UFC Louisville Prelims: Ludovit Klein Busts up Thiago Moises

Ludovit Klein showed once again that he has one of the most accurate nicknames in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In the top prelim of UFC on ESPN 57 on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, “Mr. Highlight” (22-4-1) knocked down Thiago Moises (18-8) multiple times en route to a dominant unanimous decision win. Their fight was characterized by each fighter’s willingness to engage in his opponent’s preferred territory. Moises, one of the lightweight division’s most dangerous submission artists, traded blows with Klein, especially in the first round, when he attempted head kicks and narrowly missed with a looping bomb to the head that left Klein visibly relieved. Klein, for his part, showed little fear of Moises’ jiu-jitsu, taking the black belt down several times including a resounding slam in Round 3. Their gameness made for exciting viewing, but as a strategic choice it favored Klein, who hurt Moises repeatedly and appeared to be rolling towards a finish at the end of Rounds 1 and 2. Moises survived and remained competitive throughout, but the unanimous 30-27 scores in favor of Klein were an accurate representation of the action. The win extended Klein’s unbeaten streak to six straight fights and should have him on a collision course with a Top 10 foe in his next matchup, while Moises will need to bounce back from this loss if he wishes to return to those rankings.

On an undercard that had opened with six straight decisions, including three split verdicts, Carlos Prates broke the ice in style, wrecking Charlie Radtke with a brutal knee to the body in the first round. Prates (19-6) appeared several steps ahead of Radtke (9-4) from the start, baiting “Chuck Buffalo” with feints and picking him apart with precise punches and kicks. Radtke was game, coming forward and throwing big haymakers, several of which came close to connecting, but “Carlao” was simply taking his opponent’s measure. Prates landed an intercepting knee on Radtke as he advanced, then a few seconds later hit him with a much harder, cleaner one, folding him instantly at 4:47 of Round 1. No follow-up strikes were necessary, as referee Blake Grice recognized that Radtke was done. The highlight-reel finish left Prates at 2-0 since joining the UFC out of Dana White's Contender Series last year, while Radtke fell to 2-1 in the Octagon.

Brad Katona (14-3) entered the cage in Louisville as the biggest betting favorite on the card and fought like it, mauling Jesse Butler (12-6) on the ground for three rounds while taking next to no damage. “Superman” established the superiority of his wrestling early, grounding Butler and going to work with his heavy top game. The first round saw Katona smother and control Butler, but the relentless assault took its toll, and in Round 2, Katona went to work with a barrage of elbows from top position, splitting Butler’s forehead open and leaving him in pure survival mode. Butler toughed it out to the end of the round, but the final frame offered no reprieve, and Katona once again took Butler down quickly, then went to work beating him up from guard. The judges rewarded Katona with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26), getting him back in the win column after his January loss to Garrett Armfield; Butler is now 0-2 in the UFC with lopsided losses to Jim Miller last summer and now Katona.

Montana De La Rosa (13-9-1) exacted a measure of revenge, outworking Andrea Lee (13-10) in their flyweight clash, a rematch of their 2019 outing which Lee won by decision. Like their first meeting, Saturday’s fight was a closely contested affair, with both women experiencing success in the striking as well as grappling. De La Rosa distinguished herself with active offense from her back, including several triangle and armbar attempts that forced Lee onto the defensive, as well as much sharper boxing than she showed five years ago. De La Rosa showed some exotic ground work, including an awkward-looking choke attempt from the back in Round 2 and a Suloev stretch setup in Round 3. Neither reached the point of real peril for “KGB,” but taken in conjunction with her accurate striking, they were enough to net her two rounds on two judges’ scorecards, good enough for a split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29). The win snapped a three-fight skid for the 29-year-old De la Rosa, while Lee’s run of misery continued with her fifth straight loss.

Daniel Marcos continued his march up the bantamweight ranks, turning in a dominant three rounds of work against John Castaneda. The boxing of Marcos (16-0, 1 NC) proved too fast, too sharp and too powerful for Castaneda (21-7), who struggled to find the Peruvian, let alone land the takedowns that represented his best path to victory. Marcos’ jab quickly reddened the face of Castaneda, who had his best success in the early going with leg kicks. Those kicks dried up, however, as Marcos continued to score with crisp punch combinations. Castaneda managed to take Marcos down in Round 2, but was unable to take advantage of the position to do any damage. Round 3 saw “Soncora” turn on the jets, knocking Castaneda down and continuing to put on a boxing clinic to the final horn. Marcos prevailed by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), getting him back in the win column after his bizarre, foul-plagued no contest against Qileng Aori earlier this year. Castaneda’s loss snapped the two-fight win streak he built last year, leaving him to regroup after this one-sided outing.

Denise Gomes put in a hard hat-worthy performance, handing an overweight Eduarda Moura her first professional loss in their 117-pound catchweight affair. Conventional wisdom seemed to imply that knockout artist Gomes (9-3) would form one-half of a classic striker versus grappler matchup against decorated judoka Moura (10-1), but quickly dispelled that notion by snaring Moura in a standing guillotine in the opening seconds. After a few tense moments, Moura managed to extricate herself from the submission attempt, but it was a harbinger of what was to come. Gomes landed a steady stream of power punches on the feet, and exhibited no fear of her countrywoman’s vaunted ground game, working calmly from her back and even initiating takedowns of her own when it suited her. The second round was especially strong for the 24-year-old, who turned up the pressure as Moura appeared to tire and ended the frame by pummeling her foe’s head as she clung to a single-leg takedown against the fence. Gomes appeared to have won no fewer than two rounds clearly—probably all three—but thanks to a mystifying scorecard by local judge Chris Kinman, had to settle for a split decision (30-27, 30-27, 28-29).

Taylor Lapilus continued to validate the UFC’s decision to re-sign him, outdueling Cody Stamann in their bantamweight preliminary bout. Lapilus (20-4) used footwork, superior reach and ample volume to frustrate Stamann (21-7-1), pitching a near shutout against the American’s normally reliable takedown game. Going into the final round, Lapilus appeared to be on his way to a well-deserved but relatively suspense-free win, but Stamann managed to bring some drama to the proceedings. “The Spartan” finally secured a solid takedown early in the final frame, slamming the Frenchman to the canvas and landing in side control, but Lapilus managed to return to his feet without suffering any real damage. From there, Lapilus went back to work touching Stamann up at range, and the rest was academic. Lapilus prevailed by unanimous 30-27 scores, running his record to 2-1 since rejoining the UFC last year; Stamann has now lost two in a row and five of his last seven in the Octagon.

In the strawweight opener, Puja Tomar made history twice, entering the cage as the first woman from India to fight in the UFC, then leaving it as the first Indian fighter, male or female, to record an official victory. That does not imply that Tomar (9-4) had an easy night of work, as Rayanne dos Santos (14-8) appeared to outwork and outland the “Cyclone” in at least two of three rounds. Dos Santos, a former Invicta Fighting Championships atomweight champ, enjoyed a visible size advantage for one of the very few times in her UFC run, and spent large stretches of the fight backing up the shorter Tomar with punches and kicks. However, dos Santos’ failure to cut off the cage and Tomar’s busy, sanda-influenced kicking game left each round individually competitive. For the cageside judges, that equated to difficulty in reaching a consensus, and the result was a decision featuring rarely seen opposing 30-27 scorecards. The third score, 29-28 for Tomar, made it a split verdict for the 30-year-old debutante.