The Ultimate Fighter 15 winner Michael Chiesa faced The Ultimate Fighter 11 winner Court McGee on the preliminary card of UFC Atlanta on Saturday, a fight that placed two welterweight veterans opposite one another.
Given their lengthy tenue in the promotion, it was frankly surprising that Chiesa and McGee hadn’t yet crossed paths. Both men entered off wins, Chiesa over Max Griffin and McGee against Tim Means.
Plenty of feeling out and range-finding was on display early in Chiesa vs. McGee, plus an accidental clash of heads thanks to McGee sitting in southpaw and Chiesa in orthodox stance. A brief clinch went nowhere, but Chiesa landed a decent right hook about midway through the opening round. In a round low on action, every significant strike stood out, there just weren’t many of them.
Round two opened with calamity in the form of a low blow that dropped Chiesa instantly. Chiesa would need to take some time, but did recover, leading to more back-and-forth, low-output action on the feet. McGree would press forward about 90 seconds in, with Chiesa answering back moments later. Yet the lack of output, and secondary attacks, made it seem as if the fight was stuck in first gear, and the crowd was sounding restless as a result.
Round three saw some grappling along the fence play out, with McGee bloodied at one point. A couple of reversals, knees exchanged, but again, not a ton of action. Ref Mike Beltran warned the pair to get going; the crowd in Atlanta gave more feedback of their won. Coming off the fence, there was just under two minutes for the pair to work; they’d go to the bell, with Chiesa taking the decision in the battle of TUF winners, that was without question underwhelming.
Official Result: Michael Chiesa def. Court McGee by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
