Gavin Tucker shone in his UFC Fight Night 105 tonight with his superior striking being too much for Sam Sicilia to handle en-route to a convincing unanimous decision victory.
Round One:
Short burst of strikes from Tucker. Leg kick for the newcomer. Now a kick upstairs. Continuing to stay busy he works a left hand and then a hard leg kick.
Kick upstairs then one to the leg. No sign of Octagon jitters for Tucker. Right hand for Sicilia clips Tucker. Fast footwork from Tucker here as a he cuts angles on the outside, making life difficult for Sicilia to land much.
Crisp, technical striking from Tucker thus far and he lands a nice body kick there. And another one, higher this time. Sicilia lands a right hand, but he needs a lot more to keep up with his opponent’s volume of strikes.
Tucker feints one way and then lands a high kick on the other side. Now a right hook from him. Big knee to the body and avoids a counter strike from Sicilia. Impressive start from Tucker.
Round Two:
Fast high kick attempt from Tucker to one side, then a leg kick on the other. Sicilia misses with a kick and Tucker responds with two of his own that land.
Sicilia not sure how to deal with Tucker at this stage and is at a significant speed and technical disadvantage, but he does have power if he can find a home for his punches.
More hard kicks for Tucker. Every time Sicilia tries to land something Tucker isn’t there to be hit. Tucker starting to showboat a little, but then lands a big uppercut.
Nice straight left and then a right. Leg kick, then one upstairs. He wins another exchange of punches in close and smiles afterwards.
Now a body punch lands for Tucker and he blocks a counter. Leg kicks again. Right hand connects. This is remarkably one-sided as we approach the ten minute of the fight. Tucker is enjoying a stellar debut.
Round Three:
Sicilia got a lecture from his coaches in-between rounds. That fires him up and he comes out swinging in the final five minutes, but he’s still struggling to find the target.
After all that it’s an uppercut from Tucker that’s the biggest punch of the opening minute. However, soon after Sicilia does lands a big punch that Tucker definitely felt, but then they go into the clinch, which gives the newcomer time to clear the cobwebs.
Breaking away from the clinch Sicilia lands another nice punch. However, Tucker soon after lands a nice takedown. He’s not able to keep the UFC veteran down though.
Straight punches down to the pipe for Tucker. Another left. Sicilia with a head kick attempt that’s blocked. Tucker a little slower now, but still markedly faster than his opponent.
Sicilia wades in with winging strikes, but they are easily avoided. He ducks another haymaker.
Tucker points to the center of the Octagon, he wants to trade. He launches a nice head kick. Now he’s having fun in the final seconds of the fight, playing matador to Sicilia’s bull, ducking and dodging to leave his opponent swatting at thin air.
Decision:
Terrific display from Tucker there, immediately marking himself out as one to watch with his slick, technical striking and fast footwork, which enabled him to dominate the far more experienced Sicilia from start to finish to earn a unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3).
