Updated

Updated · MMA Junkie · Sep 12

Noche UFC Main Card Opens With 6-0 David Martinez Win as Blaydes-Cortes-Acosta Reaches Round 3

Updated

Updated · MMA Junkie · Sep 12

Noche UFC Main Card Opens With 6-0 David Martinez Win as Blaydes-Cortes-Acosta Reaches Round 3

Q: What hidden grappling sequence allowed an underdog to submit a battle-tested UFC veteran for the very first time?

The decisive sequence was Tommy Gantt capitalizing on a scramble after prolonged wrestling pressure, then locking in a reverse triangle choke on Drakkar Klose in the third round. Gantt, an underdog undefeated prospect, had spent much of the fight forcing Klose to the fence, dragging him down, and making the veteran carry his weight. In Round 3, after another takedown and top control, Gantt advanced during a scramble, threatened from the back, and trapped Klose in the reverse triangle while also landing elbows. Klose tapped at 2:46 of the round. That hidden turning point was not a sudden submission out of nowhere, but the result of attritional grappling: fence work, mat returns, positional control, and then the transition when Klose tried to escape. Several reports noted that Klose appeared close to scrambling free before Gantt cinched the reverse triangle and finished the sequence with strikes added in. The significance was substantial. Klose had long been regarded as a durable, battle-tested UFC lightweight and had never before been submitted in his professional career. Gantt’s finish therefore stood out not only as the card’s lone submission, but as the first submission loss ever suffered by Klose.

3 articles · Updated · MMA Junkie · Sep 12

David Martinez moved to 15-1 and 4-0 in UFC by beating Dan Ige via unanimous decision, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, in the first completed main-card bout.
Leg kicks and movement drove that result: Martinez stunned Ige in Round 1, kept attacking the lead leg in Round 2, and controlled the final round despite Ige's late pressure.
Curtis Blaydes and Waldo Cortes-Acosta then entered Round 3 after a slow, tactical fight split on the live scorecard—Blaydes took Round 1 with a late takedown, Cortes-Acosta answered in Round 2 with cleaner jabs and right hands.
Earlier in Glendale, prelim winners included Tim Elliott, Ignacio Bahamondes, Rong Zhu and Regina Tarin by decision, plus Yousri Belgaroui by first-round TKO, Sean King III by 36-second slam KO and Tommy Gantt by reverse-triangle submission.