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Blood Diamond falls to 0-2 inside the octagon courtesy of Orion Cosce at UFC 277
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, July 30, 2022, for UFC 277, going down live from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.
Headlining the event is a bantamweight championship rematch between current champion Julianna Pena and former champion, no. 1 ranked Amanda Nunes.
Co-headlining the event is also a championship rematch, this one going down in the flyweight division between former champion, no. 1 ranked Brandon Moreno, who faces no. 2 ranked Kai Kara-France for the interim title in the co-main event of the evening.
Our first fight of the night came in the welterweight division between former professional kickboxer Mike ‘Blood Diamond’ Mathetha and Orion Cosce, both men of which were in search of their first octagon victory here tonight.
Continue reading to see how this welterweight encounter went down:
Official Result: Orion Cosce def. Blood Diamond via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
‘Blood Diamond’ shows off his crisp striking early on, but Cosce is quick to clinch the superior striker. The two pummel for underhooks for a couple minutes, where Diamond is able to land some nice knees, but he hangs on too long and Cosce goes for a trip.
Diamond defends the first one, only being brought to his knees as he gets right back up, the second one Cosce attempted did work and Diamond is thrown to his back. Cosce proceeds to control the rest of round one.
The second round is a much better one for Diamond, as he’s able to showcase more of his elite level striking. His balance does seem a bit off for MMA though, you can tell it’s just his fifth MMA fight.
Nonetheless, he does appear to hurt Cosce with a knee to the body, and also landed a number of beautiful kicks from both legs, primarily his lead left, and he wins the second round, making it 19-19 going into the third.
Diamond is evidently tired going into the third, but he starts it off with a furious pace and is taken down considering. Cosce nearly secures a rear naked choke, and then an arm-triangle, but Diamond is able to stay in there until the final bell.
After falling to 0-2 inside the octagon, do we want to see Blood Diamond for a third time?
To his defense, he did fight a 9-2-1 opponent in his promotional debut while he was just 3-0 himself, and he fought a 7-1 opponent tonight, who is a good wrestler, nonetheless.
On the contrary, congratulations to Orion Cosce, who picks up his first victory inside the octagon at UFC 277.
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