Eduardo Moura and Dennis Gomez at the UFC Louisville weigh-in. Photo Credit: Youtube/UFC
Eduardo Moura, the only fighter to miss weight ahead of UFC Louisville, faced Dennis Gomez in the third bout on the preliminary card for the Fight Night event.
Moura missed out by just half a pound, meaning she didn’t have much of a weight advantage over Gomez, but it remains to be seen how much she’ll have to expend physically to make the strawweight limit.
Early on, Moura closed the distance looking for a takedown, and Gomez went for the fearsome guillotine. Gomez twisted his neck as Moura tried to escape, eventually breaking free and going for another takedown. This led to a fierce tussle for position along the fence, far from the wall and stalling for time. Moura eventually got Gomez to sit down, but couldn’t keep him there. Once again in the open, Gomez came forward and landed punches, but Moura changed levels and scored a takedown, working his way too far from the cage. Moura spent the rest of the round on top in the guard, looking to do damage.
In the second, Gomez had her opponent stacked on her back along the fence early on. After a while, Gomez decided to back away and let Moura stand, but the two ended up clinching again, briefly going to the ground, but nothing happened there for either of them. Once back on her feet, Gomez moved forward and worked her way into the clinch. This allowed Gomez to drive Moura against the fence and land some body licks while Moura defended with underhooks and came out of the cage. However, Moura seemed to tire, tried to change levels and stumbled. She stayed there, chasing single legs as Gomez defended and dropped right hands.
In the third round, the two fighters traded stands early, with Moura throwing jabs and one-twos. She fanned out with a spinning back kick and finally tried to change levels and grab a leg, but Gomez quickly returned to the fence and tried to use leverage, but to no avail, as Moura dragged her down. It didn’t last long, however, as Gomez quickly got back to her feet. She reversed, but was briefly brought back to the mat with a body lock. With under two minutes left, Moura tried to change levels again and grab a leg, but Gomez again displayed solid takedown defense. The rest of the match played out similarly, with Gomez dominating in striking, but Moura was ugly in the grappling department, despite several takedown attempts.
Ultimately, both judges sided with Denis Gomez, handing Eduardo Moura his first UFC and professional defeat.
Official result: Dennis Gomez defeats Eduardo Moura by split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
