At UFC 218 on Saturday, Cowboy Oliveira looked to claim another win, at the expense of Hawaii’s Yancy Medeiros. It a Fight of the Year candidate, it wasn’t to be.
UFC 218 rolled into the Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, Michigan on Saturday. In welterweight action on the Fox Sports 1 preliminary card, the “other” Cowboy, Brazil’s Alex Oliveira, faced off with Hawaiian Yancy Medeiros.
Both men entered the night off two fight winning streaks, though discounting a no contest suffered by Oliveira due to illegal knees by Tim Means, he had actually won four straight.
Starting the action fast and furious, Cowboy Oliveira immediately unleashed a hard kick to the body that hurt Medeiros. He followed that with a right hand; Medeiros answered back and dropped Oliveira! The Brazilian recovered, but he was hurt. Both men had been dropped, and Oliveira’s nose was raining blood like a sprinkler. The ref would pause the action to check on it; back underway, Oliveira dropped Medeiros again! He added a standing elbow, and soon Medeiros was eating some serious shots, but he survived nonetheless. Meideros fired back, while Cowboy added some knees. They exchanged elbows. The pace simply didn’t seem sustainable. Oliveira tried a spinning back elbow off the break. He landed a right, caught Medeiros again; the Hawaiian ate more bombs, returned fire, and escaped.
What. A. Round!
Alex Oliveira was stalking her prey early in round two, with Medeiros looking to counter. He’d clip Cowboy! The bout was one massive tug of war, with the action constantly shifting back and forth in favor of one fighter or the other. Medeiros went to the body, taking a book out of Oliveira’s page, who had found success there early. The right hand landed for Cowboy; a takedown wasn’t happening however. A wheel kick attempt by Alex Oliveira showed he was still willing to get creative. Medeiros then scored a takedown, landing in full mount and scoring some huge elbows! Oliveira, however, would escape! If you could believe it, this was going to a third round.
Oliveira tagged his opponent early in the third, then scored a takedown. Medeiros would struggle to regain his feet, only for Cowboy to throw him back down. Oliveira went hunting for the rear-naked choke, but Yancy Medeiros reversed, and moved into half guard. When they made it back up, Medeiros landed on Oliveira, which forced him back, covering up. Oliveira was hurt, and Medeiros began lighting him up against the fence. Oliveira fell to the mat, still covering up, and the ref had seen enough! Surviving an all-out war, Medeiros had the TKO win!
Medeiros vs. Oliveira had a great shot a Fight of the Night, and perhaps Fight of the Year.
Yancy Medeiros def. Alex Oliveira by TKO, Round 3, 2:02
