Brad Riddell outpoints Alex da Silva in UFC 253 contest
The second coming of UFC Fight Island events started tonight at UFC 253, Saturday, September 26.
Headlining the pay-per-view event is a middleweight title fight between two undefeated killers in Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa, just the second of the promotions history.
The featured prelim bout showcased a lightweight scrap between Brad Riddell (8-1) and Alex da Silva (21-2). Riddell is a 28-year-old 41-7 professional kickboxing champion that had gone 2-0 inside the UFC leading up to tonight, and da Silva is a 24-year-old finisher that’d gone 1-1 in the UFC thus far.
Round 1
Da Silva came out very aggressive in round one, landing nice combinations before securing a takedown just 50 seconds in. He remained on top for about two minutes, before Riddell was able to get up to his feet. Da Silva kept Riddell’s back on the getup, and dragged him right back down.
Riddell was able to get up again however and ended up reversing the position, before separating and getting back to striking range. They were both looking good on the feet, but da Silva was doing more and getting the better of the exchanges.
The two ended up in a scramble, where da Silva locked up a very tight guillotine choke with about 20 seconds left, and it looked like he may end up getting the tap with it. Riddell survived however, and made it to round two.
Round 2
Round two was a much better round for Riddell. It didn’t start out that way though, as Riddell initiated a tie up at the start of it and got put on the fence. Da Silva had Riddell up against the fence for about a minute, but was unable to secure the takedown.
The two were once again at striking range after da Silva’s takedown failed. Da Silva ended up cracking Riddell with a beautiful knee, but was unable to hurt him with it, and the tide started turning shortly after.
Riddell ended up out-pacing da Silva, and really just started to find his range about midway through round two. His combinations were landing, especially his punch combos, and his occasional leg kicks seemed to land every time as well.
Round 3
The third and final round showed the momentum going the same way as it did toward the end of round two, Riddell landing beautiful combinations throughout. He landed a nice left hook in the middle of the round, though the referee thought it was a poke and stopped the action considering.
The fight was paused, before it resumed shortly after. Really, it should have been a TKO win for Riddell, but the rest of the round went his way handily, and he walked away the victor.
Official Result: Brad Riddell def. Alex da Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
