Hard-hitting welterweight Vicente Luque, fresh of a fight-of-the-year contender against Bryan Barberena, faced late-notice replacement Derrick Krantz tonight (Saturday, May 18, 2019) from inside Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York, only via the ESPN+ streaming service.
Krantz started the fight very well, hurting Luque, taking the Brazilian down and taking his back. When Luque scrambled, he looked for an arm-in guillotine that he did not seem particularly close to getting. He got up and re-shot, but Luque shrugged him off. When they got back to their feet, it was Luque who landed the heavy shots, knocking Krantz down with a straight left out of the clinch. He began teeing off a turtled Krantz, and the referee had seen enough. Krantz protested but he wasn’t defending himself at all. Luque had to survive early, but he got the win he needed to keep his momentum going. That’s five wins in a row for him. Krantz put up a good showing against a true killer on short notice, and he deserves to stick around in the UFC.
Results: Vincente Luque def. Derrick Krantz via KO at 3:52 of Round 1
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