Charles Jourdain vs. Joshua Culibao ends in a draw at UFC Fight Island 4
The second stint of Fight Island events continues with UFC on ESPN 16 tonight, Saturday, October 3.
Headlining the event is a women’s bantamweight affair between the No. 2 ranked former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and the No. 6 ranked Irene Aldana, on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
The co-main event features a bout between heavyweight strikers Yorgan De Castro and Carlos Felipe.
Just before the preliminary feature bout between former WEC and interim UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit and The Ultimate Fighter 11 winner Court McGee went down, a featherweight bout between former TKO champ-champ Charles Jourdain and former DFC Lightweight Champion Joshua Culibao took place at 145 lbs.
We knew coming in Jourdain has incredible striking, he’d just lost a very close split decision to Andre Fili, but had finished Doo Ho Choi via TKO in his fight prior to Fili. Culibao had only fought once inside the octagon coming in, where he lost to Jalin Turner in a lightweight bout, putting an end to his undefeated record.
Jourdain came into this fight with a record of 10-3, and Culibao came in with a record of 8-1. This was a great Canada versus Australia match up, reminiscent of TUF Smashes.
Round 1
Jourdain came out with a flying knee to start round one, but nothing came of it. He immediately took control of the center once the fight started, and was landing beautiful leg kicks. Jourdain tried another flying knee, which allowed Culibao to tie up with him.
Culibao tried for the takedown, but was unable to get it, and they were back to the center. Culibao ends up dropping, and presumably breaks Jourdain’s nose with an overhand right, and wrapped Jourdain up in a guillotine choke immediately afterwards.
Jourdain fought out of the guillotine attempt and made it to round two.
Round 2
Round two showed a back-and-forth striking battle with Jourdain controlling the center of the octagon throughout. Culibao ended up shooting a double leg attempt in the last 30 seconds of the round, but Jourdain stuffed it, threatening Culibao with a guillotine choke until the bell sounded.
Round 3
Culibao tried hard for a body lock trip once round three started, but Jourdain dug his underhook correctly and got away from it. Jourdain ended up clipping Culibao with a barrage of strikes and had him momentarily stunned. Though Jourdain followed up and continued throwing, Culibao was able to survive.
Jourdain swept Culibao with a nasty leg kick, forcing Culibao’s back to the mat. In a scramble, Joudain ended up locking in an inverted triangle, and it looked like the fight may had been over right then.
When we realized he wasn’t going to get the triangle, there was hope for the armbar there, but Jourdain eventually bailed on it and they went back to striking. The remaining 30 seconds played out on the feet, back-and-forth until it was over.
Official Result: Charles Jourdain vs. Joshua Culiabo ends in a split draw (30-27, 28-29, 28-28)
