TUF 29 finalist Brady Hiestand faced off with Garrett Armfield in bantamweight action at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 93.
Both fighters entered off two fight win streaks, but Hiestand had been out of action for roughly a year. Perhaps trying to make up for lost time, he started hot; Armfield did as well, and inside of a minute, Hiestand had dove in on a single-leg attempt. Armfield snatched an arm, however, locking up a nasty-looking arm-bar attempt, forcing Hiestand to step over his opponent’s body to defend. That he did, and a minute later Hiestand transitioned to a guillotine attempt.
Armfield would survive that, and get on top, in what had been through half a round a very active, competitive fight. When they got back up, Hiestand quickly took the fight down again off a single-leg. Back up, back down, ever so briefly, then Hiestand took the back standing. With the body lock in place, he dragged Armfield down, and got the arm under the chin. Somehow, Garrett Armfield survived the rear-naked choke, however improbably making it to the end of the round.
Round two started with Armfield connecting with a check hook that put Hiestand on his backside! Hiestand got back up, only to be rocked again, going down with Armfield getting on top. Hiestand threw up a triangle, with Armfield in side mount. He would escape the submission attempt, and get back to his feet, dropping left hands as Hiestand remained on his back.
Hiestand, though hurt, wasn’t out. Instead, he’d wind up taking Armfield’s back, locking up a body triangle. With two minutes still on the clock, he had lots of time to work over Armfield and hunt the rear-naked choke. Armfield broke the body lock and tried to turn out of the choke, eventually getting up with Hiestand clinging to him before he dropped off, and they moved back to center. Through two rounds, the fight remained a very active, competitive affair filled with slick grappling exchanges, peppered with bursts of stand-up action.
Thirty seconds into round three, and Hiestand clinched up, taking Armfield to the fence, dropping down and pulling his legs out from under him. Armfield gave up his back moving to his feet, but Hiestand couldn’t capitalize, though he hung on and soon slammed Armfield back down. This time, when Armfield got up, Hiestand climbed the back, got the body lock, and dragged Armfield down. This time, under the neck, there was no mistake, and Brady Hiestand forced the tap!
Official Result: Brady Hiestand def. Garrett Armfield by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 3, 1:52
