The UFC 220 FOX Sports 1 Prelims begin with a matchup of Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series alumni, Dan Ige and Julio Arce.
Dan Ige was supposed to battle Charles Rosa at UFC 220, but a neck injury forced the Bostonian out, and now Ige will fight Julio Arce. Ige was 7-1 heading into his appearance on DWTNCS, and earned a contract with a third-round submission over Luis Gomez. Ige fought in Titan FC prior to the DWTNCS.
A pair of losses to promising bantamweight Brian Kelleher are the only blemishes of Arce’s 15-fight career. The Ring of Combat veteran has five straight victories and won via second-round knockout on DWTNCS.
A hard kick landed for Arce but Ige caught it and pushed forward into the clinch. Nothing came of it for Ige. A few straight punches landed for Arce and Ige attempted to answer with low kicks.
One straight left snuck through and wobbled Ige. Ige dove in for a takedown but Arce stuffed it and began to ground and pound with hammer fists. Ige was able to stand up, but Arce was very comfortable and was landing all of his strikes with ease. Mixing it up to the body and head, Arce’s striking was on point. Although Arce wasn’t able to rock his opponent again, Arce won the round decisively.
Ige did land a hard punch early on in the second round but Arce was overwhelming him. Combination after combination connected for Arce as Ige was looking for one punch at a time and weak takedowns. Arce was able to turn Ige’s takedown efforts into ground and pound opportunities, so the beating was endless.
Julio Arce came out swinging in the final round. Ige, to his credit, was eating everything, but was unable to fire back effectively. Arce continued to unload on Ige and a body shot forced Ige to the ground. Arce elected to allow Ige back to his feet. Ige connected with a left, but it was at the same time as an uppercut from Arce.
Ige stayed strong and continued to look for the big shot, but Arce was simply too much. Every punch from Julio Arce was followed by two or three more. Ige began waving Arce forward, a sign of toughness but not much else as the swung for the fences as time expired.
Julio Arce def. Dan Ige by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
