Twenty year-old TUF: Nations welterweight Jake Matthews continued his undefeated run today, submitting Vagner Rocha in the second round at UFC Fight Night 55. The lightweight encounter headlined the preliminary portion of the card and was streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.
UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs Bisping took place on Nov. 8 at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Matthews made his intentions clear at the start of the fight, as the Melbourne based fighter came forward with solid combinations. Rocha stayed calm and looked to land with strikes of his own. With 20 seconds left in the round, the Aussie got the Brazilian to the canvas, however he’s forced to defend a kimura attempt from Rocha until the opening round ended.
A left hand from the Aussie landed early in the second but once again Rocha stayed poised. Matthews then came forward and connected with a superman punch which he followed up by shoving Rocha to the canvas. Within seconds, Matthews locked up a rear-naked choke and the referee intervened after a brief period with the Brazilian unable to tap.
Matthews, 8-0 professionally, is now 2-0 in the UFC after also submitting Dashon Johnson at UFC Fight Night: Te Huna vs Marquardt in New Zealand back in June. The youngster post-fight respectfully called out Joe Ellenberger for his next bout, saying that the Ellenberger name would be a good name to have on his record.
Thirty-two year-old ‘Ceara’ drops to 11-4 with the defeat and is 1-3 in the UFC.
Results:
Main Card:
- Luke Rockhold vs Michael Bisping
- Ross Pearson vs Al Iaquinta
- Robert Whittaker vs Clint Hester
- Soa Palelei vs Walt Harris
Preliminary Card:
- Jake Matthews def Vagner Rocha via Technical Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 1:52
- Anthony Perosh def Guto Inocente via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:46
- Sam Alvey def Dylan Andrews via KO (Punches from Mount), Rd 1, 216
- Louis Smolka def Richie Vaculik via TKO (Strikes), Rd 3, 0:18
- Chris Clements def Vik Grujic via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 3:06
- Daniel Kelly def Luke Zachrich via Submission (kimura), Rd 1, 4:27
- Marcus Brimage def Jumabieke Tuerxun via KO (Head Kick), Rd 1, 2:58
