Belal Muhammad had his sights set on the first submission win of his career late in his fight against Chance Rencountre. He had to settle for beating him up for 15 minutes, instead.

Muhammad (14-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) took a unanimous decision from Rencountre (12-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) when he wasn’t able to finish a rear-naked choke late in the fight. Muhammad won with a trio of 30-27 scores.

The welterweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 131 event at Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, N.Y. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of the main card on FS1.

The two traded kicks and punches for the first half of the frame. With two minutes left, Rencountre changed levels to try to take Muhammad down, but wasn’t close. Not long after, Muhammad dodged a Rencountre punch and landed a clean counter right. Another right was on point moments later. Muhammad just missed two high kicks late in the frame.

A minute into the second, Muhammad drove forward and scooped Rencountre up for a takedown. He landed it, but Rencountre did well to get back to his feet after only a few seconds on the ground and avoided Muhammad’s ground-and-pound. Muhammad landed a right, then a left down the stretch, and seconds later he popped Rencountre’s head back with a pair of jabs. He just missed a late kick, then another right at the horn that Rencountre seemed to take issue with.

Muhammad landed another takedown just ahead of two minutes left in the round. Again, though, Rencountre got back to his feet quickly to avoid Muhammad’s stellar ground-and-pound game. With 90 seconds left, Muhammad landed another takedown, then circled around to take Rencountre’s back. He went after a rear-naked choke with 70 seconds to finish. He tied Rencountre up with a body triangle and stayed after it with his back against the fence, but he couldn’t get the finish before the final horn.

Muhammad won for the fourth straight time and fifth time in six fights. Rencountre had a four-fight winning streak snapped in his promotional debut.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 131 results include:

• Belal Muhammad def. Chance Rencountre via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Desmond Green def. Gleison Tibau via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-27)
• Nathaniel Wood def. Johnny Eduardo via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 2, 2:18
• Jose Torres def. Jarred Brooks via TKO (slam) – Round 2, 2:55

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 131, check out the UFC Events section of the site.