Edgar shows ‘a little pop,’ knocks out Mendes on UFC card — PHOTOS
Entering the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship card at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Friday night, the matchup of featherweight contenders appeared to come down to Frankie Edgar’s speed against the power of Chad Mendes.
Edgar, the former lightweight champion, wanted to show he had more tools than his quickness.
He did so with a crushing left hook that landed right on the nose of Mendes and ended the fight at 2:28 of the first round to conclude “The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale” card.
“Everybody said he had the power and I’m the volume guy,” Edgar said. “This dude’s got a little pop, too.”
The win, his fifth in a row, puts Edgar in position to potentially challenge the winner of tonight’s featherweight title unification bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor at the MGM Grand Garden, provided there is not a rematch.
Edgar believes he made his case.
“This is a big one for me,” he said. “Three finishes in my last five fights. Come on, you’ve got to give it to me.”
Also on the card, Ryan Hall executed his game plan to perfection to win a unanimous decision over Artem Lobov to earn the “TUF” title.
Hall clung to Lobov, a knockout artist, controlling positions on the mat and completely neutralizing his attack. He nearly finished submissions in the first two rounds and essentially ran out the clock in the third.
“What can I say? Tonight was not my best fight or my best performance. It was a crap fight for the fans. But Ryan did what he had to do,” Lobov said. “I hope the UFC will have me back and give me another chance, but I won’t blame them if they don’t.”
Tony Ferguson submitted Edson Barbosa in the second round to win a matchup of lightweight contenders.
It was the seventh straight win for Ferguson. After a back-and-forth first round filled with big striking exchanges, it was a D’Arce choke that resulted in the finish.
“I said I was going to take apart this entire division, and that’s what I’m doing,” said Ferguson, who entered the fight as the No. 6 contender in the UFC rankings. “If No. 5 is afraid of me, then I’ll go to No. 4 and same thing all the way to No. 1.
“I’m top five in the lightweight division, there’s no doubt about that.”
Las Vegan Evan Dunham improved to 3-0 in 2015 with a unanimous decision over Joe Lauzon in a lightweight bout.
Dunham was crisp with his standup throughout the bout, never allowing the typically aggressive Lauzon to mount any sort of offense.
“Evan is a really good kickboxer. I wanted to stand with him in the first and then take him down later in the fight, but he wasn’t really having that,” Lauzon said. “He took me down early, and I messed my knee up and I wasn’t able to move around how I wanted after that.”
Dunham said his winning streak, which comes on the heels of three straight losses, is no accident.
“I just changed a few things and got some help on my striking, and it’s worked well so far,” he said. “I have a lot of great guys in my corner, so I stopped stressing about everything, and it’s really helped out. My hands were working really well for me, and I felt like there was a speed difference. When I wanted to really go, I could easily get in and get out, so that was a big difference.”
Lightweight Julian Erosa won a split decision over Marcin Wrzosek in a matchup of fighters from the reality show that opened the main card.
Also, featherweight veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri grinded out a unanimous decision over Jason Knight.
Welterweight prospect Ryan LaFlare improved to 5-1 in the UFC with a unanimous decision over Mike Pierce to highlight the preliminary card.
Pierce was returning from more than a two-year absence because of ankle and hand injuries.
“I’m just pissed I didn’t pull the trigger sooner,” he said. “I had him hurt in the first round and had him hurt in the third round, I just couldn’t get the finish.”
Heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga outlasted Konstantin Erokhin for a unanimous decision in a bout that saw little action.
Late-replacement Geane Herrera knocked out Joby Sanchez midway through the second round of a flyweight bout, and Chris Gruetzemacher earned a unanimous decision over lightweight Abner Lloveras.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj
