In a long-awaited battle between longtime rivals and combat sports superstars, Nate Diaz took home a majority decision victory over Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal Saturday night in a 10-round light heavyweight showdown that headlined a Fanmio PPV from Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
"Mission accomplished,” said Diaz (1-1). “I feel the love here in Cali every time. He showed up and came to fight and so did I.”
"I thought I won,” said Masvidal (1-1). “I landed the harder shots. Win or lose, we're gonna do it again. We're 1-1, so we'll run it back.”
After fighting for the inaugural UFC BMF title in their first clash won by Masvidal, the two MMA superstars reignited their rivalry with months of heated back and forth trash talk leading up to Saturday night’s event in front of a sold out crowd of 18,040.
The contest turned into a matchup of Diaz’s activity and punch output against Masvidal’s accuracy and power. Diaz landed 148 of 730 punches thrown, while Masvidal connected on 176 shots out of 637 thrown.
"I definitely felt that I landed the more meaningful shots,” said Masvidal. “When the judges see the videos, they'll see they were misguided."
After the bell rang to begin the 10th and final round, both men engaged in a tense three minutes of toe-to-toe action, with each fighter looking to gain an edge on the inside. With the crowd on their feet, each fighter landed clean blows until the final bell, with Diaz earning the nod by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 95-95.
"We just went in there to figure him out,” said Diaz. “I'm down to fight the highest rated boxer I can find. My main objective is to be the best fighter in the world."
In the co-main event, Shane Mosley Jr. (22-4, 12 KOs) stamped his contender status with a convincing unanimous decision victory over former two-time world champion Daniel “The Miracle Man” Jacobs (37-5, 30 KOs) in their 10-round super middleweight clash.
"The plan was to pick him apart because we knew he'd get tired,” said Mosley Jr. “I was trying to press him in the middle rounds, but he's a veteran and he knows how to get through it.”
The son of Hall of Famer “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Mosley Jr. scored the best win of his career by out-landing Jacobs 108 to 83, earning him his fifth-straight victory. Returning from an extended layoff, Jacobs wasn’t able to keep his charging opponent off of him with any sustained offense of his own.
"I'm proud of myself,” said Mosley Jr. “Danny has bricks in his hands, but I just stuck to the game plan and got the job done.”
"He was definitely the busier fighter, but I could see that every time I hit him with a good shot I did see that he was stunned,” said Jacobs. “I just didn't do enough to get my hand raised in the end.”
Jacobs put up a strong effort in the final round, landing his best blows of the fight, but was met again and again with return fire from the determined Mosley. At the end of the showdown, Mosley was victorious by scores of 100-90 and 99-92 twice.
"I felt like I had a good mindset in there, I just wasn't 100% with all the time out of the ring,” said Jacobs. “The weight was obviously an issue for me and I came in a little drained and dehydrated. I could have gone against light opposition, but I'm a dog and I wanted to face a certain caliber of opponent.”
In his post-fight interview, Mosley offered a direct challenge to WBA Middleweight World Champion Erislandy Lara.
"I want Erislandy Lara,” said Mosley Jr. “If you're listening, I want you. Let's go baby."
The pay-per-view also saw Nate Diaz-teammate Chris Avila (5-1) continue his winning streak with a unanimous decision over MMA legend Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (1-1) in their light heavyweight attraction.
"It felt great, there was a lot of energy out there in the arena,” said Avila. “This was a great opponent to get a win over. It feels really good to get the win for my team and everyone who's supported me.”
The back-and-forth contest saw both men engage in close quarters throughout most of the six rounds, with Pettis having some early success with his lead left hook and movement. As the fight moved on, Avila found his distance and was able to consistently land on Pettis as he built his lead on the cards.
"I knew what I was supposed to do,” said Avila. “I was coming to out-box him. Us Stockton fighters know how to go in there and figure it out."
Facing a former UFC world champion, Avila’s triumph marked his fifth-straight win in the squared circle for the Stockton, California-native. After six rounds, all three judges saw the fight in Avila’s favor with scores of 59-55 twice and 58-56.
"I was trying to outscore him and control the range, but he did a good job stepping in and fighting inside the clinch,” said Pettis. “It wasn't really a boxing look. He doesn't hit hard, but he had a lot of output. I just lost my energy and couldn't keep my pace. I was trying to knock him out."
Sensational teenage prospect Curmel Moton (4-0, 3 KOs) kept his unbeaten record intact with a dominating stoppage of Nikolai Buzolin (9-9-1, 5 KOs) as he dropped his opponent in round one before stopping him in the second round of their super lightweight matchup.
"It felt great to be in there with a huge crowd like this tonight,” said Moton. “The atmosphere really pushed me to be my best. I put in a lot of work at the gym, and I knew it was gonna pay off.”
The 18-year-old Moton struck early with a series of left hooks to the body and head that forced Buzolin into the corner and to eventually take a knee. Moton got back to work in round two, stalking Buzolin and peppering him with more power shots.
After a series of unanswered blows, referee Jack Reiss decided he had seen enough and waved-off the bout 1:39 into round two. For the Floyd Mayweather-promoted Moton it was his fourth victory since turning pro last year as the protégé of the all-time great looks to continue to impress in his young career.
"I know there's all eyes on me with Floyd behind my back,” said Moton. “It puts a target on me. I've felt pressure my whole life, so this is nothing for me. I'm used to it. I know that I just have to show up and do what I do. I'm gonna get back in the gym and keep working hard so I can put on another great performance."
In a battle of fighters representing preeminent boxing families, Amado “AFV” Vargas (11-0, 5 KOs), the son of legendary world champion Fernando Vargas, scored a sixth-round TKO over Sean Garcia (7-1-1, 1 KOs), the younger brother of Ryan Garcia, in their super lightweight duel.
"It's been a long camp and I was ready for this moment,” said Vargas. “They can say I'm the little brother, but I just kept working to let them know. We're here, the Vargas dynasty is here to stay.”
Vargas broke through in a wild round four, hurting Garcia with a left uppercut before stalking his stumbling opponent and putting him down with a right uppercut. Garcia rose to his feet, and landed some clean blows on Vargas to ignite the crowd on his way to making it to the end of the frame.
"I was just trying to get him out of there,” said Garcia. “At the end my game plan basically went away, I was just trying to cause damage."
"This is what I do. I spar hard fighters in Las Vegas so that I'm ready for this. I always get these guys in the later rounds because of my conditioning. That's a credit to my father and my whole training team.”
Attacking the body throughout the bout, Vargas appeared to hurt Garcia again in the final second of round five with a vicious left hook that left Garcia wincing on his way back to the corner. With a fading opponent in front of him, Vargas stayed disciplined and picked his shots effectively until referee Edward Collantes waved off the bout 46 seconds into round six.
"It was a good fight like I expected,” said Garcia. “I don't think that I gassed out, but he did break me down. It was my first time going past four rounds and that's why you need these experiences in the sport. He was the better man tonight.”
"I've always been unorthodox, but when I crack people, they feel it,” said Vargas. “I'm not green anymore, I'm a skillful fighter who knows how to think in the ring. All the sacrifice paid off in the ring tonight."
Opening up the pay-per-view, lightweight contender Devin Cushing (14-0, 10 KOs) boxed his way to an impressive unanimous decision victory and avenged an amateur defeat against Manuel Correa (13-2, 8 KOs) after 10 rounds of action. The judges final tallies were 80-72, 78-74 and 77-75.
"I'm a grown man now and I'm more disciplined mentally than when we fought in the amateurs,” said Cushing. “He's a tough competitor and he can take a shot. It wasn't my best performance, but we'll get back to the drawing board and go back to work."
The southpaw Cushing showed his boxing ability from the outset, using his jab and movement to open up Correa’s defense, including swelling in Correa’s left eye that began in round three. Correa had his moments with counter right hands during exchanges, but was too often beat to the punch by Cushing.
"I expected a tough fight like that from Manuel Correa,” said Cushing. “He's got his record for a reason. I knew it was going to be a tough, rugged fight. I just had to stay focused and dig deep.”
Correa appeared frustrated with Cushing’s movement in round five, imploring his opponent to meet him in the middle of the ring. Cushing appeared to oblige the request during a close-quarters round six that two judges gave to Correa. Correa finished the fight strong, winning two of three and all three of the final frames respectively according to two judges, but was too far behind to catch up.
"I felt good. It wasn't my best performance, but we'll get back to the gym,” said Cushing. “I'd like to stay busier. This has been a long camp and I just want to stay active the rest of this year."
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