Mason Jones and Axel Sola produced more spins than a washing machine.
Serving as the preliminary headliner in the easiest call for “Fight of the Night” in recent memory, Jones and Sola (11-1-1, 1-1 UFC) collided in an absolute rip-snorter for three bloody, tantalizing rounds. The two threw caution to the wind across 15 violent minutes in their featured UFC Fight Night 270 prelim on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. Jones (18-2, 1 NC; 4-2, 1 NC UFC) took home the grizzly victory with one score of 30-27 and a pair of 29-28 tallies, all in his favor, in a back-and-forth battle that will be remembered for some time.
Sola dazzled early with a spinning back fist that put the Welshman down but not out, and although Jones recovered to rip open a gash on Sola’s cheek, he had plenty of ground to reclaim. Jones put forth a full-throated effort, even launching a tornado kick to the body where he ended up in too close range. Jones constant attacks transformed the Frenchman’s face to a crimson mask, as he picked up steam and drilled Sola with high kicks and knees on the jaw. Sola went to the well several more times with spins, but he never could catch Jones with another quite as cleanly.
Jones ended the match firmly in the driver’s seat, rocking the French fighter repeatedly with head kicks and knees that oft-placed Sola on rubber legs. Sola gathered his thoughts to dump Jones square on his head, but it did not shift the momentum, as Jones shook out the cobwebs and unleashed a fury to conclude their banger with a veritable avalanche of offense. “The Dragon” becomes the first fighter to beat the former Ares FC champ as a pro.
Nathaniel Wood (23-6, 11-3 UFC) tangled with the debuting Losene Keita (16-2, 0-1 UFC) in an extremely tight featherweight contest, one that did not remotely reflect the betting line where Keita closed as a favorite around -285. All three rounds could have gone to either fighter, with the stats close and the intensity even closer. Both men had their successes in a tit-for-tat offering, and when the dust settled, Wood swayed two of three judges to his side to earn the split decision nod (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
The newcomer largely maintained a headhunting approach to score effectively on “The Last Kingsman,” doing some damage and bloodying Wood’s nose but never truly hurting him. Some of Wood’s best responses came courtesy of his jackhammering calf kick, where he forced Keita to hit the deck multiple times by sweeping the leg. The judges only agreed that Wood won the first round, and their opinions varied in Rounds 2 and 3.
Springing the upset over the highly touted crossover athlete, Wood finds himself on a four-fight win streak. However, he has gone to the scorecards in 10 straight bouts.
The prelims progressed with a heavyweight slog as the undefeated Mario Pinto (12-0, 3-0 UFC) did just enough to prevail over late replacement Felipe Franco (10-2, 0-1 UFC). Portugal’s Pinto, who came into this pairing with momentum on his side courtesy of three straight knockouts, relied more on his wrestling than his slugging prowess. The action proved less-than-stellar, but Pinto got the job done with a trio of 29-28 scores on his side.
Franco proved to be a sterner test than expected, with the once-beaten Brazilian light heavyweight standing up to anything the far larger Pinto threw at him. After some lackluster exchanges replete with plenty of lulls in the action, Pinto took “Negao” out of the game by transitioning to his wrestling attack. While he did not manage to complete many takedowns, his approach and clinch control allowed him to take most of the sting out of Franco’s punches.
The 28-year-old who now trains in London remained unbeaten as a pro, winning his third in the Octagon and placing himself ever closer to the top 15 of the talent-starved division.
Finally, Mantas Kondratavicius (9-1, 1-0 UFC) celebrated his organizational debut, just not in the way he had hoped. The hard-hitting Lithuanian ended up going the distance for the first time in his career as he beat up an exhausted Antonio Trocoli (12-7, 1 NC; 0-4 UFC) after three grueling rounds. Kondratavicius earned scores of 30-27, 29-27 and 29-27 all in his favor in a bout few will watch again.
The 26-year-old newcomer largely had his way with the Brazilian over the course of the first two lopsided rounds, with Kondratavicius dropping Trocoli with a vicious elbow to the temple that nearly forced referee Rich Mitchell to step in. “Malvado” survived and found himself motivated by his corner between rounds to change his approach to an all-grappling attack. A pair of judges were swayed to award the final round to Trocoli, who had lost his previous three UFC outings, but it was not nearly enough to get the job done. Both spent middleweights appeared relieved when time elapsed.
The matchup marked the first time that Kondratavicius had ever even reached the third round as a pro, with none of his prior nine appearances lasting longer than nine minutes and four seconds.
In earlier action, heavyweight Brando Pericic (6-1, 2-0 UFC) sucked the air out of the O2 Arena by clobbering a sloppy Louie Sutherland (10-5, 0-2 UFC) with a lengthy barrage of punches that put the Brit away at 1:48 of the opening frame; Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (16-4, 1-1 UFC) outdueled a game but ultimately overmatched Shaqueme Rock (11-3-1, 0-2 UFC) across three clear-cut rounds, picking up the unanimous verdict (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) over his lightweight counterpart that had a bit of extracurricular drama after the final bell; kicking off the day with a smokin’ debut in front of her home crowd, Shanelle Dyer (7-1, 1-0 UFC) clipped the wings of an overweight Ravena Oliveira (7-4-1, 0-3 UFC) with a head kick, a bevy of knees and some powerful finalizing punches 1:17 into the second frame after a feeling-out first round.
