John Makdessi came off second best in his early exchanges with late replacement Shane Campbell tonight at UFC 186, but once he found his range with punches he quickly found his rhythm and rocked his opponent a few times before finishing him with second remaining in the opening round.
Round One:
Hard leg kick from Campbell to start. Another couple landing now for him. Solid one to the body, but another is caught by Makdessi and he uses that to dump him to the mat, though only momentarily.
They exchange and Makdessi manages to reverse around to Campbell’s back and they head towards the cage. Makdessie pressing him against the cage, but Campbell breaks away and it’s back to striking range.
Campbell with another kick and then a solid punch. A couple more leg kicks now. Makdessi hasn’t found his rhythm on the feet yet, but the newcomer is looking comfortable and is punishing his lower limbs. He lands a knee to the body then is back ot the leg kick.
Makdessi with a hard punch. He targets the body with another blow and Campbell moves in on a takedown attempt, but good takedown defense from Makdessi and he lands another right hand afterwards.
Makdessi is suddenly in the ascendancy as he finds his range and a big right hok drops Campbell. Makdessi immediately chipping away at his opponent on top now, but the ref is giving Campbell time to recover and he’s doing just enough to hang in there.
Campbell back to his feet, but doesn’t look too steady. Makdessi gets some distance to work his striking again and his fists are finding their mark and he catches a kick and Campbell stumbles to the mat and gets right back up.
A piston like right uppercut collapses Campbell to the mat once again. Not long to go in the round and Makdessi turns up his output accordingly with a rapid-fire ground and pound assault which is enough to convince the ref to bring an end to the fight with just seven seconds of the first round remaining.
