Featherweight action on the UFC Vegas 75 main card saw Philadelphia’s Pat Sabatini, a former Cage Fury FC champ, paired up with Brazil’s Lucas Almeida.
Sabatini was 4-1 inside the octagon to date, and looking to bounce back from a loss to Damon “The Leech Jackson.” Almeida had come up short against Daniel Zellihuber on the Contender Series in 2021 in his lone career loss, but bounced back to win his way into the UFC, where he was victorious in his debut against Mike Trizano a year ago.
Some early clinch work in Sabatini vs. Almeida saw Pat Sabatini win the positional battles and land a trip, scoring the first takedown of the fight. Almeida immediately shrimped back to the fence, with Sabatini hanging off him, in half guard while coming close to passing at times. The hook being in kept Almeida from wall-walking up, however, with Sabatini wisely hanging with the position, and finding room to score a little damage with punches to the body and head.
Sabatini would eventually move to mount, finishing the round dropping heavy ground n’ pound with hammerfists bouncing off the skull of Almeida.
Having survived the round, Lucas Almeida needed to avoid being taken down against in round two. Initially, he did just that, fending off Sabatini when the American pressed him in into the fence. But Sabatini eventually muscled him down, overpowering Almeida and proving who had the better wresting. Sabatini then trapped an arm with his leg; he next stepped over into an arm-triangle choke, and within moments had the tap! A hugely impressive performance for Pat Sabatini, who returns to the win column in style!
PHILLY TOUGH! 🔔@PatSabatini145 getting back in the win column in CONVINCING fashion tonight! #UFCVegas75 pic.twitter.com/wJuQVyC5p4
— UFC (@ufc) June 18, 2023
Official Result: Pat Sabatini def. Lucas Almeida by submission (arm-triangle choke), Round 2, 1:48
