Zak Cummings wins exciting three-round battle over Nicolas Dalby at UFC Zagreb
Zak Cummings wanted a finish victory, Sunday, over Nicolas Dalby but had to settle for an impressive and clear-cut decision win. After three rounds of back-and-forth welterweight action, Cummings won a unanimous decision with scores of 30-27 on all three ringside judges' scorecards.
"It's my style to come out and finish fights...I tried for some of my best chokes, and with some solid left shots," he said, afterwards,
"I went out and did enough...I hate to see it go to the judges but I came out and put on a good performance, and I'm happy with it."
In the first round, Cummings got to work, fast, scoring with a right uppercut and left straight, followed by another left cross as Dalby fell to the mat. From there, Dalby locked on a D'arce choke off of an undertook side-mount escape attempt from Dalby.
Cummings turned the hold into an arm-in guillotine choke from the guard but Dalby gamely defended and got back up to his feet before the round ended. In the second, the two fighters exchanged strikes in the center of the cage.
Dalby continued to switch up his stance as he had in the first, but Cummings still found his range and timing, connecting with solid counter punches before poking Dalby in the eye.
Dalby was given time to rest from what was ruled an accidental poke. When they re-started, Cummings got back to work with a hard one-two punch counter combo to the head.
Cummings pressed in for a takedown against the cage, early in the final period. Dalby defended but Cummings eventually got him to the mat on a second attempt.
Cummings soon passed Dalby's guard to take the side mount. Dalby got his guard back but Cummings ended the fight while throwing punches from on top, inside the guard.
The loss lengthens Dalby's winless streak to two-straight bouts, as his previous one was an exciting majority draw, and served him his first ever professional loss. His record now stands at 14-1-1, while Cummings improved his mark to 19-4.
