Modestas Bukauskas picks up victory in return, upsets Tyson Pedro at UFC 284
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, February 11, 2023, for UFC 284, going down live from the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
Headlining the event was a champion versus champion clash, as the no. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (25-1) moved up to the lightweight division to challenge no. 2 pound-for-pound ranked UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (23-1) in attempt to become a two-division champion.
Our preliminary main event of the evening came in the light-heavyweight division between Tyson Pedro (9-3) and Modestas Bukauskas (13-5).
Pedro just returned last year in 2022 following a three-plus year layoff to secure back-to-back first round knockout victories, while Bukauskas had gone 2-0 since his UFC departure in September of 2021, laying claim to the Cage Warriors light-heavyweight championship in his most recent appearance this past December.
Continue reading to see how this 205 lb preliminary main event went down:
Official Result: Modestas Bukauskas def. Tyson Pedro via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Bukauskas opens up the bout looking very sharp on the feet. He appears to be the quicker party of the two, and he cracks Pedro with a nasty left hand early on.
Pedro ends up taking Bukauskas down midway through the round and controls him for a good 90 seconds before they return to their feet. Pedro looks to be tiring toward the end of the round, where Bukauskas lands another nasty hook in the middle of a combination.
Bukauskas continues to win the boxing exchanges in the second round, though Pedro is able to get his kicks going and looks a little better than he did through the first five minutes. He’s still not looking like himself though.
The third and final round is spent with them going strike for strike, Pedro closing the distance to push Bukauskas into the fence, being pushed into the fence by Bukauskas himself.
Pedro just didn’t look like himself tonight aside from that grappling exchange in the first, and he faded as he’s done in the past.
Bukauskas on the other hand just won the Cage Warriors light-heavyweight title via fourth round knockout. We knew coming in he’d be in great shape, and that along with his slick striking is what won him this fight.
Following a UFC release after losing three-straight promotional bouts, Modestas Bukauskas improves his win streak to three-straight tonight at UFC 284.
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