UFC 227 Prelims: Pedro Munhoz, Ricky Simon Grab Unanimous Decision Wins
Dominant win in a wild and exciting fight!
— #UFC227 (@ufc) August 5, 2018
@PedroMunhozMMA #UFC227 pic.twitter.com/3kNxfer4hJ
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“The Young Punisher” punished the Welshman’s left leg with kicks early and often so did so much damage that “The Pikey” crumbled on contact multiple times. Munho tried finishing his bantamweight foe with his trademark guillotine on multiple occasions, but Johns (15-2) escaped every attempt. Munhoz nearly finished Johns with kicks to the liver as well, but “The Pikey” was far too tough to succumb to the damage.
In the end, Munhoz (16-3) won via tallies of 30-26, 29-28 and
29-27.
Related » UFC 227 Round-by-Round Scoring
Simon Wrestles Way to Victory
Bantamweight contender Ricky Simon used his powerful takedown attack to thwart the much taller Montel Jackson’s gameplan of trying to strike from the outside. Virtually every time Jackson started to get going with his kicks or punches, the Washington-based fighter would scoop him up and slam him down. Simon scored nearly a dozen total takedowns in the fight en rout to a dominant unanimous decision win.
He was given the verdict via tallies of 30-27 (twice) and 29-28 to win his seventh straight bout and improve to 13-1. Jackson, from Milwaukee, fell to 6-1.
Ramos Slips by Kang
Bantamweight contenders Ricardo Ramos and Kyung Ho Kang (14-8) fought a nip-and-tuck battle from start to finish and the win could have gone to either man. However, two of the three judges favored Ramos in the battle as the Brazilian was awarded a split decision victory.
Ramos was busier on the feet and landed the cleaner, harder punches in the battle. Ramos (12-1) also scored a few timely takedowns to offset the pair of takedowns scored by the South Korean. In the end, Ramos won via tallies of 29-28 (twice) and 28-29.
Moraes Edges Sayles
Featherweight prospect Sheymon Moraes (10-2) hung on to eke past Matt Sayles to win a close and somewhat disputed unanimous decision.
The Brazilian controlled the pace of the contest for the first two rounds, but Moraes never landed anything hard or clean in those frames. Sayles (7-2), meanwhile, tagged his foe with sporadic strikes and then dominated him down the stretch in the third. Moraes was warned by referee Blake Grice on multiple times in the duel but never had a point deducted and in the end, he won the verdict via tallies of 29-28 on all three judges’ scorecards.
Perez Hands Torres His First L
Alex Perez proved to be way too much for Ultimate Fighting Championship newcomer Jose Torres to handle as the Californian landed 104 total strikes in just under four minutes. His blitzkrieg of punches, elbows and knees led to a sensational first-round knockout to cap off the prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
Perez exploded out of the gate with a never-ending flurry of punches, which opened up cuts on Torres’ head. “Shorty” fired back repeatedly, which led to terrific back-and-forth action, but Perez’s power eventually came through.
A right-left to the head buckled Torres’ knees and Perez unloaded punches until the Chicago fighter crumbled in a heap against the cage. Referee Frank Trigg jumped in and called off the mugging at the 3:36 mark to give Perez (21-4) his eighth straight win. Torres, a former strawweight and bantamweight champion for Titan Fighting Championships, lost for the first time as a pro; he now stands at 8-1.
Zhang Extends Streak to 17
Arguably the highest-touted prospect to come from China, strawweight Weili Zhang was successful in her UFC debut on Saturday when she out-pointed Danielle Taylor (9-4) over three rounds.
Zhang utilized a superb repertoire of leg kicks and punches to the head, keeping the shorter American at bay for most of the contest. “Dynamite” Danielle landed powerful right hooks just as the horn sounded to end rounds one and two, but that was about it for her offense. Zhang (17-1) controlled the action throughout and won the judges’ verdict on scores of 29-28 across the board to win her seventeenth consecutive bout.
‘Chito’ Body Snatches His Way to Win
Bantamweight contender Marlon Vera took his fight with China’s Wuliji Buren (9-5) on only a few days’ notice and his decision to do so certainly paid off.
Buren controlled most of the action early on inside the clinch and on the canvas, but once “Chito” let his hands go, it was over. The Ecuadoran exploded with a flurry of punches to the head and body with only a few ticks remaining in the second round, most notably a wicked left hook to Buren’s liver. Once that punch slammed into Beastmaster’s guts, he crumbled in a heap. Referee Frank Trigg immediately intervened, ending the fight at the 4:53 mark of the second.
Vera improved to 11-5 with the TKO win.
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