UFC Fight Island 4 prelim results: Condit earns a unanimous decision

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

See the prelim card results and highlights from UFC FIGHT ISLAND 4: ‘HOLM VS. ALDANA’.

The UFC Fight Island 4 Prelims just wrapped up in Abu Dhabi. The UFC’s return to Yas Island saw MMA legend, and former UFC welterweight title challenger, Carlos Condit out-pount TUF 11 winner Court McGee in a tense and kickboxing match. Also on the prelims there were some bloody, and bruising, contests and a first round finish.

Before Condit and McGee went the distance there was a seldom seen split draw in the fight between Joshua Culibao and Charles Jourdain. Lower down on the prelims there were exciting fights between Nassourdine Imavov and Jordan Williams as well as Casey Kenney and Alatengheili. Two of the stand out performances came from Luigi Vendramini, who TKO’d Jessin Ayari in the first round and Loma Lookboonmee who picked apart Jinh Yu Frey.

See completed results below:

Prelims:

Carlos Condit def. Court McGee by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

This fight started off tense, with both men sizing the other up and testing with kicks from range. They both landed leg kicks and tried their luck with body kicks, with McGee coming closest to making significant impact in that department. McGee flashed a few head kicks, too, but each time Condit easily stepped back out of range. With seconds ticking away in the round, both men got into the most heated exchange of the fight so far. They threw bombs at each other, but it was Condit who landed a huge right hand flush on McGee, which knocked him down right on the buzzer and completely rearranged his nose.

Condit came out for the second round looking energized. He knew he hurt McGee and was eager to tag him again. He landed a few stiff shots, but McGee ate them and showed his counters were still worthy of concern. McGee was able to land hard kicks to the legs and another one to the body. Condit responded with a body kick of his own and followed it up with a punch to McGee’s ear. Growing in confidence, Condit danced around the cage and then threw, and half-landed, a head kick.

In their corners Ramsey Nijem told McGee to look for his overhand and Brandon Gibson told Condit to throw volume. Both men seemed to follow instructions early on, but Condit was able to maintain his edge over McGee. He beat McGee to the punch and also got him down with a cheeky trip. With a minute left McGee landed a big overhand, but Condit showed no ill effects. The fight wound down with both men trading in the pocket, but neither could land anything strong enough to prevent a judges’ decision.

All three judges were on the same page, giving Condit—the underdog in this one—all three rounds.

Joshua Culibao and Charles Jourdain fight to a split draw (30-27, 29-28, 28-28)

Jourdain flew into the fight with a flying kick which hit nothing but air. Jourdain seemed eager to land kicks on Culibao. Unfortunately for him the Australian was able to catch one, spin Jourdain around and stun him with a right hand that knocked the Canadian down on his rear. Culibao then swarmed Jourdain and tried to get a guillotine, but Jourdain was clear-headed enough to defend that and then go for a choke of his own.

In the second Jourdain again looked to land flashy kicks. Culibao’s approach was more prosaic, but it succeeded in forcing Jourdain backwards for periods of the round. When Jourdain attempted more mundane attacks he landed a decent clip, tagging Culibao with leg kicks and a nice punch to the body. As the round wore on Jourdain seemed to better figure out his opponent and was able to back Culibao into the corner and keep him there while he threw more kick and combo attempts. In the last minute Culibao was able to get a takedown on Jourdain, but he couldn’t establish any kind of dominant position.

Culibao went for a takedown early in the third, but Jourdain was able to fight it off. Moments later Jourdain wobbled Culibao with a flurry of punches. He then tried to walk Culibao down to land a knockout blow. But Culibao was able to hang in there and regain enough composure to threaten with counters and force Jourdain to back off.

Culibao then went for a takedown off of an exchange, but Jourdain was able to sprawl well. He then landed some ground and pound and had a little look at a d’arce choke. Jourdain stood and then threw a kick at Culibao’s legs. Culibao acted as though he was hit in a groin. Jourdain paused, but the referee said to keep going. So Jourdain stormed back in and hit Culibao hard before setting up an armbar attempt.

With a minute left Jourdain had Culibao in deep trouble, cranking his arm in all kinds of directions, but Culibao toughed it out and got on his feet. The last bell went, leaving the judges with a bit of a tough decision. And that was represented in the score cards, which each judge seeing the fight differently generating the rarely seen split draw.

Nassourdine Imavov def. Jordan Williams via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)

Imavov and Williams went back and forth in the first round trading huge shots. A hard clash of heads, which was missed by the referee, looked to draw blood on both men. Despite both fighters landing hard shots, it seemed as though Imavov’s punches had more weight behind them. In the first Imavov also landed a powerful knee right on the cup of Williams.

In the second Williams looked slowed by the damage he took and Imavov seemed to grow in confidence. He landed more hard shots and also looked very close on a couple of anaconda and/or d’arce attempts.

In the third Williams looked exhausted. Imavov wasn’t exactly fresh, but he had enough in the tank to keep hurting Williams and avoiding anything that would cost him the fight. The judges all agreed that Imavov had earned a decision win. Williams probably earned a few fans, though, thanks to his gutsy and resilient performance.

Loma Lookboonmee def. Jinh Yu Frey bu unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Former atomweights Loma Lookboonmee and Jinh Yu Frey went the distance, with the Thai fighter putting on a clinic in her native muay thai. Throughout the fight Lookboonmee punished Frey with sharp and rapid strikes from inside the clinch. She cut her opponent with lightning fast short elbows and buckled her once or twice with stiff knees.

After the first round Frey, a former Invicta FC champion, looked out of ideas. She plodded through the second and ate more damage. In the third, desperate for a stoppage, she got an early takedown and tried to look for some way to end the fight. But Lookboonmee was more than equal to what Frey was throwing down. She squirmed out of trouble and continued to land on the feet.

In the end it was an obvious win for Lookboonmee, despite one judge remarkably scoring one of the three rounds for Frey.

Casey Kenney def. Alatengheili by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)

Casey Kenney put the bantamweight division on notice with a brutal, and dominant, decision win over a tough-as-nails Alatengheili.

Kenney battered Alatengheili from pillar to post in this one, landing literally dozens of body kicks that left the Chinese fighter’s rib cage glowing red. With Alatengheili feeling the pain, he started shading towards defending his body, which let Kenney swing for the fences with head kicks.

Alatengheili was able to block all of the high attacks, though. He seemed indestructable at times in this one, as he absorbed kick after brutal kick. He also looked dangerous with his counter punching, but there was never a doubt that Kenney was winning the fight with a high-powered offence that would have starched many other fighters after just a round.

Luigi Vendramini def. Jessin Ayari via TKO (punches), round 1 (1:12)

This one was over quickly as Luigi Vendramini got his first UFC win, thanks to a flurry that put Jessin Ayari down and then out inside the first round.