Proving the odds-makers wrong, Chance Rencountre came out on top in a unanimous decision against Ismail Naurdiev at UFC 239.
In early preliminary action at UFC 239 on Saturday night in Las Vegas, a couple of welterweight prospects faced off. Ismail Naurdiev vs. Chance Rencountre saw ‘The Austrian Wonderboy’ Naurdiev in just his second UFC fight, but despite that, he entered the contest with an impressive 18-2 record.
Rencountre, meanwhile, was 1-1 in the UFC, 13-3 overall, and coming off his first win in the promotion. Both were looking to make a name for themselves in one of the UFC’s deepest divisions, and UFC 239 would give them the biggest platform possible to do just that.
When the action kicked off Saturday, Naurdiev forced Rencountre to the outside, pushing forward, firing a high kick, and coming over the top with his hands. However, a subsequent kick was caught by Rencountre, and Naurdiev was nearly dumped. A throw attempt by Rencountre followed, but the pair popped back up; a standing elbow followed that. An active fight early, with Naurdiev connecting with repeated kicks and seemingly being in the driver’s seat for the first two minutes. He’d connect with a solid right hand, and a nasty knee to the body in the clinch. In an exchange up against the cage, however, Rencountre would get the fight to the ground, and spend the remainder of the frame there, finishing the round landing elbows. With a couple minutes of top time, it would be interesting to see how the judges scored it.
Rencountre started the second aggressive, throwing hands then taking his opponent down. He took the back as Naurdiev climbed back up, but was a tad high. Still, he was able to flatten Naurdiev out, getting both hooks in. Rencountre then trapped one wrist, working in some ground n’ pound.
Rencontre would transition to the top, continuing to control the fight on the ground, finding room to land a number of elbows. Naurdiev had no answer, and they headed to the third.
Naurdiev battled to stay up early in round three, and managed to scramble free from the first throw takedown attempt by Rencountre. That allowed him to try a flying knee attempt, but Rencountre escaped. The first half of the round would play out on the feet, until a deja vu moment, when Rencountre again took the back to drag down and flatten out his opponent. From there, short punches followed, and Naurdiev looked exhausted. He turned onto his back, only to be mounted, but managed to get Rencountre back to half-guard. A late stand-up didn’t give Naurdiev much to work with, but he finished the round with a takedown of his own.
Chance Rencountre def. Ismail Naurdiev by Unanimous Decision (29-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Check out the rest of the results from UFC 239 here!
