Bantamweights Da’Mon Blackshear and Alatengheili faced off on the preliminary card at Saturday’s UFC Kansas City.
“The Mongolian Knight” Alatengheili was coming off a win over Kleydson Rodrigues, while Blackshear, owner of a rare Twister submission under the UFC banner, had won two straight against Cody Stamann and Cody Gibson.
In the opening moments of the contest Alatengheili pushed forward, while Blackshear fought off the back foot routinely threatening inside leg kicks. Alatengheli was having trouble getting inside on Blackshear, as he was giving up many inches in height and reach. Blackshear showed a good jab that snapped the head back of Alatengheli midway through the round.
Now pressing the pace, Blackshear landed a damaging straight right hand followed by a leg kick moments later. With under a minute in round one Blackshear had more than twice the amount of strikes landed then his opponent. In the final moments Alatengheili landed a glancing overhand right that partially connected. After the first five minutes Blackshear was ahead 10-9.
Round two started with Blackshear throwing multiple crisp combinations to the body with good punches upstairs, landing kicks at the end. Alatengheili is as tough as the come however and kept coming forward into the attacks of Blackshear, looking to time a big right hand. Damon was showing many threating techniques on the feet that we hadn’t seen from him before. A solid kick to the body and a right hand from Blackshear solidified the round for him in the final moments.
Needing a finish in the final round, Alatengheili needed to do something spectacular to turn the fight in his favor. With three and a half minutes left Alatengheili started to empty the gas tank and throw multiple big shots at the head of Blackshear. Damon answered back with a few fast jabs and a leg kick that scored points. At the two minute mark Blackshear had official passed his previous career high in significant strikes landed with over one hundred. Going for broke in the final thirty seconds Alatengheili threw hooks to the head of Blackshear looking to end the fight. He could not land clean enough as the final horn sounded, ending the contest.
The judges scored this fight in favor of Blackshear (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) as the veteran picked up a unanimous decision victory. This was Blackshear’s third victory in a row, with the UFC broadcast team calling for him to face ranked competition in his next fight.
Official Result: Da’Mon Blackshear def. Alatengheili by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
