Neil Magny and Hector Lombard went to war tonight at UFC Fight Night 85, with Magny almost being finished in the first and dropped in the second before turning the screw and ending up with a decisive TKO finish in the third.
Round One:
Lombard pressing forward to start. He lands a couple of leg kicks. He charges forward and lands a big blow that rocks Magny. Lombard all over him as Magny drops to his knees.
Magny just trying to survive as Lombard blasts away with big shots. Magny trying to get to his feet, but the hard strikes continue.
Eventually Magny does stand, but only momentarily before Lombard just shoves him back down to the mat. Magny still looked dazed there.
Lombard in Magny’s half guard with half the round remaining and he’s keeping the pressure on, but his offensive output has slowed a little for now.
Lombard in Magny’s full guard now and lands a solid elbow. He postures up and Magny turns and gets to his knees. He stands again against the cage and they clinch up.
Magny with the thai clinch and jumps up with a knee strike. They break free are into striking range. However, Magny tries for a takedown, but after the shots he’s taken he doesn’t seem to have much explosion in that shot and Lombard stuffs it.
They are soon back to their feet and now Magny starts to work a few rangey strikes as he tries to fight his way back into this battle.
Another couple of punches for Magny. Possibly a low blow there from Magny, but Lombard’s ok to continue. Final leg kick for Magny to end the round. It’ll be interesting to see how much Lombard has left in the tank after that energetic opening round of action.
Round Two:
Magny with a nice right hand and judging by his footwork he’s in relatively good shape here despite the tough opening five minutes.
Lombard a stationary target here as Magny starts to rack up shots. Lombard fires off a hard punch as a warning that he’s still head-hunting for a finish.
Magny trying for the thai clinch. Lombard out of that, but Magny lands a solid punch. Another one-two for Magny and then tries for the thai clinch, but Lombard is strong from here and presses him to the cage.
Again Magny tries for that clinch position, but Lombard gets out of that and then lands a big blow to the head that drops Magny onto his back.
Lombard gets on top, but before long Magny is able to push him off and ends up on top himself. Magny moves to mount, then rolls to his back with a triangle choke attempt!
Lombard trying to fight out of this and now he’s also fending off the armbar at the same time. He tries to break free and eventually does get out of that bad spot.
However, Magny is still all over him on the mat and takes his back before flattening him out and blasts away with left and rights to the head. Repeated blows and the ref could stop this at any moment. 20 seconds remaining and Magny is just constantly hitting him with punches and elbows, but Lombard is still conscious, and that appears to be good enough for the ref, so we’re headed to a third round.
Round Three:
Crazy rollercoaster of a fight and there’s still five minutes to go. Jab and a hard straight right for Magny. He’s back to that thai clinch again trying for a flying knee that doesn’t really pay off.
He goes back to landing those rangey left and right punches, then an elbow before he scores an easy takedown. Magny is able to get into the mount and throws down some ground and pound strikes that seems to have opened up a cut to his head. This time the ref doesn’t allow him to take much punishment before he calls an end to the fight, giving Magny a hard earned TKO victory with 46 seconds of the third round gone.
Impressive stuff from Magny who looked very close to being finished in the opening round, but showed tremendous heart and powers of recovery to fight his way to a decisive victory.
