Randy Brown and Carlos Diego Ferreira at the UFC 302 weigh-in. Photo by Dylan Napoleone/Cageside Press
Welterweights Randy Brown and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos opened Saturday’s main card at UFC 302. Both fighters come into the bout with unbeaten records.
Brown, 33, has won two straight UFC bouts, most recently over Muslim Salikhov, while Zaleski, 37, is 2-0-1 in his last three bouts, including a draw against Rinat Fakretdinov in November.
At the start of the bout, the two fighters faced off in the center of the Octagon, with Brown quickly using his jab to keep his opponent within reach. Dos Santos frequently aimed for leg kicks and kept his guard up high to parry his opponent’s attacks. Near the midpoint of the round, Dos Santos landed a hard kick to the body. Randy quickly followed up with a jab, accidentally hitting his opponent’s eye with his ready hand while trying to avoid the attack.
As the two fighters continued, Randy landed some dynamic boxing combinations on the outside of the ring, hitting his opponent hard. Eliseu responded by going for a takedown, but his opponent was back on his feet within seconds. Randy stayed on the outside, catching a few leg kicks but continuing to land jabs. With a few seconds left in the round, Eliseu charged forward and Randy landed a nice jumping knee off his back leg.
In the second round, dos Santos again landed a kick to the calf and caught Brown with a big looping right punch that pushed him back against the fence. Randy went for a jumping knee, but Elizeu blocked it and eventually pushed him to the ground. Randy fought his way to the base and tried to get up multiple times, but his opponent kept his hands locked, preventing him from getting up completely. Finally, Randy was pressed up against the cage and Elizeu finally got around to his back and applied a body triangle and rear-naked choke.
Randy was able to defend the rear naked choke for an extended period of time, but dos Santos eventually gave up and looked to inflict damage. With nearly 30 seconds left in the round, Randy reversed position, got behind his opponent and unleashed a ferocious barrage of strikes to secure the rear naked choke. The round ended with Randy in the dominant position.
To start the final round, Randy again fired a jab and his opponent tried to move rapidly inside, only to be caught again by Randy’s outstretched fingers.
When the fight resumed, Brown still seemed to be punching his opponent from the outside. Eliseu Zaleski was constantly looking for a way to get into striking distance, but was having difficulty. With a few minutes left in the round, Zaleski backed Lundy up against the fence and successfully attempted a takedown from deep. The two fighters continued to do damage against the cage for the next minute or so, then separated and returned to their space. Then, with 30 seconds left, after a combination from Brown, dos Santos got a takedown, got back up and went to the ground, scrambled and landed a few punches before the time expired.
There were seven decisions on the night, with Randy Brown winning on all three scorecards. In his post-fight speech, Randy named #12 ranked welterweight Neil Magny for a future bout.
Official result: Randy Brown defeats Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
