Kiwi lightweight Brad Riddell has continued the undefeated start to his UFC career with a unanimous decision win over Alex da Silva at Abu Dhabi's 'Fight Island' on Sunday (NZ time).
Fighting in the feature preliminary bout, Riddell overcame Da Silva's early grappling offence to strike home strong through the final two rounds and earn the 29-28 nod on all three judges' scorecards.
Grappling specialist Da Silva was able to keep the fight where he wanted it through the opening round, controlling proceedings with his clinch but without threatening with any genuine submission attempts or doing any significant damage.
In the second and third rounds, Riddell was able to keep the bout standing and quickly found his rhythm, using his diverse arsenal of strikes to excellent effect against the Brazilian.
The Christchurch native also showcased his own grappling prowess, shooting for a couple of successful, albeit brief, takedown attempts.
As Da Silva began to fade, Riddell ramped up his output, stringing together three and four shot combinations and using his footwork to create openings that he was able to emphatically take advantage of.
In the third round, Riddell landed a flush left hook that sent da Silva staggering, only for the Brazilian to claim he'd been the victim of an eye poke. City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman unleashed a tirade from the corner towards the referee, claiming the shot was legal.
Replays proved exactly that, and the fight was quickly restarted, Riddell getting right back to work with one final takedown to seal his decision win.
"He got hold of me in that first round and I could feel that style of fight strength when you’re at your peak and I was like, 'hmm, this is going to last a while'," Riddell said post-fight.
"I looked at the clock, he had been controlling me for three minutes and I was like, 'I've lost this round, I’m going to sacrifice this round, I'm just going to fight him and make him tired and go to work with my experience in rounds two and three and it worked."
The victory is Riddell's third since his UFC debut 11 months ago, and should put him in line for a much higher ranked opponent for his next Octagon appearance.
"I deserve to be in that top 20 and have someone hanging around there," Riddell added.
"I'm sure they’re all a little bit nervous for me to come knocking on their door as well, so that’s where I think this puts me.
"This is a sports and entertainment business, it’s perform and entertain. I feel like every fight I’ve had so far, I’ve performed and I’ve entertained, so as long as I keep doing that, bosses are going to be happy, my bank account is going to be happy, and that’s the way I want it to be."
The City Kickboxing product is the first of the four Kiwi fighters on Sunday's card to have their hand raised. Earlier, Shane Young fell to a first-round knockout defeat against Ludovit Klein, with Kai Kara-France and Israel Adesanya still to come.
