One of several newcomers making their debut at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia was Blake Bilder, a former Cage Fury FC featherweight champ who won his way into the UFC on Dana White’s Contender Series last year.
Bilder was up against the returning Shane Young, fighting at home and competing for the first time since March 2021.
There was a lot of movement from Bilder to start the fight. Young was cutting him off and throwing his jab at the beginning. Both fighters were low on action early, but they were trading kicks and going shot for shot. Finally, something happened at the two-minute mark with Bilder getting a nice double-leg takedown. Bilder landed some good ground and pound from there. With seconds left in the round Young did get back to his feet but couldn’t get any offense off.
In round two, Bilder opened up the round with a left hook to a heavy outside leg kick. Young did stop a takedown but Bilder was getting the better of him on the feet. Bilder wasn’t getting the takedowns but was mixing his striking in with takedown attempts. Young did land some right hands getting Bilder to back up. The round ended with a failed takedown from Bilder.
It was a close fight going into the final five minutes. After the first takedown Bilder landed, he wasn’t able to get Young back down. Bilder was still landing well on the feet however, and was being more active than Young. It was Bilder who looked tired going into round three but he was pushing the pace. He kept crashing forward with wide hooks and Young wasn’t defending properly. In the final seconds Bilder landed a right hand and defended a takedown from Young.
Come the scorecards, all three judges had it for newcomer Blake Bilder.
Bilder makes good on the UFC debut!@BlakeTheBilder takes the unanimous decision over Shane Young at #UFC284 👏 pic.twitter.com/zKwx5ZFPZ1
— UFC (@ufc) February 12, 2023
Official Result: Blake Bilder def. Shane Young by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
