Hawaiian fighters stole the show, going a perfect 3-0, on the preliminary card of the UFC’s first event of 2014 and the promotion’s first show in Singapore.
Waianae’s Max Holloway earned an impressive TKO win over Will Chope in the featured preliminary bout. The 22-year-old battered Chope with a combination of punches to the head and midsection of the UFC newcomer and the fight was stopped in the second round.
At six-foot-four, Chope gave Holloway some trouble early before the youngster found his range.
“The first round it was tough,” Holloway said after the fight. “He was hitting me with some good shots so I had to bite down.”
The win snapped a two-fight losing streak and improved Holloway to 8-3 as a pro. The loss snapped Chope’s 14-fight win streak.
Honolulu’s Dustin Kimura overcame an early barrage from UFC newcomer Jon Delos Reyes to pick up a submission win just over two minutes into the first round of an entertaining tilt between bantamweights. The Hawaiian was dropped early after getting caught with several big punches, but responded with numerous submission attempts before locking in an armbar. Kimura (11-1) bounced back from his first career loss, a submission defeat to Canadian Mitch Gagnon at UFC 165 in September. The loss snapped Reyes’s four-fight win streak.
In the opening bout of the evening, Russell Doane, also from Honolulu, made a strong first impression in his UFC debut as he choked out Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Leandro Issa with a triangle choke. The finish came with one second remaining in the second round of the bantamweight bout. Doane (13-3) showcased solid takedown defence, standup, submission defence and offence in a well-rounded performance.
Highly touted lightweight Mairbek Taisumov was victorious against fellow promotional newcomer Tae Hyun Bang. Taisumov (21-4), of Vienna, Austria, picked Bang apart on the feet in the first two rounds before taking control of things in the grappling department in the third round en route to a unanimous decision victory. The win was Taisumov’s first by decision and only the third time in his 25-fight MMA career he’s gone the distance.Popular UFC veteran Roger Huerta was in the corner of Mairbek Taisumov; they’re training partners at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand.
Singapore’s own Royston Wee improved to 3-0 as a pro with a unanimous decision win over Dave Galera in his UFC debut. Prior to the fight, Wee had just two minutes, 49 seconds of pro MMA experience.
Also, veteran Katsunori Kikuno picked up his 22nd career win as he picked up a unanimous decision over Quinn Mulhern, who lost his second straight in the UFC.
