and he has to settle for the clinch against the cage.
Sarafian drops down with a guillotine attempt, but he’s not got it secured and ‘Mutante’ gets back up and opts to back away and reset in the center of the cage.
‘Mutante’ looking to maintain distance and Sarafian close it by charging in with a punch that just misses. ‘Mutante’ goes into the clinch again for a short spell and then backs away.
Sarafian back to pressuring him and wades in with a barrage of blows. They separate and then Sarafian’s in again with more punches that mostly miss.
Here he comes again and this time ‘Mutante’ seems to clip him with a punch on the way in and he drops to his knees for the briefest of moments.
‘Mutante’ starts to let his strikes go in the final 10 seconds, going upstairs nicely with a head kick before the bell sounds.
Round Two
More violent inentions from Sarafian to start the round and wings some punches before landing a hard kick.
‘Mutante’ charges forward and lands a nice double-leg takedown. The action’s stalling a bit on the mat as he looks to pass his opponent’s guard. A cut’s opened up on Sarafian’s right eye. He manages to get back up to his feet and he’s back to throwing heavy leather.
Sarafian lands to the body which seems to trouble ‘Mutante’ a little, and then a punch follows that definitely has him hurt. Before Sarafian can capitalize fully ‘Mutante’ scores another takedown though.
Up close to the cage ‘Mutante’ starts to look for an arm triangle, but as he works for it the referee opts to stand them up.
Sarafian works into the clinch against the cage after they get back upright and the round draws to a close there.
Round Three
Onto the final five minutes then and as we’ve come to expect in this fight, Sarafian is aggressive with punches to start, landing a nice right hand down the pipe.
‘Mutante’ tries a spinning attack, but Sarafian uses the momentum to take his back. He walks him up towards the cage and then lets him go and unleashes some good punches.
Again ‘Mutante’ manages to take away Sarafian’s momentum by landing a powerful takedown. ‘Mutante’ working from half-guard now, landing a little ground and pound, but not doing a whole lot of damage. He seems happy to just grind this one out now, but the ref has other ideas and stands them back up.
Not to be denied, ‘Mutante’ immediately takes his opponent back down to the mat. Sarafian tries to stand and ‘Mutante’ hops onto his back.
Sarafian slowly stands against the cage with ‘Mutante’ still attached to his back. ‘Mutante’ landing a few punches and Sarafian tries to respond with some of his own.
‘Mutante’ tries to work in the rear-naked choke, but time is against him and the final bell sounds.
Decision
And so we head to the judges scorecards and they offer a split decision verdict in ‘Mutante’s’ favour (30-27, 30-28, 28-29).
