Ovince Saint Preux beats Rafael Cavalcante at UFC Fight Night
Ovince Saint Preux fought throught injury Saturday night to earn third win in his last four fights with a unanimous decision over Rafael Cavalcante at UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson. The judges scored the fight 30-27 (twice), and 29-28 in favor of Saint Preux.
Just two minutes into the bout, Saint Preux hurt his right ankle after landing a kick to the lead thigh of "Feijao" and began to visibly limp on it. The Brazilian zoned-in on that injured leg and immediately began attacking it with leg kicks.
Saint Preux hung tough, though clearly hurt, and threw big strikes of his own that ultimately dropped the former Strikeforce champion to the mat with under a minute left. Cavalcante gathered his senses and broke down Saint Preux's posture from on his back in the full guard until the round ended.
Saint Preux iced his right foot while sitting on his stool in between rounds and receiving instructions from his corner that likely intentionally ignored his hurt peg. Accordingly, Saint Preux stepped back out onto the mat in the second as if nothing were wrong, stalking Cavalcante.
Saint Preux landed a front kick to the mid-section of Cavalcante, who then answered back with a lead, lunging right hand and left hook, both to the head. Shortly after, Cavalcante was tripped to the mat and pressed against the cage with under two minutes left in the round.
Cavalcante made no effort to attempt a wall-walk, choosing instead to keep his full guard closed and attempt to control the posture of his opponent. Soon, Saint Preux regained his posture long enough to rain down punches.
The round ended with Cavalcante pinned on his back, his neck wedged awkwardly against the chain link cage, and Saint Preux on top.
The third and final round began with a fire-fight, as Saint Preux stormed after Cavalcante with punches and kicks. Cavalcante swung back, hard, before getting taken down and regaining his footing.
Saint Preux connected with long straight punches to the head, which backed Cavalcante against the fence, his arms up to cover his face. From there, OSP hit a double-leg takedown and got to work with strikes, against the fence, from on top inside an open half-guard.
Cavalcante composed his full guard, began to pepper OSP's head with elbows, before losing control of his posture and eating big strikes until the final horn sounded.
Though he came close to forcing a stoppage, Saint Preux had to settle for a decision victory.
The win improves Saint Preux's overall record to 19-7. The defeat dropped Cavalcante's mark to 12-7-1.
