Canada’s Chad Anheliger looked to snap a two fight skid, avoid an 0-3 run, and potentially save his job at UFC Vegas 88 on Saturday, where he took on Contender Series alum Charalampos Grigoriou.
Grigoriou had taken just a minute to dispatch Cameron Smotherman on DWCS last year, and rode a three-fight win streak into his octagon debut.
Both men started off throwing heat and Anheliger shot in for a takedown. Anheliger pressed Grigoriou against the cage slowing the pace down. Grigoriou eventually reversed and he was able to get the takedown. Not a lot of damage was done on top but Grigoriou ended the round there.
Round two started with Grigoriou punching his way into a takedown attempt. Anheliger was defending perfectly against the cage and landed some elbows to the side of the head. Grigoriou would get him to his knees but not fully down. Even though Anheliger was against the fence, he was the one landing punches and more elbows. Grigoriou couldn’t get anything done and the ref separated them. Anheliger was aggressive right away and had Grigoriou in some trouble with the lead leg kicks. Grigoriou tried another takedown along the cage but couldn’t complete in. A smothering round from Grigoriou but nothing done, with Anheliger landing way more strikes.
In the final round, Anheliger was aggressive in throwing combinations as if he needed a finish. An accidental clash of heads paused things for about a minute, but it didn’t help Grigoriou much. Anheliger was loading up but Grigoriou was just covering up looking gassed. When Grigoriou was coming forward Anheliger would counter him. Anheliger was mixing it up going to the head, body, and leg kicks. The confidence from Anheliger was way up just touching up Grigoriou. Grigoriou struggled to get any rhythm going in the final round never landing anything significant. Anheliger was fresh moving a lot and mixing it up landing combinations at will throughout the round.
The scorecards gave Chad Anheliger the unanimous decision win, improving his UFC record to 2-2 and very likely saving his job in the process.
Official Result: Chad Anheliger def. Charalampos Grigoriou by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
