In the final fight of the early prelims for UFC 314, middleweights Sedriques Dumas and Michal Oleksiejczuk clashed to determine who would move up the ranks. The fight had all the makings to be both violent and over in a hurry as Oleksiejczuk had lost three of his last four, pitting his back up against the wall.
Dumas, in contrast, had quietly built momentum- having won three of his last four, all by way of unaimous decision.
Dumas struck first, firing out kicks and feinting jabs to keep the distance. Michal showed off some good head movement and ate a kick to the body. Oleksiejczuk looked confident and moved forward, stalking Dumas, not giving him much space. Michal immediately found a home for his left hand going to the body and upstairs while measuring with the other hand. Midway thru the round, Michal cracked Dumas with a left hand that wobbled and melted the Floridian. Michal swarmed, winging powerful shots at Dumas who was defending them pretty effectively. It was not a good visual however, as Oleksiejczuk was raining down bombs and Dumas was unwilling to risk eating a shot to move from the position. After a few more seconds the referee stepped in to call off the fight, much to the dismay and immediate verbal protest from Dumas, who threw up his arms in disgust.
When the replays were shown, the left hand shot that dropped Dumas wasn’t clean at all. Michal appeared to have connected with mostly forearm but definitely knocked his opponent’s equilibrium off.
In the post-fight octagon interview Michal took the time to thank his team the Fighting Nerds. Oleksiejczuk gave a special shoutout to #6 ranked UFC middleweight, Caio Borralho, a former opponent, now in his corner. Oleksiejczuk ended his interview with a gutsy call out of Paul Craig.
Official Result: Michal Oleksiejczuk defeats Sedriquers Dumas via TKO, Round 1, 2:49
