The UFC on Fuel 4 co-main event was advertised as a slugfest for the ages between James Te-Huna and Joey Beltran, and for the majority of the bout they delivered.
Te-Huna gave us one of the most impressive first rounds in recent memory, landing over 70 significant strikes and rocking “The Mexicutioner” multiple times in a lopsided round.
Beltran has always been almost impossible to knock out, and once Te-Huna couldn’t put him away, he gave the fans a show and started to mount a bit of offense of his own, but he was unable to do enough to earn a single round on the judge’s scorecards.
What We’ll Remember About This Fight
We already knew this, but Joey Beltran is one tough dude.
The former heavyweight looked pretty decent in his UFC debut at 205, and even though he was on the wrong end of nearly every exchange, he showed he can hang with a tough young prospect in Te-Huna.
As for the winner, Te-Huna proved he is a force to be reckoned with in the light heavyweight division.
There aren’t many guys in the world that could have survived the onslaught of attack that Te-Huna brought in the first round, and he deserves a chance to show off his skills against a top guy at 205.
What We Learned About Te-Huna
The hype behind James Te-Huna has been slowly growing throughout his UFC career, and it’s about to hit a whole new level after that fight.
Complete and total domination is the only way to describe the first round of that fight, and Te-Huna did enough to win the next two rounds despite obviously wearing himself down looking to finish early.
Cardio is still a concern when it comes to the young Aussie, but if he hits the rest of the division as hard as he did Beltran he may not have to worry about it.
What We Learned About Beltran
Honestly, not much.
We knew Beltran was one of the toughest fighters to ever step foot inside the Octagon, and he proved that once again tonight.
Beltran looks like an improved fighter at light heavyweight however, and if he gets a more manageable opponent in his next fight, he could start to earn some momentum in the division.
What’s Next for Te-Huna
Te-Huna was originally set to fight Brandon Vera in this bout, but his chance at fighting a well-known opponent was taken away due to the massive amount of injuries the UFC roster suffered last month.
Now it’s time for Te-Huna to fight a decent name in the division, and Stephan Bonnar seems like a great test.
What’s Next for Beltran
Hopefully not another fight like that one.
Beltran is fun to watch, but it’s becoming difficult to watch the guy take so much punishment every time he steps inside the cage.
A fight with Kyle Kingsbury would likely end up in another slugfest, but it’s one that Beltran would have a good chance of winning.
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