Sergey Spivak just scraped by Carlos Felipe with a majority decision win to open up UFC Fight Island 2 in Abu Dhabi today.
Opening up the UFC Fight Island 2 card on Saturday was a heavyweight tilt with some international flavor. Moldovan-Ukrainian Sergey Spivak, a.k.a. “The Polar Bear,” was set to welcome Brazil’s Carlos Felipe to the octagon.
Spivak was 1-2 inside the octagon to enter the night, and looking to avoid going on a two-fight skid after dropping his last fight to Marcin Tybura. Felipe was undefeated as a pro, having gone 8-0 prior to joining the UFC.
Felipe right out of the gate came out with forwarding pressure walking Spivak down. Spivak and Felipe were trading from the outside as Felipe is landing to the body and Spivak landing his jab. The distance is slightly on the side of Spivak and Felipe is coming up short a lot and Spivak is hitting the target a bit better in round one.
Felipe definitely throwing more to start round two as he keeps finding success with the hooks to the body. Felipe started to pick up the pace and it forced Spivak to start shooting for takedowns. Felipe stays upright though showing some excellent takedown defense. Spivak still finding his range with his jab as Felipe keeps walking forward. The round ends on the feet with both fighters having their moments in a close round to score.
Spivak in the final round opened up with a single leg and finally got Felipe to the mat with one hook in on the back. Felipe back up but Spivak quickly just powered him right back down. Not much action was on top but Spivak was scoring points with short punches to the side of the head. Spivak all over him this round getting another takedown this time right into mount. Spivak just dominated in the final portion of the find landing active ground and pound to the bell.
Sergey Spivak def. Carlos Felipe by majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-27)
