With identical records in the UFC at 2-3, this fight could be an important turning point in the careers of both Aoriqileng and Johnny Munoz Jr. The winner would have a healthy .500 record in a stacked division while the loser would have twice as many losses as wins, putting them in danger of having to fight outside the UFC in the near future.

The fight started with a slow feeling out process. The first big moment came when Munoz landed a right hand that staggered Aoriqileng. Instead of swarming with punches he followed up with a takedown that he completed against the fence. Munoz was unable to hold Aori down, but controlled him with a body lock when he stood up. Johnny then dragged Aoriqileng back down from the rear body-lock before getting both hooks in to fully take the back. Munoz worked to attack the rear-naked choke as Aori fought the hands. Aori scrambled out of the position in the closing seconds of the round and dropped down one big right hand right at the bell.

Aori came out and landed a right hand that made Munoz uncomfortable, who dropped down for a bad takedown attempt. Aoriqileng pressured forward even harder then and a messy takedown got him on top in the full guard of Munoz. Johnny tried to create angles to get an armbar from the bottom but Aoriqileng got out of the first attempt. Munoz stayed with it though and he got another, better attempt, but Aori once again stayed heavy on top and escaped. Aori stood up then went right back in to drop a hammerfist before standing up again. The referee stood Munoz up after that but he ate a right hand from Aoriqileng that hurt him momentarily. The last minute of the round was mostly spent in the clinch with Aori on the outside.

The final round started with the bout likely tied 19-19. The start of the round saw Aori land a good right hand, after which Munoz failed a takedown attempt and got stuck in the clinch. Two minutes into the round Munoz hit the mat when Aoriqileng landed another good right hand, but he let him up. Munoz was falling over himself trying to get the fight to the mat. He failed his takedowns and halfway through the round Aori got on top in full guard. Munoz tried to invert on a leg lock and he successfully entangled their legs but the position stalled with him not near a submission. Aori found room to hammerfist the side of his head from the awkward position. Eventually they scrambled out and got stuck in the clinch. Munoz failed one last throw right at the bell.

When the judges read the scorecards it was Aoriqileng who got the nod from the judges by unanimous decision, with each judge scoring it 29-28, presumably giving Aori the final two rounds.

Official Result: Aoriqileng def. Johnny Munoz Jr. by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

The post UFC Vegas 80: Aoriqileng Wins Two Rounds in Decision Over Johnny Munoz Jr. appeared first on Cageside Press.

The fight, originally scheduled for May then pushed back a month, found both men looking to build on recent wins.

As expected, “Willycat” opened up with fast forward pressure throwing a high kick within the opening seconds, only shortly after, landing a huge low-blow kick. As soon as the fight began, it was already stopped. As soon as the two restarted, Santos continued with the big kicks. Munoz decided to try to get the fight to the ground to mitigate the striking prowess of Santos. He subsequently decided to pull guard and looked for an arm bar with Santos breaking out. Surprisingly, Santos decided to try and land a ground strike as Munoz welcomed him down, and ended up catching Santos in a big triangle attempt. Santos managed to break out and the fight returned to the feet. Shortly after, Munoz landed a low-blow kick of his own and the action halted again.

From there, the fight began to be a little bit scrappy as the two engaged in a clinch with Munoz claiming another low-blow landed. Munoz’s game-plan became clear as he attempted a few more takedowns paired with submission attempts. The round ended with Munoz inviting Santos down to the ground, with Santos rejecting the invitation as the horn sounded.

As round two began, Santos once again applied forward pressure with Munoz inviting the forward pressure for him to be able to clinch up and attempt to get the fight to the ground. Once again though, Santos finished in top position on the ground and continued to land some heavy ground-and-pound. Santos controlled in the guard of Munoz for the remainder of the round, whilst occasionally throwing in some heavy ground-and-pound.

Almost exactly as it did at the start of round one, Santos came out into round three and caught Munoz with yet another low-blow kick. This time though, Herb Dean decided that was enough and took a point from Santos. This ended up lighting a fire in the backside of Santos who came out swinging straightaway. Unfortunately for him though, Munoz successfully invited Santos to enter his guard, where he was able to hang on and hunt for submissions again. With three minutes left, Santos had Munoz clinched up against the cage and jumped a guillotine attempt that he subsequently lost. Despite having lost the guillotine, it allowed for him to stay out of extensive danger for the rest of the round.

The final horn sounded, and the judges scorecards were surprisingly needed.

Official Result: Daniel Santos def. Johnny Munoz Jr by Unanimous Decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27) 

The post UFC Vegas 74: Daniel Santos Dominates Over Three Rounds, Picks Up Win Over Munoz Jr appeared first on Cageside Press.

On Thursday, promotion officials announced that the planned bantamweight bout between Daniel Santos and Johnny Munoz Jr. had been scratched from the card, citing an undisclosed injury suffered by Santos.

“Due to injury, Daniel Santos has been removed from his bantamweight bout with Johnny Munoz,” a brief statement on the promotion’s official website read. “As a result, this bout has been cancelled from this weekend’s card.”

The 135lb scrap had been expected to kick off the early preliminary portion of the event, set to take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Munoz (12-2) was looking to make it two straight wins in the fight, and has posted a 2-2 record in the promotion to date. Santos (10-2) is 1-1 inside the octagon, and was coming off his first win in the company.

UFC 288 is headlined by a bantamweight title fight, as Aljamain Sterling puts his title on the line against the returning Henry Cejudo. The following match-ups have been reported for the event, which takes place this Saturday, May 6:

Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. Henry Cejudo — for the UFC bantamweight championship
Belal Muhammad vs. Gilbert Burns
Jéssica Andrade vs. Yan Xiaonan
Movsar Evloev vs. Diego Lopes
Kron Gracie vs. Charles Jourdain
Drew Dober vs. Matt Frevola
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Devin Clark
Khaos Williams vs. Rolando Bedoya
Marina Rodriguez vs. Virna Jandiroba
Braxton Smith vs. Parker Porter
Phil Hawes vs. Ikram Aliskerov
Rafael Estevam vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Joseph Holmes vs. Claudio Ribeiro

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