Montel Jackson continued his winning streak at UFC Vegas 37, dominating JP Buys en route to a decision win.
Posting a 4-2 record since entering the UFC in 2018, Montel Jackson was sitting comfortably in the UFC’s bantamweight division. Entering UFC Vegas 37 on Saturday night, he was looking to make it two in a row against South Africa’s JP Buys.
With wife Cheyanne Buys having picked up a big win earlier this year, it was JP’s turn to shine, after faltering in his promotional debut back in March.
Buys attempted to get the fight to the ground early against Jackson, his first takedown was stuffed, and soon ate a clean left straight from Jackson. But Buys did get the second takedown he attempted and almost immediately made his way to mount. Jackson gave up his back and Buys nearly got the rear-naked choke, but Jackson did a good job of fighting out of the choke. Jackson made his way to the top where he attempted a standing guillotine choke but Buys fought out of that as well. The scrambles were by far the biggest story of the hectic round one.
Jackson came out and dropped Buys almost immediately to start round two with two heavy left hands. Buys quickly recovered and made his way back to his feet where he jumped a guillotine attempt on Jackson, where Jackson walked him over to the other side of the cage and slammed him down to get out of the choke. Jackson got out of the choke and made his way back to the feet, where he dropped Buys again with a straight right. Despite the knockdowns and damage, Buys survived to see round three.
Jackson opened the third round with a clean 1-2 that dropped Buys hard again. Jackson dove on with the ground and pound but let Buys back to his feet, but there was a brief halt in the action following a knee downstairs in the clinch by Jackson. Following the quick break, Jackson knocked Buys down again with a straight right, but Jackson let him up this time. The fight soon went to the ground with Buys pulling guard, and seemingly against all odds the fight went to a decision.
Utter domination by Montel Jackson, who sets a new bantamweight record for most knockdowns in a fight with four.
Official Result: Montel Jackson def. JP Buys via unanimous decision (30-27 3x)
