A fun featherweight firefight opened up the UFC Vegas 25 card, with Felipe Colares picking up the win over Luke Sanders.
Opening up the UFC Vegas 25 card is a battle of featherweights, as Luke Sanders takes on Felipe Colares. Sanders is looking to rebound off a submission loss to Nate Maness in November of last year. Colares is also looking to bounce back into the win column after losing to Montel Jackson in January of 2020.
Sanders opened up fast, catching a body kick from Colares early and landing a big right hand. Sanders began backing Colares up to the fence, and soon he landed a big left that dropped Colares hard. Sanders then followed up with a big combination that put Colares to the mat, Sanders jumped into his guard and started landing massive elbows. Colares did a good job to survive, however, and he made his way to the feet where he soon found some offense against Sanders. Colares landed a huge right hand in the final thirty seconds of the round that sent Sanders back to the cage, however, Sanders ended the round in the clinch after an unsuccessful takedown attempt.
Sanders changed his approach a little bit in the second round, targeting the legs of Colares early. Throwing low kicks and searching for the takedown, Sanders was noticeably more tired in the second round after trying to get the finish in the first. Sanders couldn’t get his takedowns though, and he was getting more and more tired as the round went on, Colares at one point reversed a takedown attempt from Sanders and walked him across the octagon before slamming him down for the takedown. Colares soon secured the back and nearly got a rear-naked-choke, but the round ended.
Coming off of the second round where Sanders was exhausted, Colares also became super exhausted. What then ensued was a very tired third round between Sanders and Colares, Colares kept going to the body with leg kicks and counters, while Sanders was still looking for takedowns but couldn’t get them. The end of the round saw Colares reverse Sanders and get a takedown of his own, and get the back once again. However, Sanders got back to his feet in time and end the round swinging.
Felipe Colares def. Luke Sanders by Unanimous Decision (29-28 x3)
