Bryce Mitchell did what he does best at UFC Fight Night 278, and it was too much for Santiago Luna.
Luna (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) got a short-notice chance at a notable name on Saturday at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, but he could not stifle the suffocating top pressure of Mitchell (19-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC), who racked up more than nine minutes of control time in the bantamweight bout before locking in an arm-triangle choke to force the tap at the 4:52 mark of Round 3.
Mitchell wasted no time in the opening round closing the distance on Luna and pushing him to the fence. Luna tried a takedown of his own, but Mitchell reversed him, got top position and rode out the entirety of the round from half guard and mount as they traded peppering punches.
Advertisement
It was more of the same from Mitchell in the second round, it just took a bit longer to get the fight where he wanted. After some resistance from Luna on the takedown in the opening two minutes, he found his path off his scramble to get top position, where he closed the round again.
Luna opened the final round with some desperation offense, which led to Mitchell grabbing him and pulling guard. Luna couldn’t take advantage on top, and eventually Mitchell got on top. He tried to threaten with some submissions and land some short shots, then in the final seconds locked in the fight-ending arm triangle submission.
With the victory, Mitchell moved to 2-0 since he moved down to the 135-pound weight class nearly a year ago.
“It’s a much closer fight than what it looks like, but small transitions and he would’ve got on top,” Mitchell said in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “Do not hold your head down, Santiago. You’re a young champion, a young warrior.”
Advertisement
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 278 results:
-
Bryce Mitchell def. Santiago Luna via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 4:52
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Vegas 118 results: Bryce Mitchell taps Santiago Luna before buzzer
