Contender Series 13 results: Pilarte among three to get UFC deal

Check out what happened at Dana White’s Contender Series 13, where Domingo Pilarte choked Vince Morales unconscious in the second round.

The fifth week of the 2018 season of Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series just wrapped up with the feature bout seeing the 20-year-old Maycee Barber finding a late third round TKO of Jamie Colleen. Before that, Domingo Pilarte overcame some serious adversity, being hurt and dropped by Vince Morales in the opening round, before coming up with the second round technical submission. Also on the card, Chibwikem Onyenegecha and Anthony Adams went the full fifteen minutes, with Onyenegecha earning himself the split decision victory. In a bit of an odd occurrence, the lights went out in the venue with about two minutes remaining in the match, causing a break in the action.

Austin Vanderford, the fiance of Paige VanZant, overcame being dropped in the opening round to rally back and realize a second round submission of Angelo Trevino. Opening up the card, the Ronda Rousey managed Edmen Shahbazyan ran right through Antonio Jones, earning the first round TKO in a sporty forty seconds. At the end of the night, Dana White handed out three contracts. Domingo Pilarte, Maycee Barber, and Edmen Shahbazyan are now UFC fighters.

Maycee Barber def. Jamie Colleen by TKO at 4:15 of round 3: Strawweight

Barber closed the distance on her opponent, shoving Colleen up against the cage and controlling her there. The strawweights returned to the center with about two minutes left in the opening round, with Barber pressing forward behind her kicks before closing the distance again.

Barber returned to her kicking attack to open up the second round. Colleen tried to counter her opponent’s kicks with heavy punches, but Barber did a sound job of moving out of range. Colleen initiated a takedown in the center of the cage, but Barber adjusted well and ended up on top. Several brutal ground strikes landed for Barber and Colleen did not return to her feet until right before the horn sounded.

Colleen came out aggressive in the final frame, landing several punches before shoving Barber up against the cage. Barber would reverse the position and land some chipping knees to the body of Colleen. Barber scored a late takedown with about a minute left in the fight, and landed a couple of sinister elbows that cut open Colleen. The referee had seen enough and stopped the bout before any additional damage could be dealt out.

Domingo Pilarte def. Vince Morales by technical submission (RNC) 1:52 of round 2: Bantamweight

Morales was not put off by the reach of his opponent, as he found his way on the inside to land several shots. Pilarte pressed forward, taunting his opponent as if the strikes of Morales were ineffective. The southpaw uppercut began to find a home for Pilarte, but Morales ate them well and even dropped Pilarte with a right hand. Morales cracked Pilarte again, causing him to fold up, but the bell sounded before a finish could materialize.

Pilarte blasted a takedown right away to open the second round, but Morales was wise to it and remained standing. Pilarte did get the fight tot he ground after he caught a kick and swept the other leg of Morales. Pilarte took the back and went hard for an RNC, but since Morales refused to tap, he went unconscious.

The leather was flying:

The left hand of Pilarte was finding a home:

Chibwikem Onyenegecha def. Anthony Adams by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29): Middleweight

Onyenegecha took the center of the Octagon to open the bout, and began trading low kicks with Adams. Despite Onyenegecha being the more active fighter, Adams was the one that appeared to be more comfortable on the feet. Adams scored with a spinning elbow attack up against the fence right before the round expired. A lot of measuring was going on throughout the second round, with more leg kicks landing than anything. Onyenegecha pressed the action, moving forward as Adams looked to remain all the way outside. Nothing too significant appeared to be landed all round.

Onyenegecha worked behind a one-two, coming forward as Adams continued to backpedal. Adams went for a takedown at about the midpoint of the final round, but Onyenegecha was having none of it and remained standing. The lights went out during the match with about 1:39 to go, causing the referee to pause the action until the issue could get worked out. When the bout resumed, Adams came out with some wild punches, showing some urgency to finish the fight.

The venue lights turned off mid-match:

A little spinarooni:

Austin Vanderford def. Angelo Trevino by submission (RNC) at 2:42 of round 2: Welterweight

The athletes went toe to toe right away, exchanging punching combinations back and forth. Trevino shot in on a single leg, and used it to take the back of his foe, but Vanderford stood up started grinding away against the cage. Trevino dropped his opponent with a right hand, and although he swarmed, Vanderford was able to make it back to his feet before the end of the round.

Vanderford started landing away on the feet in the second stanza, hurting Trevino before taking him down to the ground. Trevino gave up his back and Vanderford diligently worked for an RNC. Trevino tried his best to defend, but the squeeze of Vanderford proved to be too much.

Vanderford rallied back in the second:

Look at this heavy right hand from Trevino:

Edmen Shahbazyan def. Antonio Jones by TKO at :40 of round 1: Middleweight

The middleweights met in the middle and went right at it, exchanging punches before Shahbazyan clinched up with Jones. Several solid knees to the body scored for Shahbazyan, followed by a flurry of punches that dropped Jones. Shahbazyan was all over Jones, dropping strike after strike until the the referee pulled him off.