Christian Leroy Duncan demolished Cláudio Ribeiro in a middleweight matchup on the prelims of UFC Vegas 87.
Both men competed in their fourth UFC fight on Saturday afternoon, though they came in with inverse records – Duncan, aka CLD, had won two of his UFC fights while Ribeiro had lost two. However, losing to a talent like Roman Kopylov in his last fight was no shame for the Br and avoid falling to 1-3. These two striking specialists entered the octagon with eighteen combined knockouts in twenty total victories, so the odds that this one would hit the scorecards seemed quite low. That turned out to be the case, but Ribeiro was unable to keep himself from falling to 1-3, putting his job in jeopardy.
CLD began the fight strong, picking Ribeiro apart from the outside with a wide variety of kicks, including some flashy spins and side kicks. Ribeiro was hardly able to track him down due to the footwork of Duncan, and the height disadvantage. Claudio tried to blitz him eventually, but to no avail, as was the takedown he attempted with ninety seconds left in the first round. The round ended with CLD reversing the ensuing clinch and holding the Brazilian there for the rest of the round.
Claudio Ribeiro started round two with another blitz into a clinch but could get nothing done there. His coaches had laid into him after the first round and he did seem more motivated in round two, but Duncan simply had him outclassed. Christian landed a big double leg takedown, his first in the UFC, ninety seconds into the round and instantly passed to mount where he rained down elbows. Ribeiro turned to his stomach in response to Mark Smith’s order to fight back, which bought him a few seconds, but the end still came a few moments later as Duncan kept raining down blows.
Official Result: Christian Leroy Duncan def. Cláudio Ribeiro by TKO (ground and pound), Round 2, 1:57
