Ryan Bader dominated Rafael ‘Feijao’ Cavalcante tonight at UFC 174 by effectively mixing up his offense with striking, wrestling and clinch work.
Round One:
Feijao with a low kick to start. Bader throws out a rangey left hook that misses. High kick from Bader and punches to follow, but not much lands from the combination.
Bader with the jab and then gets a takedown. Feijao is right back up to his feet, but with Bader wrapped on his back. A few knees from Bader and then drags Feijao back down. Again Feijao stands, still with Bader behind him landing knees.
Again Bader drags him down to his knees, and again Feijao stands. They rinse and repeat once more for good measure.
Back up again Bader is landing hard knees to Feijao’s leg. Finally Feijao gets away and they reset in the center of the Octagon.
Bader comes in with a punch and then stumbles back out awkwardly. He’s ok though and didn’t appear to be hit.
Feijao wading forward aggresively and lands a punch, but Bader circles away afterwards before anything else comes behind it.
Both men land a jab apiece. Bader charges in with another takedown and lands it nicely. He tries to keep Feijao down, but his opponent shuffles back towards the cage and gets to his knees. Bader lands a few punches to the head as Feijao’s turtled.
30 seconds to go and Bader is landing some nice shots to the body. Final five seconds and Bader puts everything behind a big knee to the body. Pretty much all Bader in the first.
Round Two:
Bader feeling out with the jab to keep Feijao at bay. Feijao responds though with a spinning kick that lands well to the body.
Bader comes in with big punches and then transitions to a takedown attempt, but doesn’t land it this time.
Feijao steps in with a straight punch down the pipe that just stops short of the target. Bader clinches up and presses him agaisnt the cage. Not for long though as Feijao pushes him off.
Bader moving around the cage taking his time and staying out of danger, then lands a nice double leg takedown.
Big elbow lands for Bader and then Feijao turns and gets up to his knees. Bader landing knees to the legs and yep, even the buttocks ladies and gentlemen.
Feijao stands and Bader backs off. Two minutes of the round remaining. Big winging punch misses from Feijao. A one-two from Bader lands, but is blocked by Feijao’s gloves.
Another Feijao punch is telegraphed and avoided by Bader. Bader thinking about another takedown, but doesn’t commit to it.
Nice right hand from Feijao, but he needs more. He looks tired though.
Bader staying mobile here to make life difficult for his opponent. Hard body punch from Bader and then a nice takedown in the final 30 seconds and he’s happy to stay there until the horn sounds.
Round Three
Great fight for Bader so far, but can he maintain it? Feijao has plans to see that he doesn’t and wades in immediately with big punches and Bader reaches for a takedown with some concern and doesn’t get it.
He backs away and Feijao continues forward and throws more bombs. Bader again elects to go for a takedown attempt, but Feijao sprawls on top.
Bader up and pressing Feijao up against the cage. He drops down a few elbows as Bader looks for a takedown.
Feijao pushes Bader back and makes him fall backwards to the mat.
Bader back up and he doesn’t look keen to stand anymore, looking for a takedown again and then settling for a clinch until the ref separates them.
Half the round remaining and Bader works hard for a takedown, switching from a single to a double without success.
Back to clinching against the cage and then does land a takedown. He lands some hurtful elbows to the body of Feijao who’s doing very little here to try to get back up.
Bader working in Feijao’s closed guard now, landing a little ground and pound. He lands a nice elbow to the face. A little body, body, head and Bader’s now cruising to the decision win.
Decision
No doubts about the winner here, Bader gets the unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3). Solid victory for the former TUF winner against a former Strikeforce champion.
