Bantamweights Xiao Long of China and Quang Le of Vietnam faced off early as part of the UFC Macau preliminary card on Saturday.
Both fighters were 0-1 under the UFC banner, seeking their first win inside the octagon.
Le connected with a sharp left hook inside an opening minute that was fairly busy. Long ate that punch and carried on, but Le continued to find success with his hands, forcing Long to retreat more than once. As the round progressed, Long had a few moments of his own, while Le mixed in kicks and proved that his left hand was the most dangerous weapon in the early going of the fight.
In the back half of the round, Le got his jab going, while continuing to find a home for both left and right hooks. Long caught a kick and dumped Le with just over a minute remaining, but Le scrambled and quickly got back to his feet. Long went to the body once or twice, and finished the round on the attack, pointing to the floor and clipping Le.
Round two started hot, and Long mixed things up, ripping a leg kick. Wrestling was nowhere to be found as the pair decided instead to make it a pure fistfight, often fighting at close quarters. That finally changed, after more scrappy action, with 90 seconds to go, as Quang Le pursued, and briefly landed, a takedown. Long didn’t stay down long, excuse the pun, however. In the stand-up department, both men continued to put considerable power behind their attacks, with Long coming on strong at the end of the round once again, even firing a jump knee.
The final round saw Long take himself out of position off a punch, with Le just barely missing out on a takedown as a result, Instead, they went back to the feet, where Long would fall short on another jump knee. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Xiao Long fired and connected with a perfectly placed right hand off a 1-2! Le fell back, and the ref was all over it, waving it off!
Official Result: Xiao Long def. Quang Le by knockout (punch), Round 3, 1:28
