Petr Yan extended his unbeaten run in the UFC to five fights this evening at UFC 238 by way of a hard fought unanimous decision victory.
Round One:
Rivera misses with an opening leg kick. leg kicks exchanged now. Yan taking the center of the Octagon to start as you’d expect. He lands a right hand.
Low leg kick for Rivera. Yan misses an overhand, thinks about a takedown and then lands an overhand on the otherside instead.
leg kick for Rivera. Brief clinch and then back to striking. Yan missing with the overhand several times in this fight so far and leaving himself vulnerable afterwards.
Glancing uppercut from Yan. Low leg kick for Rivera. Rivera clinches up, they spin around and then Rivera presses Yan up to the cage, but quickly lets him go again.
Yan just missing with a head kick attempt. Yan looking to exchange, but Rivera gets the better of it with an uppercut. Yan misses with a knee upstairs.
Inside leg kick for Rivera. He’s firing out a snappy jab here. Low leg kick again. Yan drives in for a single-leg, but has to give it up and go back to striking.
Solid body kick from Yan. Yan goes for a trip takedown, then thinks about a leg lock, but Rivera scrambles out before anything comes of it.
left hook from Yan floors Rivera late in the round. He’s barely got more than 10 seconds to finish the fight though and despite landing again he can’t put him away.
Round Two:
Jab for Rivera. yan misses an uppercut but lands a left hook behind it. Good punch for Rivera. Right hands for Rivera connect.
Jab and then a left hook attempt from Yan but it whistles over Rivera’s head. Low leg kick for Rivera visibly hurts Yan and he can barely put his weight on it.
He recovers well though and gets back into the action. nice body kick for Yan and then a side kick to the thigh. Leg kick for Rivera.
Hard body kick again for Rivera. Left hand for Yan and a counter lands for Rivera too. Rivera tries a takedown, but doesn’t get it.
Outside leg kick for Rivera. Clipping left hook. Another leg kick. Uppercuts for Rivera and then an overhand lands too.
Yan punches to the body. Huge kick for Yan, but Rivera eats it and holds onto his leg afterwards, then spins him around and presses him up to the cage.
Rivera got cut from that kick though. They go back to striking range and Rivera lands solidly. Both men attacking, with Rivera showing real urgency.
Big uppercut for Yan and Rivera’s legs buckle underneath him. He’s badly hurt, but he’s not giving up as Yan continues to strike his grounded opponent until the end of the round.
Round Three:
Left hand for Yan and Rivera stumbles but stays upright. Body kick for Yan. Rivera lands a nice body punch. Head kick attempt is blocked, but the leg kick lands.
Body kick for Rivera again. Body kick for Yan. Again a body kick for Yan. Jab and then an uppercut from Yan that knocks out Rivera’s mouthpiece and forces a brief stoppage for it to be replaced.
Body punch and combo upstairs from Rivera to show he’s still hunting for a win. Straight left for Yan. Jab and then a straight for Rivera seems to buckle Yan’s legs for a moment.
They exchange and Yan lands a solid body kick. Both men still fighting hard here. Eyepoke forces a stoppage for Yan to recover.
Right hook for Yan. Now a straight left. Body kick for Rivera and then a low one. Head kick just whistles over Rivera’s head.
Body punch for Rivera. Crisp left for Yan. Rivera clinched up, but Yan presses him up against the cage instead. Yan trying a takedown, but Rivera fights it off.
Left hook lands clean for Rivera. Uppercut attempt from Yan. Yan trying for a late takedown and they are in the process of scrambling on the mat when the final horn sounds.
Decision:
Very good performance from both men here, but it’s Yan who had Rivera badly hurt on a few occasions and that helps him to a unanimous decision victory (29-28 x2, 30-27).
