Gauge Young took a while to warm up against Thiago Moises tonight at UFC Fight Night 273, but then got into his groove to win by split-decision.

Round One

Moises gets on the front foot immediately and presses Young into the cage. Young doing a good job of staying upright against Moises takedown attempt here and then gets back to striking range.

Push kick to the body from Moises. Young lands the jab. Inside leg kick for him. Moises with a couple of calf kicks.

More jab work from Young. Push kick from him. Moises just misses with a power punch. Gauge with a low kick, but soon after Moises moves in and lands his first takedown.

Gauge gives up his back and stands, but Moises hops on and gets the body triangle as his opponent stays upright at the cage.

Gauge sits down with Moises still latched onto his back. Gauge trying to turn into Moises, but gets stuck in a bit of uncomfortable half-way position. Late in the round he does manage to full turn into Moises to get on top, but then Moises immediately tries to throw up an armbar from his back, putting him back on defense.

Round Two

High kick from Gauge comes off the guard. Moises punches to the body and then misses upstairs.

Jab for Gauge. Now a low kick for him. He gets a right hand in too. Calf kick from Moises. Body punch from Gauge. He feints a knee and then lands a low kick.

Right hand for Moises. He tries for a single leg but then settles for the clinch. Gauge turns into him though and then moves away.

Gauge back on the jab. He lands a nice push kick. A couple of body punches now. Moises tries for a takedown, but Gauge sprawls. They stand and Moises tries to clinch, but Gauge gets away.

Low kick for Moises. Right hand for Gauge. Gauge tries for a high knee but doesn’t connect. Gauge stuffs a takedown, but then eats a punch.

Nice step-in left for Gauge. Low kicks exchanged. Punch from Gauge. He lands the jab. Now a body shot. Both land a punch at the same time and then a follow-up punch from Moises.

Moises fails on a takedown attempt. He rallies though by landing a couple of strikes that trouble Young for a moment. Young with a couple of body punches. Moises with a grazing punch.

Round Three

Moises comes out with some power punches without landing cleanly. Gauge stuffs a takedown.

Body kick for Moises. He brushes off another takedown attempt. Gauge pressures and lands a nice right hand.

Body punch for Gauge. Moises bleeding now. Jabs land for Gauge. He stuffs another takedown from Moises.

Jab still working for Gauge. Another takedown stuffed and this time Gauge almost opts to to follow him down as Moises goes to his back, but then thinks better of it and forces him to stand.

Gauge on the front foot and Moises is soon trying to lure him back to the mat, but that’s not going to work for him.

Back on the feet and Gauge lands a right hand that catches Moises by surprise and drops him.

Gauge showboating now as he stands over Moises, who is staying on his back. He’s forced to stand back up though.

Back to striking they go. Moises face increasingly bloodied now, but he starts to land some strikes of his own.

One-two for Gauge. He lands again but then a good punch from Moises. Solid knee to the body from Gauge.

Getting to the final ten seconds and Moises points to the mat. They both start trading big punches. Gauge with a push kick now to get some distance. Moises comes wading back in with a few punches and a head kick attempt that’s blocked.

Decision

Moises started brightly enough here, but by the second round Gauge was starting to warm to the striking battle and tightened up his takedown defense to get the better of the action and emerge with a split-decision victory (29-28 x2, 28-29).