Torrez Finney put in the grindiest of wrestling shifts tonight at UFC On ESPN 65, with numerous takedowns of Robert Valentin over three rounds leading him to split-decision win.
Round One
Front kick to the body from Valentin. Finney drives in for his first takedown, hoists Valentin up onto his shoulder and carries him across the Octagon before dumping him down to the mat.
Valentin gets up quickly, but Finney brings him back down again. Valentin gradually works back up to his feet against the cage. Finney almost gets him down again, but Valentin defends this time.
Finney stays committed to his gameplan and manages to gets Valentin’s legs out from under him to land another takedown and this time get some control time on top.
Valentin stays calm and methodical to work to his feet again, but it’s not long before he’s down again. Rinse and repeat as Valentin stands against the cage for a period of time, before Finney brings him down one final time in the round, with Valentin trying to land a few strikes from his back in the final seconds.
Round Two
Push kicks from Valentin to try to keep distance, but Finney is quickly back in on a takedown and lands it close to the cage.
We’ve not seen much actual offense from Finney yet in this fight. Valentin trying to work a kimura, but nothing doing there. He changes things up for a triangle choke now, but Finney steers clear of it. A couple of punches from Finney now, but then Valentin tries to threaten with an armbar. Finney just hoists him up and slams him back down to break free from that.
Now Finney works to Valentin’s back, but not quite able to secure it. Finney gets a hook in and then hops onto the back, but he’s gone too high and is starting to slide off.
Finney does come off and Valentin able to work on top now. However Finney scrambles up to his feet and is right back to working for his latest takedown against the cage. It’s not coming as easy this time however, so Finney just stays clinched up for the final seconds of the round.
Round Three
Valentin with knees and elbows to start the round. He’s looking for more elbows now, but Finney drives him into the cage and works to land his first takedown of the final round.
Not much happening from there and the ref opts to bring them back to striking range. However Finney just goes right back to pressing Valentin against the cage.
Valentin attempts to escape, but after a brief battle for position Finney is right back where he was to begin with, looking for a takedown. The ref breaks them up again.
However, Valentin goes for a wild strike that enables Finney to close in and sent his opponent to the mat again. Valentin gets up, Finney stalls in the clinch and the ref separates them.
Guess what? Finney goes back to clinching against the cage. He looks for a final takedown to add to the growing collection, but doesn’t get it.
Decision
Rinse and repeat takedowns from start to finish for Finney then, with very little in the way of actual offense in-between. And it’s enough to earn him a win, but it’s not unanimous, as one judge clearly wasn’t on-board with the wrestle-fest and cheekily gave Valentin all three rounds. Nonetheless, it’s Finney who emerges with a split-decision win (27-30, 29-28 x2).
