Australia’s own Jake Matthews, now a ten-plus year veteran of the UFC, faced off with the most active welterweight in promotion history, Neil Magny, at UFC Perth on Saturday.
Matthews was finally getting his wish as he had called for a fight with Magny on multiple occasions.
Magny holds the record for both most fights and most wins at 170lbs in the UFC, having joined the promotion in 2013 off a stint on The Ultimate Fighter. As for the deceivingly young Matthews, he seemed like he was ready to turn a corner, being on his first three-fight win streak in five years.
ROUND 1: Matthews consistently pressured Magny back to the fence, but was having trouble finding opening across the Haitian Sensation’s long reach. Magny never let himself stay stationary along the fence by circling around or answering with forward blitzes. They both traded nice combinations before clinching. Magny successfully took Matthews to the ground, but saw his head get stuck in a guillotine attempt. Matthew didn’t let go of the grip and worked his way into a legitimate, fight-finishing attempt. The round ended on a strange sequence where the referee appeared to stop the action a second before the round-ending buzzer, which led Matthews to think he had won by submission. Magny immediately protested and the referee clarified saying the round was simply over.
ROUND 2: The Australian kept his pressure going, pushing Magny to the fence and forcing him to blitz forward in an attempt not to get stuck there. Matthews grabbed a front head lock, allowing him to get the fight down. His grappling advantage could be felt as he took Magny’s back and threatened a rear-naked choke, forcing Magny to give up mount in order to get out of it. Matthews then transitioned into a mounted triangle attempt, but teh savvy veteran’s survival instinct were enough to get him out of that hold, too. The 31-year-old Australian did a good job not let Magny back up and ended the round on top, firing a couple nicw ground-and-pound shots.
ROUND 3: Understanding he needed a finish, Magny came out with more urgency. Matthews landed a clean right hand, but Magny kept moving forward. Another takedown from Magny was countered with a guillotine from Matthews, which was threatening enough to force Magny to scramble out of it and let the Aussie back up. While getting his pattented clinch game going, Magny landed good right hand that hurt Matthews. The veteran smelled blood and pounced. He forced Matthews down and kept peppering him with shots that were just hard enough to make he wouldn’t fully recover. While down on the mat, Matthews left his neck exposed for just a quick moment, but that was enough for Magny to grab D’arce and squeeze his way to a tap out.
After dropping the first two rounds, the 38-year-old Neil Magny has somehow done it again. This marks the first time that Magny has won back-to-back contests since 2020. Very reminiscent of his comeback win over Mike Malott, Magny keeps finding ways to come out on top in fights he’s expected to lose.
Official Result: Neil Magny def. Jake Matthews by Submission (D’arce choke), Round 3, 3:08
