Marc-Andre Barriault battled his way to a clean-sweep unanimous decision victory over Eryk Anders tonight at UFC 289 in Canada.
Round One:
Body kick for Barriault followed by a right hook that drops Anders in the opening minute! Barriault follows him down but Anders gets back up.
Barriault lands another punch and they work in the clinch. Anders turns into him. Solid punch for Barriault and Anders looks to fire back.
Elbow lands for Anders. Knees from Barriault. A little bit of separation and Anders lands a good knee then back to the clinch. Both men landing hard elbows here.
Right hand for Anders after they separate. Jab for Barriault. Anders back into the clinch. He lands a knee and hard hooks behind it. Barriault gets away and resets.
Body kick and a punch for Barriault but this time Anders stays upright. Anders back into the clinch and Barriault lands a knee to the body.
Anders steps away and then lands a looping punch. They back off the cage momentarily, but then Anders goes back into the clinch and lands knees to the body.
A couple of left hands from Anders off the separation. Anders in on a takedown attempt and Barriault countered with a knee but is now having to defend up against the cage. Anders tries to haul him down, but Barriault partially stuffs that and gets back upright.
Final 10 seconds of an action-packed round and Anders just whiffs the target with a winging left hand.
Round Two:
Body kick for Barriault. He lands another kick to the midsection. Anders into the clinch and Barriault battles back out of it with nice punches.
Leg kick for Anders. Kick from Barriault strays to the groin and forces a brief stoppage.
Front kick to the body from Barriault. Now a right hand from him. Both land a punch at the same time. Barriault goes back to the body kick.
Missed head kick from Anders. Anders presses forward and lands a left hand and then goes into the clinch against the cage. He works a single-leg and lands it. He’s in side-control now, but Barriault gets to his knees and moves over to the cage as he looks to stand.
He’s able to but Anders remains clinched up for a moment before they separate. Barriault with a body kick. Barriault goes for a knee, but his foot lands to the groin and Anders needs another time-out to recover.
They go back to it and Barriault gets a second earning for that, but no point-deduction yet.
Body kick for Barriault. Barriault with a one-two and Anders clinches up. They quickly come back out of that and Barriault lands another mid-kick.
Anders clinches up and lands knees then breaks away. Left hook off a kick from Barriault. Again he lands a body kick and a right hand.
Jab for Barriault. Barriault applying pressure in the final seconds of the round and lands a final body kick.
Round Three:
Barriault straight back to the body kick. He sneaks in a right hand. Anders with a knee to the body and a punch behind it.
Straight right for Anders. Heavy body kick for Barriault. Barriault with ripping hooks to the body. Anders works for a takedown against the cage then settles for landing a few knees to the body.
Back to striking range they go. Nice counter right hook from Barriault. Body kick attempt. Body punch from Anders but got caught with a counter.
Two body kicks from Barriault. Now an inside leg kick. Double-jab from Barriault. Body punch from Anders. Flurry from Barriault gets through.
One-two for Anders but then gets stuck by a straight from Barriault. Both throwing out solid punches and showing good cardio.
Jab lands for Barriault. Now a head kick attempt that may have troubled Anders as he starts to back off under fire.
Right hand for Barriault. Left hand for Anders now. Kick from Barriault. Final 10 seconds and Anders steps in nicely with a left hand. The two continue to look for more blows in the remaining time but we’re headed to the scorecards.
Decision:
A competitive fight from start to finish then, but Barriault was landing the more effective offense, including dropping Anders in the first round with a body kick followed by a punch. Anders gave a good account of himself after that early setback, but in the end Barriault rightly emerges with a unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3).
