Prospect Timothy Cuamba and veteran Brazilian brawler Lucas Almeida squared off in the UFC featherweight division on Saturday at UFC Vegas 93.
Cuamba lost his UFC debut to fellow prospect Bokaji Oki, but at age 25 has a lot of room to grow. His opponent, Lucas Almeida, lost his last two fights to Andre Fili and Pat Sabatini coming into this one but remained dangerous, having won every other fight of his career, except one, by finish. It turned out that this fight would be the first decision win of Almeida’s career, but it was no less impressive for that.
Almeida came forward to start the bout but Cuamba landed the first big punch, a clean counter right hand to Lucas’ stationary chin. However, Almeida came back a minute later with a perfect overhand right that dropped Timothy. It looked like Cuamba was done but he fought his way back to his feet and shot a takedown. He didn’t land it but clinched up to recover. Lucas broke free though and scored another knockdown, a flash knockdown this time. Cuamba clinched but was then forced to strike again. Almeida stalked his prey but his prey bit back. They exchanged in the pocket wildly, and it was Cuamba who loosened the mouthguard of Almeida. That backed Lucas off until the round ended.
The second round saw Cuamba begin to win back momentum early on the feet but then get rocked by a left hook and forced to panic-wrestle. The round after that was fairly even until Almeida hurt Tim again in the final minute, landing multiple clean punches to the head and a good hook to the body. Cuamba retreated to survive until the bell.
Cuamba shot a takedown and got his foe halfway down in the start of the final round, but Almeida refused to accept bottom position and got back up. Both men had success on the feet in the middle portion of the third round but Lucas Almeida was always on the front foot, until, that is, he got taken down with one minute left. From full guard Cuamba got aggressive and landed big ground and pound, relentlessly trying to finish the fight until the bell, showing impressive heart in the process.
When the scorecards were turned in, Lucas Almeida won unsurprisingly, based on the damage he did in the first two rounds, with the UFC commentators calling it a “career-best.”
In his post-fight speech Almeida (through a translator) gave credit to Cuamba’s toughness and explained how hard he worked for a finish, but is satisfied with “God’s plan.”
Official Result: Lucas Almeida def. Timothy Cuamba by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
