The second fight of the UFC 299 preliminary card saw rising Kazakh flyweight talent Assu Almabayev beat C.J. Vergara comfortably.
Vergara missed weight for the third time in six fights, so he knew his job, or at least his future as a flyweight, was potentially in jeopardy with a loss, despite his 3-2 UFC record. This was only the second UFC fight for grappling whiz Almabayev; in it ‘Zulfikar’ was able to win with his wrestling in all three rounds of the fight.
Almabayev took Vergara off his feet with the first leg kick. He struck with CJ for a minute and then shot for a takedown. Although Vergara defended it initially, Assu used his chain wrestling to get the rear body-lock. He was unable to completely take the back of Vergara, but held onto the body lock and occassionally tried to get his hooks in. After CJ broke free, Assu was able to surprise him on his second double leg shot and get on top in full guard, where he closed out the round.
Early in round two Vergara shot for his own takedown but Almabayev used a front headlock to transition to a single leg and take CJ down, just one minute into the round. He did damage to Vergara with ground strikes and then slammed him back down. Assu set a high grappling pace and won the round clearly even though Vergara got back up at the end of the round.
The third round began with two good roundhouse kicks from Almabayev which made CJ reset. After a few more striking exchanges Assu got back to the wrestling and got CJ’s back, but Vergara escaped. Almabayev got hit with a knee but he turned it into a takedown, which was the pattern for the rest of the round, even when Vergara got up.
When the scorecards were read, there was no doubt and the decision was awarded to Assu Almabayev in a clean sweep.
Official Result: Assu Almabayev def. CJ Vergara by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
