Dhiego Lima shuts out Jorge de Oliveira for unanimous decision win
Former Ultimate Fighter finalist Dhiego Lima shut down Jorge de Oliveira for the better part of 15 minutes to pick up his first win in the UFC after competing in the 19th season of the reality show.
Lima moved down to a more natural 170-pounds for his UFC debut and the difference was night and day compared to his finale fight against massive middleweight Eddie Gordon.
Late replacement Jorge de Oliveira came out strong in the opening round tagging Lima with a big shot that stunned the former Ultimate Fighter finalist. Lima tried to play it off as if the punch didn't tag him as bad as it did, but he was clearly hurt at least for a moment.
To his credit, Lima came back as the round wore on, eventually getting the takedown and mounting Oliveira against the cage. The UFC newcomer was able to slip out and push his back to the cage where Lima uncorked a big knee strike as the two fighters started to get back to the feet. Unfortunately, Lima's timing was off and he nailed Oliveira while his knee was still on the ground.
The referee paused the action, but didn't issue any kind of point deduction to Lima for the illegal infraction.
The second round was complete domination from Lima as he took Oliveira down, mounted him and came close to ending the fight with a rear naked choke on a couple of occasions.
By the time the round was underway, Lima was stifling in his attacks while Oliveira was breathing hard and struggling to stay upright. The final horn sounded and there was no doubt that Lima was going to come away the victor. According to FightTrax, Lima controlled Oliveira for 9:50 of the fight, clearly giving him the win.
The judges all scored the fight 30-27 in favor of Lima.
The former Ultimate Fighter 19 competitor was definitely out of his weight class when he was fighting at 185-pounds on the reality show, but now that he's a welterweight, Lima should find success in the Octagon.
Lima was considered a top prospect before going to The Ultimate Fighter and he showed why the potential is still there with his win on Saturday night in Brazil.
