Junior dos Santos victorious over Blagoy Ivanov in return to Octagon
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos did everything needed to earn a comfortable unanimous decision win over UFC debutant and former WSOF heavyweight kingpin Blagoy Ivanov.
Though Ivanov was competitive throughout these five rounds, wobbling dos Santos after landing some stinging left hands in the middle rounds, the Brazilian fought smart to keep his opponent at a distance with his jab and earn the judges’ nod through consistent activity, rather than fighting with fight-finishing aggression.
It was a solid yet unspectacular performance from “Cigano”, who returns to the win column following his loss to then-champ Stipe Miocic at UFC 211 in May 2017 which resulted in a year-long layoff.
Dos Santos called Miocic out for a trilogy fight in his post-fight interview, which could be an interesting bout to determine the next heavyweight title contender.
Sage Northcutt knocks out Zak Ottow in welterweight return
In this night’s co-main event, “Super” Sage Northcutt earned perhaps his most impressive win of his fledgling UFC career.
Zak Ottow dominated proceedings early, having knocked Northcutt down with a big right hand in the opening exchange. From there, most of the round saw Ottow in top position, raining down ground and pound on his foe to clearly win the first round.
However, Northcutt rallied. Given his success on the ground in the first round, Ottow tried taking Northcutt back down in the fight’s second stanza. But Northcutt looked fresh and easily resisted.
With the pair separated, Ottow walked onto a piercing left jab and a right uppercut from Northcutt to send him reeling. Northcutt then went for the takedown against the cage, before finishing the fight with a series of hammerfists when Ottow desperately tried to ankle pick his opponent to regain a dominant position on the canvas.
Impressive win for Northcutt after moving back up to welterweight from lightweight. Still only 22 years old, the young Texan has now won three fights in a row.
UFC Boise: dos Santos vs Ivanov full results
Heavyweight bout: Junior dos Santos defeats Blagoy Ivanov by unanimous decision after five rounds.
Welterweight bout: Sage Northcutt defeats Zak Ottow by KO (punches) at 3:13 of round two.
Featherweight bout: Rick Glenn defeats Dennis Bermudez by split decision after three rounds.
Welterweight bout: Niko Price defeats Randy Brown by KO (punches) at 1:09 of round two.
Featherweight bout: Chad Mendes defeats Myles Jury by TKO (punches) at 2:52 of round one.
Women’s Bantamweight bout: Cat Zingano defeats Marion Reneau by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Bantamweight bout: Alejandro Perez defeats Eddie Wineland by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Featherweight bout: Alexander Volkanovski defeats Darren Elkins by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Flyweight bout: Said Nurmagomedov defeats Justin Scoggins by split decision after three rounds.
Featherweight bout: Raoni Barcelos defeats Kurt Holobaugh by KO (punches) at 1:39 of round three.
Women’s Flyweight bout: Liz Carmouche defeats Jennifer Maia by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Flyweight bout: Mark De La Rosa defeats Elias Garcia by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:00 of round two.
Women’s Strawweight bout: Jessica Aguilar defeats Jodie Esquibel by unanimous decision after three rounds.
