Kiwi-Samoan Carlos Ulberg has fought his way to a clinical three-round shutout win over Fabio Cherant at UFC 271.
The 'Black Jag' put on a composed, measured display of striking, and showcased his evolving grappling game to outpoint his opponent and secure a comfortable maiden UFC win.
The City Kickboxing product had clearly taken on board the lessons from his Octagon debut last March, when a fast and dominant start gave way to fatigue, pacing himself expertly and dictating terms throughout.
Cherant barely fired a shot, as Ulberg controlled the centre of the Octagon, landing at a high success rate and dissecting the 'Water Buffalo' to earn a one-sided 50-45 decision on the judges' scorecards.
At the opening bell, Ulberg immediately established position in the middle of the cage, setting the tone for the rest of the bout.
After a lengthy feeling-out process, the former 'King in the Ring' champion landed a couple of heavy straight lefts that caught Cherant's attention.
Taking advantage of a reckless assault by Cherant, Ulberg clinched and won a quick takedown to close out the opening round, despite losing his balance in the closing moments, courtesy of a left hook.
The shot gave Cherant some momentary confidence to open the second round, but Ulberg re-established his dominance by opening a cut above his eye with a pinpoint check left hook.
That pattern continued into the final round, as Ulberg - fighting carefree, due to Cherant's lack of takedown threat - picked and chose his shots to expert effect.
Realising he held the advantage, Ulberg kept his range to minimise the risk of a late Cherant salvo, punctuating his victory with another slick takedown.
The win takes the kickboxing convert's young mixed martial arts record to 4-1.
Earlier, teammate Blood Diamond fell to a first-round submission defeat in his UFC debut, with Israel Adesanya's middlewight title defence against Robert Whittaker still to come in the event's headline act.
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