We’re so proud of our team! Find out how they’ve been doing, as well as what else has been going on at our gym lately.
nt"
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – UFC on ESPN+ 1 took place Saturday at Barclays Center. Below is a recap of the early prelims.
****
Dennis Bermudez (17-9 MMA, 10-7 UFC) snapped his four-fight losing skid and made a successful debut in the lightweight division with a dominant performance against Te Edwards (6-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) that ended in a unanimous decision victory. After a slow first round, Bermudez got into his groove big time in the second and third frames. He pressed the action on the feet so he could find openings for his takedowns, and from there threatened with all types of submissions.
Although he couldn’t lock in anything deep enough to force Edwards to tap, his work rate led the judges to giving him a decision by scores of 30-26, 30-26, 30-26 for his first victory since August 2016. Afterward, he announced his retirement from MMA.
“This is my last fight. It’s been awesome,” Bermudez said. “I’ve been through some stuff and thought about hanging them up after the four losses. I want my kids to look back and see that even though I went through adversity, I came out on top. My uncle has cancer and isn’t doing so well. That’s what us Bermudez boys do – when we’re down and out, we come back and win.”
Geoff Neal (11-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) brought an end to Belal Muhammad’s (14-3, 5-2 UFC) four-fight winning streak with a slick striking performance that ended in a unanimous-decision victory. Neal’s takedown defense held up, and his punches were on the mark as he bloodied and battered Muhammad over three rounds. The final frame was his best work as he dropped the ever-gutsy Muhammad twice in the frame to secure scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 and remain unbeaten in his UFC career.
HEAD KICK!
But Muhammad survives and gets back to his feet. Wow! #UFCBrooklyn pic.twitter.com/I7yeo05PkF
— UFC (@ufc) January 20, 2019
“I feel great. I hate decisions, but Belal is a tough opponent,” Neal said. “I knew he was tough, and I was ready to go to decision. I’ve seen fights where he’s been hurt and come back. I wanted a finish, but I’ll take a decision. I’m just happy to get the win.”
After faltering in a short-notice fight in his octagon debut this past year, Chance Rencountre (13-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) was able to take advantage of short-notice opponent Kyle Stewart (11-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) with a first-round submission victory. After exchanging some strikes, Rencountre moved in and scored a successful takedown. From there, he advanced to Stewart’s back and locked in a fight-ending rear-naked choke at the 2:25 mark of Round 1.
Sub in 1️⃣@BlackEagleMMA gets first round submission at #UFCBrooklyn! pic.twitter.com/AVYbKYuiz6
— UFC (@ufc) January 19, 2019
“I knew I was going to go out there and try to wrestle him,” Rencountre said. “I knew I had the advantage there. I wanted to take him down and get the finish – submission of any kind, or stay on top and land ground-and-pound. I slipped the rear-naked choke in quicker than I thought.”
UFC on ESPN+ 1 results include:
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 1, check out the UFC Eventssection of the site.
Charles Oliveira proved he had championship mettle when he battled through some early adversity against Michael Chandler. Oliveira faced Chandler for the vacant lightweight title in the main event of UFC 262 in May 2021. It took “Do Bronx” 28 octagon appearances to earn his first-career title shot. Round...
For Javier Mendez, Islam Makhachev is more skilled than Khabib Nurmagomedov but not more dangerous. Daniel Cormier, who also trained under Mendez at American Kickboxing Academy, said UFC lightweight champion Makhachev is even more dangerous than former champ Nurmagomedov was during his prime. Mendez heavily disagrees. “OK, he’s more...
We want to make sure that Ludus MMA is the right fit for you before asking you to commit to a membership.
That’s why we’d like to offer you a FREE ONE-DAY PASS to our gym.
With your FREE PASS, you can: