Welterweights Josh Quinlan and Adam Fugitt kicked off the UFC Vegas 93 main card on Saturday at the APEX in Las Vegas.
Quinlan was in search second win in the company, and had dropped two straight, making Saturday key if he was to continue on with the promotion. Fugitt was also 1-2 in the UFC and entered off of a loss to Mike Malott at UFC 289 last year.
The fight started with both men measuring each other out, Fugitt throwing his rear kick to the body of his opponent. Quinlan landed a superman punch about a minute into the fight as Fugitt continued to look for the kicks with various levels of success. Midway thru the round and both fighters were still looking somewhat measured throwing only a few strikes at a time. Adam was throwing out a lot of volume, and every time that Fugitt was throwing it was getting his opponent’s attention. With seconds left in the round, both fighters began to open up, throwing and landing more strikes.
To start the second round Quinlan landed a leg kick with Fugitt returning multiple kicks at every level in response. Nearly minute into the round and Adam looked for a body lock that Josh quickly shrugged off. Quinlan finally started to land some of his strikes in space, landing single punches upstairs and a couple of kicks to the body and legs. Quinlan was also able to skillfully evade some of Fugitt’s high kicks and fended off a double leg takedown via sprawl. Once again, Adam was throwing more volume and landing more, but every time that Quinlan landed, it was getting his opponent’s attention.
Fugitt got back to work with the volume, mixing in some punches with his kicks, to start the final round. Quinlan picked up his activity and ferocity but continued to throw single strikes darting out of the range of his opponent just as quickly as he entered. At the halfway point of the round, Fugitt had landed numerous kicks to the arms and body of Quinlan but his opponent was still running in and looking to land that power punch. In the closing seconds of the fight Quinlan was able to connect with a few solid punches in response to all of the kicks thrown in his direction by Fugitt.
A close fight resulted in close scorecards, with two judges scoring the bout for Adam Fugitt, and the dissenting judge awarding an identical 29-28 score to Quinlan.
Official Result: Adam Fugitt def. Josh Quinlan by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
