Shane Burgos continued his climb up the featherweight rankings tonight at UFC Ottawa, by getting by long time contender, Cub Swanson.
Swanson scored with a couple of nice combinations early, but Burgos countered with some nice jabs. By the midpoint of round one, Burgos had started to land more often with punches. The remainder of the round saw both featherweights firing a steady stream of kicks and punches, but Burgos appeared to be landing more often.
In round two, Swanson planted a nice right moments in, but not long after, Burgos rattled the vet’s mouthpiece with a punch. As the three-minute mark approached, Swanson had noticeable redness under his left eye. In the final minute, Burgos flurried in along the cage fence, but Swanson defended well and resumed his own attacks.
Swanson picked up the pace in round three, and around 90 seconds in, he attempted a takedown. Burgos defended, but Swanson took his back and fired in knees to his thighs along the cage. Eventually, Burgos broke free and the fight returned to the center of the cage. Burgos pressed forward and ramped up his offense, and Swanson countered with a level change moments later. Before the final horn went, Burgos came with a flying knee that didn’t land.
It was a close fight, but two judges scored it in favor of Burgos.
Here are the results so far for UFC Ottawa.
Shane Burgos def. Cub Swanson via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)
Merab Dvalishvili def. Brad Katona via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Walt Harris def. Sergey Spivak via TKO (punches & knees) R1, 0:50
Andrew Sanchez def. Marc-Andre Barriault via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Macy Chiasson def. Sarah Moras via TKO (punches) R2, 2:22
Vince Morales def. Aiemann Zahabi via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Nordine Taleb def. Kyle Prepolec via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Matt Sayles def. Kyle Nelson via submission (arm-triangle-choke) R3, 3:16
Arjan Bhullar def. Juan Adams via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Cole Smith def. Mitch Gagnon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)