Ion Cutelaba and Dustin Jacoby fought their way to a split draw decision tonight at UFC On ESPN 23.
Round One:
Left hook for Cutelaba. Outside low kick for Jacoby. Another nice left hook for Cutelaba. Jab from Jacoby.
Hard calf kick from Jacoby. Now a jab as Cutelaba was stepping in. Cutelaba wades in with a right and left hand.
Cutelaba lands a takedown, but Jacoby gets straight back up. Cutelaba gets hold of him though and brings him down again.
Jacoby gets to his knees and stands again, but Cutelaba still has his back and trips him down again. Jacoby stands, but then gets brought down again. Jacoby up then down yet again. Grueling work here. Cutelaba lands a few punches before getting his next takedown.
The takedowns and stand-ups keep coming with no sign of slowing down. A few hard elbows from Cutelaba this time as Jacoby is on one knee. jacoby up, dragged back down and onto one knee again, where he eats some more heavy elbows.
Rinse and repeat as they go up and down again, with punches landing. This time Cutelaba fails on the takedown attempt. Jacoby able to get the fight back to the center of the cage and lands a one-two as the round comes to a close.
Round Two:
Jacoby threatening with a knee as Cutelaba swoops into a takedown. Cutelaba does get him down though and Jacoby is back to one knee against the side of the Octagon where he was so often in the first round.
He gets up, gets back to striking range, but Cutelaba soon closes the distance and tries to get a single leg, but Jacoby stays upright.
Back to striking range again. Jacoby trying to let his strikes go now. Cutelaba with a body punch. Two left hands for Jacoby.
Hard left hook for Cutelaba and now gets into the clinch. Jacoby turns him into the cage. Right hook for Jacoby.
Center of the Octagon and Jacoby lands a nice uppercut. left hook for Cutelaba. Nice left for him. Powerful right hand from Cutelaba.
Cutelaba threatening with an uppercut. Inside leg kick from Jacoby. Jab for him. Head kick attempt from him is blocked.
Inside leg kick from Jacoby. Right hook for Jacoby. Right for Cutelaba. Glancing jab from Jacoby. Hard left and a right from Jacoby stops Cutelaba in his tracks for a moment.
Cutelaba definitely slowing down, but still loading up on punches as the round ends.
Round Three:
Leg kick for Jacoby. Body kick now. Cutelaba on the back foot a lot now. Hard body kick from Jacoby.
Jab for Jacoby and Cutelaba lands a punch. They start to exchange punches at close range.
Cutelaba with a hard kick to the thigh. Right hook for Jacoby. Reaching left hand from Cutelaba. Jacoby doubles up on the jab and then a right hand.
left hand for Jacoby. Now a right as Cutelaba was trying to get going. jab from Cutelaba. Both land a punch apiece. Cutelaba loads up on a strike and misses.
Nice hand over the top from Cutelaba. Right from Jacoby and then a flying knee that just skirts past Cutelaba’s chin, but it enables Cutelaba to clinch up.
Jacoby able to reverse the clinch position against the cage. He lands a knee as Cutelaba is landing light punches to his head.
60 seconds to go. They go back to striking range. Cutelaba with a flurry and Jacoby is into the clinch.
Final 20 seconds and they back to range. However, Jacoby goes into the clinch again and actually manages to land a late takedown.
Decision:
So, a completely dominant first round from Cutelaba, but then Jacoby started to work his way into the fight in the second and did well in the third too.
One judge sees it for Cutelaba, one for Jacoby and the other saw it as a tie, so the final verdict is a split draw! (29-28, 28-29, 28-28).
