UFC London Prelims: Chris Padilla Turns Away Jai Herbert

Chris Padilla may not be able to sneak up on the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight division for much longer.

In the featured prelim of UFC London on Saturday at O2 Arena, “Taco” spoiled Jai Herbert’s UK homecoming in a matchup that promised fireworks but failed to deliver them until the final round. Round 1 was a tentative five minutes, with the hard-hitting lightweights seeming to struggle to deliver their power to their opponent’s chin. Padilla appeared stymied by Herbert’s enormous reach and height advantages, while Herbert was content to chip away at range, wary of Padilla’s takedown attempts. That dynamic carried over to the middle frame, but gradually gave way to a close-quarters, clinch-heavy slog. Padilla finally secured a hip toss only to have “The Black Country Banger” bounce back to his feet instantly. Ultimately, Round 2 was another near stalemate, difficult to score. Herbert came out aggressive in the final frame, advancing and backing “Taco” up to the fence, only to have Padilla tie him up and look for trips and throws. Herbert succeeded in landing some clean punches to the head as well as some glancing kicks that kept Padilla backing away. Herbert pulled away as Round 3 wore on, hurting the American and wobbling him with punch combinations in the final minute. One of those close-quarters exchanges left Padilla with a deep gash on the left eyebrow, a nasty souvenir of his trip to London. The judges, given the unenviable task of deciding a fight that only truly opened up in the final few minutes, unsurprisingly failed to achieve consensus, awarding Padilla the win via 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29 scores. Padilla’s unlikely UFC run moved to 3-0, while Herbert’s Octagon record dropped to 3-5-1.

Related » UFC London Round-by-Round Scoring

Kavanagh Takes Blood-Soaked Win Over dos Santos

One might not have thought it to look at them after the fight, but Lone'er Kavanagh (9-0) not only kept his professional record spotless against Felipe dos Santos (8-3, 1 NC) but looked largely impressive in doing so. The clash of offense-minded flyweights did not disappoint, as the two began exchanging hard, fast kicks immediately. The first round saw dos Santos a half-step ahead of the undefeated Brit, tagging him with fast low kicks at range, then meeting him with short punches and elbows when he closed the distance, including a spinning back elbow that split Kavanagh’s forehead open. Kavanagh began bleeding heavily from a cut near the hairline, which soon covered both men in crimson but did not seem to affect Kavanagh’s vision or focus. Kavanagh increasingly took over as the fight wore on, landing more sporadically but with much more impact, and spending much of Rounds 2 and 3 slamming the Brazilian all over the cage. The cageside judges rewarded Kavanagh’s most complete Octagon performance to date with unanimous 29-28 scores, running his UFC record to 2-0 and certifying him one of the division’s most intriguing prospects; dos Santos fell to 1-3 in the UFC.

Tybura Takes Parkin’s “O”

Mick Parkin may be part of the future of the heavyweight division, but Marcin Tybura served notice that the future has not arrived just yet. The 39-year-old Tybura (27-9) faced Parkin, undefeated and a decade his junior, and refused to hold up his end of the expected torch passing. Surprisingly, despite Parkin’s reputation as a crisp boxer, “Tybur” appeared to have the superior hand speed, and threw a variety of punches to the body and head that Parkin struggled to deal with. Equally surprising was the ease with which Parkin took down Tybura—usually one of the heavyweight division’s most reliable wrestlers and grapplers—and put him in serious peril on the ground. Round 2 saw Parkin take Tybura down directly into side control, where he pelted him with a stream of punches and hammerfists that had referee Marc Goddard hovering close to the action. Tybura survived and escaped, and appeared to take back control of the fight in Round 3. The judges appeared to agree, awarding Tybura the decision via unanimous 29-28 scores. Tybura elevated his UFC tally to 14-8, while Parkin’s first professional loss left him at 10-1 overall, 4-1 in the UFC.

Duncan Outstrikes Pulyaev

Christian Leroy Duncan (11-2) entered the Octagon as the biggest betting favorite on the card and held serve, spoiling the promotional debut of Andrey Pulyaev (9-3) in their middleweight undercard feature. “CLD” came out aggressive, lighting the Russian up with a flurry of kicks in the early going. Pulyaev weathered the attack and threw back, and the two kickboxers settled into a back-and-forth affair in which Duncan appeared to get the better of most of the exchanges. The Brit appeared well on his way to a straightforward if somewhat lackluster win, but made things interesting in the closing moments as he landed his best offense since the first minute of the fight, blasting Pulyaev with punches and elbows against the cage. Pulyaev may have been saved by the final horn, but he held on to hear scorecards of 30-27 (twice) and 30-26 in favor of Duncan, who moved to 4-2 since joining the UFC out of Cage Warriors Fighting Championship. Pulyaev fell to 0-1 in the UFC.

Bannon Shocks Tomar

Shauna Bannon (7-1) snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, recovering from a near-knockout to armbar Puja Tomar (9-4) in their strawweight contest. Through a round and a half, the two women had engaged in a tentative striking battle, with Bannon and Tomar exchanging kicks to all levels but failing to inflict any major damage. That changed in a flash midway through the second frame, when Tomar dropped Bannon with a blistering high kick. “The Cyclone” pounced and swarmed for the finish, landing several clean hammerfists, but Bannon kept moving and recovered her wits, then threw her legs up for a triangle choke. She quickly switched to an armbar, and as Tomar attempted to extricate herself from the hold, calmly adjusted her grip. Finally left with no other option, Tomar was forced to ask out of the fight at 3:22 of Round 2. The shocking submission win—which cashed at 12-to-1 for those with the foresight to grab that particular prop—raised “Mama B” to 2-1 in the Octagon; Tomar’s mark stands at 1-1 after the stunning loss.

Loughran Edges Out Fletcher

Caolan Loughran (10-2) exacted a measure of payback, squeaking out a win over Nathan Fletcher (9-2) and avenging a 2018 amateur loss in their bantamweight preliminary matchup. The fight was a back-and-forth affair, with Round 2 for Fletcher appearing to be the only clear-cut round for either fighter. Loughran committed to the takedown early and often, and succeeded in dragging Fletcher to the canvas nearly 10 times, but struggled to get off much offense once they were there. Round 2 was defined by Fletcher taking standing back mount, then pummeling “The Don” with punches before attempting a rear-naked choke that left the Irishman on the defensive for much of the round. Loughran returned the favor in Round 3, but his time in the driver’s seat was relatively much shorter and it appeared to be anyone’s round. The judges saw things similarly, turning in split scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29 in favor of Loughran, who elevated his FC record to 2-2, while Fletcher dropped to 1-1.

Fernandes Hammers Kutateladze

In the opening bout of UFC London, Kaue Fernandes (10-2) delivered a pillar-to-post drubbing of Guram Kutateladze (13-5) that belied his status as a greater than -300 underdog. The 30-year-old Brazilian lightweight was quicker and sharper on the feet from the outset, lighting up his opponent with kicks to all levels. One early head kick briefly dropped the Georgian, but the real telling damage came from the steady diet of low kicks that had Kutateladze limping on reddened legs by the end of the first frame. Things only got worse for Kutateladze from there, as he was dropped by leg kicks in Rounds 2 and 3. Fernandes did not spare the rest of his foe’s body, either, mixing in kicks to the body and punches to the head. Kutateladze’s offense never seemed to get untracked; while he never completely wilted in the fact of Fernandes’ relentless attack, he appeared a step behind throughout and was visibly frustrated as time expired. The cageside judges turned in unsurprising but well-deserved unanimous scorecards of 30-27 for Fernandes, who moved to 2-1 in the UFC; Kutateladze fell to 2-3 in defeat.