UFC Vegas 109 Prelims: Walker Tops Cerqueira in Back-and-Forth Affair

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Julius Walker had his hand raised in the end, but he definitely took the hard road to get there.

The top undercard bout of UFC Vegas 109 on Saturday at the Apex saw the 26-year-old prospect face Raffael Cerqueira in a battle of light heavyweights still seeking their first UFC win.

“Juice Box” came in as a sizable -600 betting favorite but nearly didn’t make it out of the first minute. Cerqueira got his man’s attention immediately, snapping his head back with a pair of crisp one-twos in the opening moments. He recovered and returned fire, but Cerqueira’s speed and power continued to give him trouble. Walker bought himself a reprieve with a well-timed takedown, then took Cerqueira’s back and went to work. The Brazilian did well to survive, making his way back to his feet only to be dragged down to the mat once again, but spent the balance of the round fighting off various submission attempts including a pair of kimuras and an anaconda choke.

Walker wisely elected to bring his foe back to the ground quickly in Round 2, whereupon he chipped away with short strikes against the base of the cage, working to drag Cerqueira away from the fence and pass his guard. Cerqueira again defended himself capably in the grappling, but at the cost of delivering any offense of his own. They finally returned to their feet with under two minutes left and it was Walker who landed a big punch before dragging Cerqueira back down, where he kept on the pressure until the round expired.

Likely down two rounds to none, Cerqueira came out hot in the final frame, hurting Walker badly with a punch and chasing him across the cage, pouring on the punishment. After snuffing out a desperation takedown from the American, Cerqueira allowed his exhausted foe to return to his feet, where Walker turned things around with a huge punch of his own. The tired exchange took a turn when Cerqueira made the poor decision to jump to guard with a guillotine choke attempt, allowing Walker to take top position. That was enough to leave “Juice Box” in the driver’s seat until the final horn. The cageside judges tasked with declaring a winner to the back-and-forth scrap rendered 30-27, 30-27, 30-26 scores in favor of Walker, giving him his first Octagon win; Cerqueira remains winless in three attempts at securing his own first.

Related » UFC Vegas 109 Round-by-Round Scoring

Smith Powerbombs Kazama

Entering the Octagon as the biggest betting favorite of the night, Elijah Smith was under the gun to do more than just win. Mission accomplished, as he made it spectacular, slamming his way out of a triangle choke—and Toshiomi Kazama into the shadow realm—in the first round of their bantamweight contest. During an early scramble occasioned by an awkward flying knee attempt from Smith, Kazama was overzealous in transition and ended up on the bottom, where he spent nearly two minutes trying for leglocks while Smith pelted him with sporadic but very heavy ground strikes.

After Kazama gave up on that attempt, he transitioned to an armbar and then a triangle choke. With that technique locked in, Smith hoisted his opponent all the way into the air, braced a hand against his chin and drove him headfirst into the Octagon floor. The effect was devastating; Kazama was out cold instantly, even before the two or three hammerfists Smith managed to deliver while referee Chris Tognoni dived in to interpose himself. Kazama would remain unconscious for several minutes, though he mercifully opened his eyes before being taken from the cage for further medical attention. With the eye-popping finish, the 23-year-old Smith moved to 9-1 overall (2-0 UFC) while Kazama fell to 11-5 overall, 1-3 since emerging from the “Road to UFC” television series.

Edwards Double-Taps “Zombie Girl”

If the movies are to be believed, the way to be sure when taking down the walking dead is with two clean shots to the head. By that standard, Joselyne Edwards is now a certified zombie hunter after crushing Priscila Cachoeira in their bantamweight matchup. The fight played out as a slugfest from the outset, as both women willingly stood in the pocket and exchanged punch flurries and the occasional kick to the legs and body. Cachoeira had moments of success, including a hard calf kick that nearly took “La Pantera” off her feet, but her lack of head movement, among other defensive lapses, began to cost her with increasing severity.

Halfway into Round 1 Edwards appeared to be pulling ahead, perhaps on her way to testing the Brazilian’s vaunted durability, when she short-circuited her foe—and the fight—with a crushing right hook-left hook combo that dropped Cachoeira to the ground an a daze. Edwards pounced, dropping several more heavy blows onto her foe, and by the time referee Herb Dean arrived for the save, an out-of-it Cachoeira was reduced to trying a single-leg on him. The blistering knockout left Edwards at 16-6 overall, 7-4 in the UFC, and with a win streak now standing at three, she has the look of a serious bantamweight contender. Cachoeira fell to 13-7 (5-7 UFC) and has lost three of four over the last two years.

Medic One-Shots Urbina

Uros Medic crammed as much drama and excitement as possible into 63 seconds, weathering a knockdown before flattening Gilbert Urbina with a huge left hand in their welterweight undercard attraction. Medic (11-3, 5-3 UFC) did not get off to an auspicious start, as he ran directly into a counter right from the Texan that dropped him to his seat in the middle of the cage. Urbina did not press the attack, and Medic stood up, only to absorb a powerful kick to the body. Their next collision would be their last: Medic met the onrushing “RGV Bad Boy” with a short right hand that detonated flush on the chin. Urbina collapsed in a heap, already fully cooked, though Medic managed to deliver one hammerfist before referee Mark Smith arrived to wave things off. The brutal knockout came officially at 1:03 of Round 1, putting the Serbian-American back on track after his January loss to Punahele Soriano; he has now alternated wins an losses in his five fights since moving up from lightweight. Urbina fell to 1-3 since joining the UFC as an ad hoc finalist from Season 29 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Fernandes Busts Up Stoliarenko

Gabriella Fernandes made it look, if not easy, at least very straightforward, keeping Julija Stoliarenko at the end of her fists en route to a unanimous decision victory in their flyweight affair. Fernandes took advantage of the southpaw-orthodox clash and her foe’s plodding footwork, staying on the outside and busting up Stoliarenko with a stiff jab. Armbar specialist Stoliarenko was game, repeatedly trying to march Fernandes down, punch her way into the clinch and drag the fight into her world, but with little success.

By late in Round 2, the Lithuanian was bleeding badly from a cut over her left eye. The cut never progressed to the point of threatening to end things early, but it told the story of the fight eloquently. Stoliarenko showed a spark in the final frame, largely abandoning her efforts to grapple and instead swinging freely. The judges responded to the course correction, with two of them scoring that round for Stoliarenko, but ultimately it was too little, too late, and Fernandes won via scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28. The win, Fernandes’ third straight, elevated her record to 3-2 in the UFC; 11-3 overall. Stoliarenko fell to 11-9-2 in defeat, with her Octagon record now at a dismal 2-7.

McConico Outslugs Brundage

In a light heavyweight opener organized at the last minute, Eric McConico (10-3-1, 1 NC) edged out Cody Brundage (11-7-1, 1 NC) by split decision. With both men accustomed to fighting at middleweight and stepping up on a week’s notice, the matchup appeared to be more about entertainment than anything else, but it delivered. Brundage got off to a solid start by leaning on his wrestling skills in a way that he had not in most of his recent outings, taking McConico down several times in Round 1, roughing him up in the clinch and on the ground.

By the end of the first frame, however, the fight had devolved into a heavy-handed slugfest and continued to play out that way through the final horn. McConico appeared to be the fresher man by Round 3, but Brundage was never out of the fight, and both men were slinging leather until the end. With three individually close, difficult to judge rounds, the judges were unsurprisingly divided, but McConico prevailed with 29-28, 29-28 and 27-30 scores. The win left the MMA Lab product at 1-1 in the UFC after his short-notice loss to Nursulton Ruziboev in his UFC debut in February; Brundage fell to 5-6-1 with one no-contest with the promotion.