Smith Wins Entertaining Main Event To Continue Roll
Anthony Smith has been a man willing to take on all challenges thrown his way since beginning his amateur MMA career as a teenager.
A main event matchup with a powerful and scary force in Volkan Oezdemir represented the kind of opportunity Smith has dreamed of.
Anthony Smith (31-13, 7-3 UFC) defeated Volkan Oezdemir (15-3, 3-2 UFC) by 3rd-Round submission on Saturday night at Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick Canada.
On a main event stage for the second time in as many fights, Anthony Smith delivered once again in a physically taxing and grueling showdown with Volkan Oezdemir.
The fight would begin with Anthony Smith trying to take the fight to the ground in the opening moments only to have the takedown stuffed.
Oezdemir would control the clinch against the fence against Smith, hammering him with knees to the thighs.
The number two ranked light heavyweight contender in the world controlled the first round with his combinations and aggressiveness.
A notable moment in the round occurred after the two fighters broke from the clinch as Oezdemir blasted Smith with a solid 1-2 combination near the fence before unleashing a flurry afterwards.
Hard leg kicks from “No Time” would force Smith to be aggressive with his striking as he would turn it on in the second round, charging forward with hard combinations.
Oezdemir would land a nice takedown on Smith, gaining control of his back where he would plaster the Corpus Christi native with right hands for a majority of the round.
As round three began, there was a dramatic change in mentality taken by Smith, who began applying pressure on his opponent in ways none of Oezdemir’s prior opponents have come close to in fear of his punch power.
Smith would bang Oezdemir with hard right overhands and mix in elbow strikes, getting a nice trip on his opponent as well.
Smith would land a takedown on Volkan Oezdemir, battling to the back of his opponent. With Oezdemir not fighting the hooks and carelessly surrendering his neck, Smith would secure a tight choke around the neck of Oezdemir.
With well over a minute left in round three, Oezdemir was game in trying to survive, but would ultimately tap out after Smith re-adjusted his choke.
Smith, rolling to his sixth victory in his past seven fights, picked up his biggest UFC victory to date as he knocked off a man who owns victories over Ovince Saint Preaux, Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa and in January fought for the UFC light heavyweight title against champion Daniel Cormier.
In a division with a dearth of contenders who are winning in impressive fashion, it’s Smith who stands out the most right now among contenders.
Afterwards, the versatile 30-year-old mixed-martial artist called for a title shot in a emotional plea to UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Sean Shelby.
He may just get his wish.
Smith’s submission win on Saturday night gave him his 29th finish of his MMA career.
The rest of the UFC Fight Night 138 results are below.
UFC Fight Night 138 Results
Michael Johnson puts it all together in unanimous decision win over Artem Lobov
Misha Cirkunov uses arm triangle choke to submit Patrick Cummins in Round 1
Andre Soukhamthath controls the action in unanimous decision win over Jonathan Martinez
Gian Villante takes exciting brawl vs Ed Herman by split-decision
Court McGee grinds past Alex Garcia for unanimous decision win
Sean Strickland punishes Nordine Taleb with 2nd Round TKO victory
Nasrat Haqparast holds off tough Thibault Gouti with unanimous decision victory
Calvin Kattar turns back aggressive Chris Fishgold with 1st Round TKO win
Sarah Moras does enough to out-point Talita Bernardo for unanimous decision win
Don Madge plasters Te’Jovan Edwards with head kick for highlight reel 2nd round KO
Arjan Singh Bhullar gets competitive unanimous decision win over Marcelo Golm
Jessin Ayari pieces up Stevie Ray in Unanimous decision victory
What are your takeaways from UFC Fight Night 138? Leave your comments below!
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