Miguel Baeza submits Takashi Sato in round two at UFC Vegas 15

Though there were a few bouts cancelled tonight, most importantly the main event between No. 2 ranked UFC heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes and No. 4 ranked UFC heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis, the card pushes on with ten fights left intact.

The ninth of which, and the co-main event being contested in the welterweight division between Miguel Baeza (9-0) and Takashi Sato (16-3).

This is a really fun match up right from the start. They’re both knockout artists, and it was a pretty sure thing they’d be throwing down again tonight.

Coming into the fight, seven of Baeza’s wins came via knockout, and 11 of Sato’s wins came via knockout. That’s probably why this bout was moved up to the co-main event, behind Anthony Smith (33-16) versus Devin Clark (12-4).

Round 1

Sato immediately takes the center once the fight starts, but Baeza was landing more based on the fact he was throwing a variety of kicks, while Sato wasn’t. Baeza started to the body with snap kicks and round kicks, and he had success landing most of them.

Baeza ended up landing a hard overhand right, backing Sato up, giving Baeza the center control. Sato ties up with him, and is kneed low while he’s against the fence. There was a brief pause to the action, before it’s resumed and Baeza lands a couple nice knees followed by an overhand right in an exchange.

Round 2

Baeza opened up round two landing three nice right hands within the first minute, and he once again took the center, walking Sato backward. He continued mixing his strikes up, confusing the Japanese talent. Baeza shot on a single leg takedown and secured it.

He then flattened Sato out with a rear naked choke attempt, before Sato rolled to avoid the choke. While he was rolling to his back, he was locked in an arm-triangle choke, and all Baeza needed was a few seconds of torque after he had him flattened, and he got the tap toward the end of round two.

Official Result: Miguel Baeza def. Takashi Sato via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 4:28 of round two

Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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