Bantamweights Da’Mon Blackshear and Luan Lacerda were both in search of their first win inside the octagon at UFC Vegas 74 on Saturday.
Lacerda had dropped his short-notice debut against Cody Stamann, while Blackshear was 0-1-1 in the company, drawing with Youssef Zalal before losing a fight to hot prospect Farid Basharat.
The fight began with Blackshear consistently feinting the front kick with his lead leg. Blackshear decided to push the pace with his kicks and level changed just over a minute into the fight. From there, he attempted to access the back of the Brazilian, but was unable to get him to the mat. Lacerda looked to invert into a knee bar as Blackshear hung off his back, but fortunately for Blackshear, he managed to stay out of danger. Lacerda stayed resilient and looked for an opening on the left leg of Blackshear. Subsequently, the two made it back to their feet and “Da Monster” looked to once again apply some pressure.
With just over a minute left of round one, Blackshear completed an unorthodox takedown by tripping Lacerda on the outside. At the end of the round, Lacerda attempted a takedown of his own and managed to get Blackshear against the cage, but couldn’t cause him much of an issue.
Round two began with Lacerda planting his feet and looking to let his hands go whilst putting on some forward pressure of his own. Blackshear looked happy enough to fight on the back foot, using his jab to keep Lacerda out of his range. The Brazilian began to mix up his attacks firing off hooks to the body of Blackshear. Lacerda once again looked to take the fight to the ground, but after a clinch exchange, Blackshear once again landed on top.
The BJJ black-belt Lacerda searched for the leg lock again, but spent too much time trying to lock it in. As he turned his back to try and roll through with the leg lock his defence went out of the window and Blackshear rained down some huge ground-and-pound that subsequently led to the ref stepping in.
Official Result: Da’Mon Blackshear def. Luan Lacerda by TKO, Round 2, 3:54
