Three fights are in the books for UFC on Fox 17, and two of them ended violently. The third one featured a top welterweight prospect, and he picked up a nice win as well. Here’s how the Fight Pass prelims went down in Orlando.
Kamaru Usman defeated Leon Edwards by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Usman, the TUF 21 winner, couldn’t get an early takedown but was able to hold his own on the feet with the striker Edwards. He did get one later in the round, but spent a while fighting off a triangle choke attempt. Usman really took over in the second though, hurting Edwards on the feet and controlling position on the mat. The third was all Usman, who worked over his tired opponent with grappling and ground and pound.
Vicente Luque defeated Hayder Hassan by submission (anaconda choke), 2:13 of round 1
This was a rematch from TUF 21. Hassan cracked Luque early and seemed to have him hurt, but Luque managed to quickly secure the anaconda. He adjusted it and Hassan couldn’t escape. He eventually went completely out, even convulsing a bit, before the referee decided to stop the fight (way too late).
Francis Ngannou defeated Luiz Henrique by KO (punch), 2:53 of round 2
In the opening bout of the night, Henrique managed to take down the vaunted striker early and kept him off of his game in the first, but Ngannou managed to fight him off against the cage in round two and used some powerful strikes to set up the finish. He backed Henrique off with a hard right hook, then sent him to the mat with a huge uppercut. One more strike came through from Ngannou, but Henrique was already napping by then.
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