Evan Dunham claimed a convincing unanimous decision victory over Rick Glenn tonight at UFC Fight Night 94, but his late notice replacement did his best to make him work for it.
Round One:
Glenn takes the center of the cage to start. He lands a front kick to the body. Dunham launches forward with a short flurry of punches and makes a solid connection with a couple of them.
Dunham in again with punches and a knee as he looks to stamp his authority on this fight early. As if to punctuate that point he lands a takedown on the newcomer.
Dunham working from inside Glenn’s guard, then transitions to half guard. He attempts a d’arce choke, but Glenn is able to escape that and bring him back to his full guard.
Ground and pound now coming from Dunham as he keeps his offense versatile. Some nice elbows being thrown now. Dunham stands over his opponent, then when Glenn moves onto his knees, he takes his back close to the cage.
Dunham gets the body lock and then works for the rear-naked choke. It looks tight, but Glenn is not tapping and eventually Dunham gives up on the attempt. Real grit shown by the former WSOF champion there.
As the round comes to a close Glenn has Dunham back in his half guard and will welcome the chance to reset and try to change the momentum in the second round.
Round Two:
Glenn come out swinging but doesn’t find the target. He continues to press forward though and lands a solid straight punch to get Dunham’s attention.
More offense from Glenn, but Dunham is a savvy veteran and he swoops in and lands a takedown to take the wind out of his opponent’s sails.
Dunham going back to the d’arce choke he briefly attempted in the opening round. Glenn does well to escape, and soon after he manages to also get back to his feet.
Dunham clinches up and presses Glenn to the cage. Three minutes of the round left as they briefly separate, with Dunham landing a good knee to the body before clinching back up again at the fence.
After failing to work a takedown, the two fighters opt to reset at striking range and Duham fires off a head kick attempt that’s blocked.
Dunham back in for another successful takedown, but Glenn gets back up soon after.
A couple of striking exchanges in close now. GDunham lands a few nice punches and then tries to get the fight to the mat again, but it’s stuffed this time.
Dunham has some blood trickling from the side of his scalp, but not a big deal. Brief stoppage for Glenn to recover from a groin strike and then the two men trade strikes to end the round, with Dunham getting the better of that.
Round Three:
Leg kick for Glenn. Dunham returns fire with punches, then goes into the clinch looking for a takedown close to the cage. Glenn able to keep standing for now though and goes back to striking range.
Dunham clips Glenn with a few strikes. Glenn’s striking looking a little labored now, but he tries to barrel into a takedown that doesn’t pay off. Dunham makes him pay with a few punches.
More straight punches for Dunham then swoops for the takedown, but Glenn stays upright. Couple of rights and a left for Dunham. He continues to piece together combinations of punches, but Glenn isn’t phased by that and does his best to return fire, stuffing another takedown while he’s at it.
Dunham’s tired too, but he’s offering the better workrate and higher volume of strikes. Sharper work for Dunham and winging strikes in return from Glenn.
Dunham clocks Glenn with a kick that lands to the head, but though a little wobbled he doesn’t go down and raises his hands to the crowd to show he’s ok. Glenn trying to press forward, showing a great deal of heart in his Octagon debut.
It’s Dunham who continues to pour on the offense though and lands another slapping kick to the face. Glenn needs to be careful here as he’s exhausted, but still throwing caution to the wind and that could be a recipe for getting KO’d.
Glenn is staggered by another blow, but it doesn’t put him down and he keeps swinging along with Dunham, who goes looking for an armbar in the final seconds, but doesn’t have enough time to make it work.
Glenn’s going to lose the fight, but he’s done his best to make an impact after coming in as a short notice replacement.
Decision:
No doubts about the winner here, with Dunham earning a clean sweep on the scorecards (30-27 x3).
