Gregor Gillespie Survives Round One To Finish Carlos Diego Ferreira At UFC Vegas 26
The UFC touches down in Las Vegas, Nevada once again tonight, May 8, 2021, for UFC Vegas 26 live on ESPN & ESPN+.
Headlining the event came a women’s flyweight bout between top ten strawweight talents Marina Rodriguez (No. 6) and Michelle Waterson (No. 9), considering the original main event, TJ Dillashaw versus Cory Sandhagen, has been postponed.
Notice it says a flyweight (125 lb) match up between strawweight (115 lb) contenders. It was agreed upon by both women that they fight a weight class above, as they’re fighting two extra rounds on short notice.
Don’t get it mixed though, this bout does have strawweight title, or at the least top contender implications.
Co-headlining the bout is also a short notice encounter, this one between Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone and Alex ‘The Great White’ Morono.
This was originally set to be a legend versus legend bout, with Cerrone facing The Ultimate Fighter I winner Diego Sanchez, but Sanchez has within the last two weeks been released from the promotion, leaving Morono to take his spot.
We were given a real treat on the main card tonight, where lightweight contenders Carlos Diego Ferreira (No .12) and Gregor Gillespie (No. 14) faced off in the second bout on ESPN.
Ferreira is coming off a split decision defeat to Beneil Dariush, his second to Dariush, bringing his record to 17-3. He was however coming into that fight on a six-fight win streak. The only other man to ever defeat Ferreira is Dustin Poirier.
Gillespie is also coming off a defeat, the first of his career, where he was KO’d by Kevin Lee with a head kick in November of 2019, bringing his record to 13-1. He was slated against Brad Riddell for a March bout, but it was cancelled due to Covid-19.
Now we get to see these two ground-fighting experts go at it; one of the best BJJ practitioners in the sport, and one of the very best wrestlers in the sport. This is going to be a good one!
Continue reading to see how this epic bout went down:
Official Result: Gregor Gillespie def. Carlos Diego Ferreira via TKO (punches) at 4:51 of round two
Round 1
Holy hell what a first round these two put on!
Gillespie shoots on his first single leg attempt, which is stuffed by Ferreira. Gillespie then shoots on another, but is denied again, and gets caught with a nasty 1-2 combo by Ferreira, stunning him badly.
Gillespie shoots on another takedown and gets it, but Ferreira’s scrambling ability is unreal. He’s ending up on the bottom for the most part, but aside from defending some of the takedowns, he’s also able to sweep Gillespie at times from his back.
That’s what happened at the end of the round after Gillespie secured his final takedown. Ferreira slipped out the back door and took Gillespie’s back. He was fishing for the rear naked choke, and he was also reigning down some vicious elbows from the top until the end of the round.
Gillespie was stumbling on his way back to his corner, he was visibly hurt, and exhausted after round one.
Round 2
Alright, it’s honesty time. There’s absolutely no way this recap can do this fight justice, you’ll have to watch it.
The scrambles between these two are just insane. Gillespie is still diving on Ferreira’s legs, and is initially unsuccessful, but he keeps at it, as he always does, and finds success with his pace.
Ferreira is starting to melt under the crazy pressure Gillespie is putting on. He isn’t able to keep up in the scrambles anymore, and he’s ended up on the bottom once again.
Gillespie takes Ferreira’s back, before turning him over and reigning down some hard punches from top back-mount, securing the finish just before the end of round two.
After being hurt in round one, especially after being knocked out in his last fight, to rally and overwhelm Ferreira to finish him, this was an incredibly impressive performance by Gregor Gillespie.
