Alex Oliveira used body kicks to great effect tonight on his way to a dominant decision victory over Peter Sobotta at UFC On ESPN 14.
Round One:
Heavy body kick from Oliveira to start the fight. Leg kick for Sobotta. Now Sobotta returns the body kick. Front kick to the body for Oliveira.
Another front kick to the body from Oliveira and that seemed to trouble Sobotta, who backs up. Punch from Oliveira.
Now it’s Sobotta going back to the body kick too. Jab from Sobotta. Another front kick to the midsection from Oliveira and a counter punch from Sobotta.
Oliveira goes back to that kick again. Sobotta presses forward with a flurry of punches, but Oliveira does well to back out of danger without taking any punishment.
Guess what – another body kick from Oliveira. Outside leg kick from Sobotta. Front kick to that increasingly reddened body of Sobotta. He goes for another kick and Sobotta blocks it this time.
Round two:
First front kick to the body of the second round from Oliveira. He tries a jumping switch kick, but not finding the target.
Sobotta rushing into a takedown against the cage now, but Oliveira is defending it for now. Sobotta trying hard for the takedown now, but Oliveira does well to stay upright and then move away.
Body kick yet again for ‘Cowboy’. Sobotta looks for a punch, but Oliveira counters with a hard punch of his own. Now back to the body.
Oliveira with a power kick to the body, but it strays to the groin and Sobotta grimaces in pain and a stoppage is called so he can recover. Sobotta bleeding from an earlier cut to the hairline.
They get back to it. Sobotta tries for a kick, but misses. Body kick for Oliveira. Jumping kick from him misses.
Glancing right hand from Sobotta and the body kick in return from Oliveira. Another kick this time lands a bit higher up near the chest. Leg kick from Sobotta. Oliveira reaching out to maintain distance and unfortunately that leads to an eyepoke and another brief stoppage.
On the restart Oliveira is just short with a right hand to the chin. Kick to the leg from Sobotta. Calf kick from Oliveira. Another lands and Sobotta returns fire.
Sobotta tries to step in with a kick, but Oliveira counters with a punch that drops him in the closing seconds of the round.
Round Three:
Hard body kick from Oliveira knocks Sobotta off-balance for a second. Oliveira tries for a one-two that Sobotta ducks underneath and looks for a takedown, but it doesn’t work out and he ends up on his back with ‘Cowboy’ standing over him.
Oliveira lets him back up. Jab from Sobotta. Front kick to the body from Oliveira. Hard body kick for Oliveira and Sobotta grunts from that.
Switch kick from Oliveira almost gets through to the head. Body kik for Sobotta now. Low leg kick for Oliveira.
Straight left from Sobotta and punch in return from Oliveira. Sobotta tries a kick to the body and Oliveira rattles off a left and right punch that doesn’t quite find the mark but was thrown with plenty of venom.
Front kick to the body from Oliveira. Left hand from Sobotta. One more body kick from Oliveira towards the end of the round.
Decision:
No question about the winner here, with Oliveira earning a clean sweep unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3).
