Kurtis Campbell didn’t just beat Trevor Peek at UFC Paris.
He became the first man to finish him. Campbell took away Peek’s trademark chaos with a dominant grappling performance, repeatedly dragging him to the canvas before finally finding the neck and forcing the notoriously tough Peek to tap in the third round Saturday.
Round 1 – Peek and Campbell met in the middle with Campbell immediately firing front kicks and attacking both legs. Peek took his time getting going, eating a bunch of kicks before finally deciding it might be a good idea to throw something back.
Peek started firing kicks of his own and even ate a head kick before rushing Campbell, but couldn’t land anything clean. Campbell looked like the sharper fighter early while Peek tried to find his rhythm.
Campbell kept stabbing Peek in the body with the teep, landed up top and then changed levels for the takedown. He pushed Peek to the fence and dragged him down to his hands and knees.
Peek got back up, and Campbell basically said, “Cool, do it again,” before slamming him right back to the canvas.
To Peek’s credit, the dude does not accept bad positions. He kept fighting back to his feet, but every time he did, Campbell found another way to put him right back down.
Peek spent the rest of the round trying to get up while also fighting off submission attempts. Campbell eventually worked his way into mount and started dropping some nasty elbows before the horn.
Strong opening round for Campbell, while Peek spent most of it trying to turn the fight into the kind of chaos he loves.
Unfortunately for him, Campbell had absolutely no interest in cooperating.
Campbell swarmed Peek, quickly got the takedown and jumped on his back. From there, he started landing elbows while constantly hunting for the neck and refusing to give Peek any room to breathe.
Peek tried everything he could to sweep, scramble and somehow find his way back to his feet, but Campbell was just a step ahead everywhere on the ground.
Peek finally got back up just past the halfway point, but Campbell stayed glued to him and immediately went hunting for another takedown. He got it without much trouble, took the back again and went right back to looking for the choke.
Campbell tried just about everything he could to find the finish, but Peek is one tough dude.
He survived the round, but once again spent most of it stuck in Campbell’s world.
Campbell eventually shot for another takedown, and Peek fought it off for about three seconds before Campbell basically said, “Yeah, we’re going down anyway.”
Peek popped right back to his feet, but he just couldn’t shake Campbell. Campbell stayed glued to him, eventually worked his way onto Peek’s back and once again started hunting for the neck.
This time, he found it.
With just under two minutes left, Campbell locked up the choke, tightened it down and forced Peek to tap.
Campbell completely dominated the grappling from start to finish and became the first fighter to finish Peek in his professional career.
Official Result: Kurtis Campbell def. Trevor Peek via R3 SUB (RNC), 3:07
