Saturday night the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada played host to UFC 216: Ferguson vs. Lee. The first fight of the main card featured a three round contest between Lightweights Beneil Dariush and Evan Dunham. It was a fight the held a lot of promise, and ultimately had an ending few would have predicted.
Saturday marked the twelfth time Beneil Dariush had entered the octagon, an impressive fight for a still-young fighter. He was coming off of a second round KO loss at the hands of Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Gastelum in March. Dariush entered the cage looking to change his fortunes with a victory over Evan Dunham.
Extreme Couture’s Evan Dunham rode a four fight win streak into UFC 216, with victories over Rodrigo Damm, Ross Pearson, Joe Lauzon and his most recent win coming by unanimous decision over Rick Glenn at UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Johnson. He came into the night looking to secure the win and extend his winning ways, hoping to shoot for the top of the weight class.
Dariush vs. Dunham turned out to be a pretty strong start to the main card. Dariush brought power on everything he threw, coming out with aggression from the start. He dropped Dunham with a pair of elbows in the first round. Sensing blood in the water, Dariush went for the finish, taking his opponent’s back multiple times, firing shots and working for position. Dunham did all that he could to survive and even worked in a leg lock attempt that Dariush was able to escape from and land in top position. The round ended with a scramble that saw both fighters make it to their feet.
The following rounds saw both fighters go back and forth, with Dariush going for a flying knee that Dunham caught; in turn he shot for a take down. Dariush began to slow his pace and Dunham fought his way back as the fight progressed, with both fighters absorbing blows and landing heavy shots. Dunham turned it up for the final seconds of the third round to finish strong and possibly sway the judges.
That said, for the second time and with the main card still young, the scorecards revealed a draw.
Beneil Dariush vs. Evan Dunham ended in a majority draw (29-28 28-28 28-28)
