Welterweight Rolando Bedoya made his promotional debut at UFC 288 in Newark, NJ on Saturday, paired up with Khaos Williams on the preliminary card.
A Fusion FC champ, Bedoya entered the fight on an eleven-fight win streak, likely the reason for his bypassing Dana White’s Contender Series and jumping straight to the big show.
Williams, meanwhile, was returning from roughly a year on the sidelines.
Bedoya started the fight with a few outside leg kicks. It was making Williams come forward throwing with a lot of power. Yet while he was coming forward, Bedoya was clipping him a bit on the way in. Bedoya landed a nice one-two that landed clean and a follow-up lead leg kick. Willaims came in and Bedoya caught him twice with the left hook. They was both trading a lot of leg kicks throughout the round. Williams had some good success towards the end of the round getting in some good shots drawing Bedoya into a scrap.
In the second round it was back to trading leg kicks from both guys. Bedoya was doing a better job early on finding his range. Not only with his leg kicks but his hands; Bedoya was finding his rhythm. Another one-two landed from Bedoya forcing Williams to clinch up briefly. Another leg kick from Bedoya seemed to bother Williams a bit. Williams was fighting in bursts instead of setting anything up. Williams got some respect back at the end of the round getting some good strikes in.
In the final round both men turned on the heat throwing heavy leather in the pocket Bedoya landed a nice step-in elbow and Williams soon after landed a good counter. As the round went both slowed the pace but both were still landing. Williams was throwing single strikes where Bedoya was throwing in twos. Bedoya was mixing up punches and kicks and was chewing up the lead leg of Williams. Williams was labored as the round went on and Bedoya landed some good shots to close the fight. Come the scorecards, it was Williams getting the nod from two judges.
Official Result: Khaos Williams def. Rolando Bedoya by split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
