Throwing caution to the wind at times, Marvin Vettori and Cezar Ferreira swung for the fences in their scrap at UFC Sacramento, with Vettori coming out on top.
Opening up the main card of UFC Sacramento (UFC Fight Night 155) was a middleweight scrap between Marvin Vettori and Cezar Ferreira. Italy’s Vettori had not been seen since April of last year, when he lost a decision to the surging Israel Adesanya. Ferreira, for his part, was coming off a loss to Ian Heinisch in November at UFC Argentina.
Ferreira and Vettori circled early, and the question of whether Vettori would be suffering any ring rust would soon be answered. But rust aside, cardio would be another question, only to be answered if the fight went long.
Vettori seemed to want to avoid that, walking, nearly chasing Ferreira down at times in the opening round, swinging hard. Some big swings came from Ferreira in response, then an alarmingly vicious spinning kick, that luckily for Vettori missed. It was a pace that appeared difficult to maintain, and soon enough, they slowed a little. However, Ferreira would connect. giving Vettori pause before he went back on the attack. The Brazilian Ferreira also mixed in some leg kicks, but Vettori would counter those over the top. As a result, it was Ferreira showing damage to the nose early. With a minute remaining, Vettori got the fight down and quickly moved to mount, launching some hard blows before moving back to his feet, then wading into Ferreira’s guard to finish the frame.
Ferreira flashed a right, then a big left, to open the second round, but it was Vettori sending his opponent reeling with a counter. A combination followed, and he continued to walk the Brazilian down. When Ferreira moved forward, Vettori changed levels and took him down. On the feet, Ferreira was getting manhandled more often than not. He was also losing the takedown game.
As the fight carried on and the third round progressed, Vettori vs. Ferreira transitioned into a game of rock ’em, sock ’em robots. As cliche as it might sound, that old-time kid’s game really did best resemble what the fight had become. Ferreira was wobbled before the midway point, and tried to resort for a takedown, with no success. He’d later slip, almost playing into Vettori’s hands. However Ferreira would stay in it, bloodied, but not broken, to the end, forcing the cards into the judge’s hands. There was no real question who won, but it very well could have earned both men a bonus in terms of Fight of the Night.
“I wanted to come in here and make a statement,” Vettori said after the fight. “I’m back. The last fight was whatever, now that guy is interim champ.”
Marvin Vettori def. Cezar Ferreira by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
