Rizvan Kuniev grinded out a unanimous decision victory over Jailton Almeida in a turgid heavyweight fight tonight at UFC Fight night 266.
Round One
Almeida instantly trying to work a takedown, but has to settle for clinching against the cage.
Kuniev with a few punches as he defends against the cage. Almeida threatens with a knee upstairs. Kuniev with hammerfists to the thigh. Action stalling a bit now as Almeida continues trying to work a takedown. Kuniev able to reverse him into the cage now. Elbow attempt from him.
Knee to the body now for Kuniev. Almeida doing likewise. The action stalls and the ref opts to split them up.
Almeida with a left hook and then dives into a takedown attempt, but fails. As he gets up Kuniev presses him into the cage again.
Knee strikes to the leg from Kuniev. Again there’s not much happening and so the ref breaks them apart.
Low kick for Almeida. Left hand for him. Another low kick lands. Kuniev with one of his own now.
Kuniev into the clinch again. He lands an elbow. Now a few digs to the body. Knee to the body from Almeida. Almeida getting away now, but not before Kuniev lands a knee to the midsection.
Round Two
Almeida presses forward with strikes, but Kuniev is countering off the back foot.
Front kick to the body from Almeida. He lands another kick. Almeida attempts a takedown, but Kuniev prevents it and clinches up against the cage.
Body punches for Kuniev. The ref breaks them up as the action stalls again.
Almeida loads up on a left hook. Jabs from Kuniev and Almeida lands a better left hook on the counter this time.
Kuniev back into the clinch. Almeida able to pivot away nicely this time.
Right hand over the top lands for Kuniev and then back to his fairly uneventful clinch work. Body-head combo. Almeida away in the final 10 seconds. Not a good fight so far.
Round Three
Kuniev misses with a punch and they clinch. Kuniev walks Almeida over to the cage, refusing to give up on this position despite rarely doing much from it. He misses a punch and Almeida tries to time a takedown off that, but fails.
Back to striking range now. Almeida rips to the body with a few punches and then grazes the target upstairs.
Almeida pressing forward with purpose now, but still ends up stuck back in Kuniev’s cage clinch again soon after.
Back to striking range. Right hand for Almeida. He’s just missing with his hooks though. He lands a right. Kuniev clinching again. They are quickly broken up.
Jab for Kuniev. Good one-two for Almeida and then tries to fire off more behind it, with less of a connection. Another attack from him as he lands a flurry to the body.
More clinch work from Kuniev and lands a nice elbow-hook combo against the cage.
They are broken apart again with less than 30 seconds to go in the fight. Almeida with hooks. He points to the mat. Kuniev obliges with a few punches and a knee to the body.
Decision
This just wasn’t a good fight at all, but though his clinch work often led to nothing, Kuniev was the more active of the two for much of the fight, and gets the unanimous decision victory (30-27 x2, 29-28).
