Nate Maness earned his first win since moving down to flyweight at UFC Vegas 80, when he fought Mateus Mendonça, who was making his flyweight debut in the bout.
Mendonça was undefeated as a talented Brazilian prospect, and though the talent remains, he lost his ‘0’ when he was matched up with Javid Basharat in his UFC debut. The move to flyweight raises a lot of questions for Mateus just as it did for Maness when he moved down earlier this year, only to get finished by Tagir Ulanbekov. With both men being talented strikers who cut extra weight to make the 125-lb limit, it remained to be seen how their chins would hold up against each other.
Mendonça pressured forward to start the fight as Maness circled the outside of the cage. His Chuteboxe violent style was on full display at first but he changed it up when he shot a takedown thirty seconds in. Maness was able to keep his feet with a whizzer but Mateus kept clinch control. He tried to drop down again and failed but instantly turned it into a leg lock attempt. Maness was able to swivel and kick out but Mendonça chased after him and got in on a single leg takedown attempt again.
That failed, again. Maness landed some short punches and knees in the clinch to the body of Mendonça, who dropped down for a leg lock again. That only ended up with the Brazilian getting his face pounded in from the bottom position. He kept going after the legs like a dog after a bone and actually trapped both legs for a time in an awkward position. Maness defended it for a while and then just went back to tenderizing the body of Mendonça. Finally Nate was able to sit up and get free of the leg entanglement, getting heavy on top in his foe’s full guard. Some massive hammerfists landed and seemed to almost put Mendonça out. He may have actually been out but he woke back up mid-ground and pound. Maness did not let up and the referee eventually stepped in to stop it.
Nate Maness was able to get his first win as a UFC flyweight after suffering the first losing streak of his pro career. Now at 4-2 in the promotion, Maness has a bright future as one of the rare flyweights with serious knockout power. In his post-fight interview he declared himself a fighter to watch and called out CJ Vergara for his next fight.
Official Result: Nate Maness def. Mateus Mendonça by TKO (ground and pound) Round 1, 4:40
