UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones 2 took place Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The second fight of the Fightpass preliminary card featured Eric Shelton vs. Jarred Brooks in a three round contest at flyweight.
Eric Shelton returned to the cage Saturday after coming up short in his UFC debut at UFC on Fox 23: Shevchenko vs. Pena, dropping a three round decision to Alexandre Pantoja. He stepped in to the cage at UFC 214 looking to hand Jarred Brooks the first professional loss of his career.
Jarred Brooks, meanwhile, made his first trip into the octagon Saturday night. He entered the cage with a undefeated record of 12-0, with four finishes in his last five appearances. He was looking to continue his winning ways with a victory over Shelton.
Round one began with Brooks utilizing his movement and low kicks. Shelton caught the kick and the two scrambled. Brooks wasn’t deterred and came right back with more low kicks but Shelton was ready, catching another kick and countering with a left. Brooks shot the take down and drove Shelton into the cage to secure it. Shelton was the more active fighter on the ground, throwing shots when he could and scrambling to his feet when opening was there, only for Brooks to maintain control and drag the fight back to the mat where he was looking to secure the Guillotine choke. Shelton exploded to his feet and again Brooks maintained control against the cage. Brooks looked for the choke again, rolled on top of Shelton and tightened the hold as the round ended. Saved by the bell.
The second round saw Shelton come out to maintain control of the center of the cage and begin to stalk the quick moving Brooks. Shelton threw a big overhand right, but Brooks was already out of the way. This continued until Brooks faked a punch and dropped for the take down, only to be stuffed by Shelton. Back on their feet Shelton fired a strong right that Brooks was quick to respond to with a flurry of punches. Brooks then returned to the low kick but Shelton caught it again and drove Brooks to the mat for the take down. On the ground Brooks immediately looked for the Guillotine choke but Shelton escaped without much effort and got back to his feet. Brooks shot for his own take down attempt and again drove Shelton into the cage and down to mat but Shelton quickly bounced back to his feet to end the round.
The Final round saw Shelton quickly take center and stalk Brooks. Brooks fired off a good left hand and Shelton answered with his own not long after, stunning Brooks and dropping the fighter to a knee momentarily. Brooks was quick to recover and with Shelton still stalking him he fired off a good body kick. Shelton responded with a take down attempt that was stuffed, he then quickly went for a flying knee that nearly hit the mark shortly before the round ended. It went to the scorecards, with Brooks taking a split decision.
Jarred Brooks def. Eric Shelton by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
