James Llontop was the lone fighter to miss weight for UFC 309, perhaps forgivable as he took the 165lb catchweight fight with Mauricio Ruffy on short notice.
Ruffy, who had a full camp, had maintained a 100% finish rate across his 10 wins, and dazzled in his promotional debut against Jamie Mullarkey.
The main card opener saw a bit of back-and-forth early, single strikes mostly probing to find distance. Llontop worked a hook to the body, and chopped at Ruffy’s legs; roughly three minutes in, he connected upstairs, firing a combo that forced Ruffy to retreat and finishing it with a leg kick. Ruffy’s own leg kick, however, clearly hurt Llontop; the Peruvian fighter went to the body with his own kick in response. Ruffy’s left hand was active, and the body kick was there once again for Llontop, in a competitive opening frame. In the final minute, Ruffy hurt Llontop with a right, but then wiped out on a follow-up spinning attack.
Ruffy took a wild, drop-down calf kick that nearly saw him out of position to open round two. His jab, far more traditional, did land. Llontop however backed Ruffy up, cutting off the cage. Llontop’s own leg kicks were taking their toll, with Ruffy showing damage. Just under 90 seconds in, however, Ruffy scored a knockdown! A single punch, a left hook, sat Llontop down, and while Ruffy swarmed, he was able to survive and get back to his feet. His eye, however, was clearly showing damage.
Feeling the flow, Ruffy fired off a spinning kick, fought with his hands down, and feigned a jump attack. He worked his jab, and just missed with another left hook. The right hook did land a moment later, and Llontop’s legs buckled, though he did not go down.
That James Llontop made it to the end of the second and into the third round was a credit to his toughness. Bloodied and knocked down across the first 10 minutes, however, he was losing the fight. In the third, Llontop punched his way into a takedown attempt against the fence, but couldn’t land it. They moved back to center, where Ruffy continued to show impressive accuracy with his striking. Whether he was conserving energy, or his lead, Ruffy appeared to have taken his foot off the gas a little, just as Llontop again tied things up. Ruffy broke free, backed up, and fired, working counters in what was probably the closest round of the fight.
Llontop tried to turn up the heat as the final minute of the fight arrived. He chased after Ruffy, looked for an entry for a takedown, threw kicks, and swung his right hand like a club. It was Ruffy who connected clean with 20 seconds still on the clock, but Llontop just ate it, taking it to the final horn.
No question as to the winner, that was Mauricio Ruffy. Still, credit to James Llontop, overweight or not, for being tough as nails.
Official Result: Mauricio Ruffy def. James Llontop by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
