Jose Aldo’s superior, harder hitting striking was the big difference tonight in the co-main event of UFC 169 as he earned a unanimous decision victory over Ricardo Lamas, though he showed he was willing to mix it up on the ground at times too.
Round One:
we’re underway in the co-main event. Lamas lands the first leg kick of the fight. He lands another, going very low with them. He tries another and Aldo moves out of the way.
Aldo in the center of the cage and pops out the jab. A wide left hook followed by a right lands for the champion.
Aldo fakes with a kick then lands to the body. Lamas tries with a couple of kicks without much effect. Aldo punches to the body again.
Spinning kick from Lamas misses. Lamas lets rip with a one-two combo, but Aldo backs away from it.
Aldo sparks to life with a left, right and a leg kick to the follow. Lamas jumps in with a kick that doesn’t connect cleanly, but another to the body does make a solid impact and aldo reacts with a flurry of strikes that backs his opponent up.
Lamas tries a head kick, but doesn’t connect. Low kick from Lamas, but Aldo responds with a couple of punches to the body.
Spinning kick attempts from Lamas miss, then in final few seconds of the round Aldo leaps in with a flying knee and while it doesn’t land he does add a couple of punches in afterwards.
Round Two:
Lamas trying a few kics out to the leg and head to start things off. As he did in the first round Aldo unleashes a two punch combo following by a hard kick that lands with authority.
Couple of kicks miss for Lamas as he moves forward. Punch to the body misses for Lamas, but he continues and lands one soon after. Lamas responds with a nice punch to the face.
A few punches land for Aldo, then another that knocks Lamas a little off-balance. Quick leg kick from Lamas that’s checked, then Aldo returns fire with a much heavier one.
Aldo starting to get going with his own kicks now and another one disrupts Lamas’s balance. He lands one a little higher, then another to the leg that almost takes lamas off his feet.
Lamas lands a punch, but Aldo gets one in return. Aldo with a kick and Lamas lands one too. Lamas with a kick and Aldo responds with hard punches. Aldo getting the better of the exchanges at this stage, showing a notable power advantage and crisper technique.
Lamas ends the round with a spinning head kick attempt, but it’s blocked.
Round Three:
Lamas kicks to star round three and Aldo is soon happy to respond in kind, with the impact of each being quite visible.
A punch and a kick from Aldo, piecing together his combos with great technique. More very hard kicks from Aldo follow.
Lamas puts together a short combo of punches that connects and goes upstairs with a head kick, but there’s no power behind it.
Aldo punches to the body, Lamas kicks to the leg and fires off a punch. Lamas uses a push kick to keep Aldo at bay.
More punches come from Lamas, but Aldo ducks under them. Three punch combo grazes Lamas’s face. He tries a head kick and misses.
Another leg kick slams home after a punch from Aldo. Nice punch from Lamas, but the kick that follows misses.
Left hand lands for Aldo, but he overextends and misses with the right afterwards. Lamas connects with a couple of left hands with a leg kick inbetween. He’s certainly doing his best to make a fight of this.
Good left lands for aldo. Lamas throws a kick that’s caught by Aldo and returned with a kick of his own.
Round Four:
Into the championship rounds and Lamas still looks light on his feet despite the kicks he’s taken. Changing things up he swoops down early for a takedown, but has to settle for pressing the champion up against the cage.
He tries hoisting up Aldo against the cage, but Aldo uses the cage to stay elevated until Lamas lets him go.
Aldo manages to reverse the clinch and presses the challenger up against the cage. He’s not doing a whole lot with the position at first and Lamas seems to be attempting to get into position to attempt a takedown, but then Aldo makes his move and puts him on his back.
Aldo looking to improve his position, but Lamas keeps him at bay in his half guard. Aldo still trying to pass, but Lamas is putting up his butterfly hooks, which Aldo then slickly hops over straight into mount.
Lamas trying to turn to his front and Aldo gladly takes his back and tries to sink in the rear-naked choke. He’s going for it, but lamas manages to escape and gets back up, pushing Aldo against the cage.
Aldo reverses him against the cage just as the round comes to a close.
Round Five:
We’re into the final five minutes of this title fight. Lamas with a good body kick to start things off, and another to follow.
Aldo opts to clinch up and press lamas against the cage before successfully working a takedown. Aldo in Lamas’s guard and taking his time as Lamas attempts to find an omaplata that doesn’t come off. Lamas trying the butterfly guard again, but Aldo again finds a way to smoothly pass it, getting to side control and then mount swiftly.
Lamas does a very nice job of spinning out of the mount and then ends up on top in a resulting scramble. Now he’s in Aldo’s guard.
Lamas tries to posture up and get off some strikes, with an elbow finding it’s mark. Aldo’s trying to stifle him, but in the final minute Lamas gets another couple of good elbows off.
Aldo clings tightly to him knowing there’s not long to go. Lamas tries to shake him off and does so with 10 seconds left. Aldo still making life awkward for him, but he does get a trio of solid punches off before the final bell sounds.
Decision:
Despite not finishing quite as strongly as he would have liked, there’s no doubt Jose Aldo did enough in the previous rounds to ensure he remains the champion with a unanimous decision victory here (49-46 x3).
