Armen Petrosyan made quite an impression in his octagon debut at UFC Vegas 49.
The Contender Series Veteran engaged in three rounds with Gregory Rodrigues. His ability to provide the Brazilian with a constant diet of strikes for 15 mins helped him win a split decision. Two judges scored the fight 30-27 and 29-28 for Petrosyan with the third official giving the fight to Rodrigues with a 29-28 score.
“To be honest I was confident I could finish him at any time but he’s a very tough opponent,” Petrosyan said after the win. “Big respect to him. I’m never ready to surrender and I’m always going to go to the end.”
Rodrigues was acting as aggressor and was always moving forward. However, Petrosyan appeared to be content fighting back his backfoot as he fired off more strikes as he approached the cage. Although Rodrigues was not backing down, he was cautious with his shot selection. His right hand was whizzing past Petrosyan’s face several times during the first round.
While Petrosyan was peppering away with solid combinations, Rodrigues really started to unload with power punches after finding his range. Several stinging right hands blasted Petrosyan in succession but that confidence nearly cost Rodrigues as he left himself open for a couple of hard counter shots.
Rodrigues was eventually knocked out by a pair left-handed right hand. However, he refused to let go of his pocket and continued firing in every exchange. Petrosyan kept firing on him during the fight, leaving him vulnerable to leg kicks.
The back-and-forth battle continued until Rodrigues slammed home a huge head kick that crushed Petrosyan and left him open for a takedown from the Brazilian. From there, Rodrigues latched onto a rare Suloev stretch that appeared to locked in but Petrosyan resisted before eventually getting back to his feet.
Despite having his nose smashed, and blood all over his face. Petrosyan kept looking for the knockout to make a comeback. He began throwing blistering shots as he tried to win the fight.
While the fight could have easily gone either way it was Petrosyan getting his hand raised in the end as he moves to 1-0 in his UFC career while earning his third straight victory in a row overall.
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