The UFC 209 co-main event between Lando Vannata and David Teymur was supposed to be the second fight on the main card, but the loss of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson elevated this lightweight battle to co-main status. This was an absolutely terrific battle, and on an upset-filled night, TUF 22’s Teymur handed “Groovy” Lando a unanimous decision loss.
They traded kicks in the early going, Vannata went up top with a head kick. He later went for a spinning backfist, but Teymur was able to land some decent punches. Vannata tagged Teymur with a crazy cartwheel kick, but not flush enough to drop him. A huge punching combination hurt Teymur, and Vannata went on the attack, but the Swede answered with hard knees to the body. Teymur was managing sustained offensive success after weathering the early storm. Lando completed an explosive takedown and tried to get his back, but Teymur impressively got back to his feet. Teymur clipped Lando with a right hand that had Vannata wobbling just a bit. This was a thrilling opening round between two crafty strikers.
Vannata timed Teymur beautifully with a right hand, but Teymur pressed forward with a knee to the body. David threw three straight nasty knees to the body. Vannata caught a kick and then literally threw a spinning kick as a response. Teymur connected with two hard punches, but Vannata took them well. Vannata chased and got in a straight right. Superman punch by Teymur snapped the head back of Lando. That was truly sensational. Teymur took Vannata down in a surprise moment, then kneed him to the head on the way up. Vannata ate more knees to the body and a hard punch towards the end of the round.
The final round produced more excitement. Teymur continued the body attacks and winning the clinch battles. Vannata slammed home a right hand. Lando threw some nice low kicks. Teymur cracked Vannata with a lovely two-punch combination, then momentarily took him down. Teymur again was blasted with a right hand but did take Vannata down for a third time. Another takedown by Teymur was completed after busting up Vannata with punches. Vannata’s offense was less and less effective, and Teymur was the better man in the final round, and for the entire fight. Teymur remains unbeaten in the UFC, while Vannata is 1-2.
Official result: David Teymur def. Lando Vannata by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
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