Alan Patrick looked to make a flashy debut in his UFC debut. John Makdessi wasn’t about to let it happen on his watch.
But Patrick still came out a winner. The Brazilian was more active than Makdessi in their UFC 169 bout. Whether he was effective was another matter, but it was enough to sway the judges. Patrick won a unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27.
Patrick came out looking for a spectacular finish in his UFC debut. But the fact he was doing so was a bit too obvious. Patrick telegraphed spinning back fist and kick attempts. Makdessi patiently and easily dodged and weaved the attempts, and answered Patrick’s flash with solid technique, landing counterpunches and stuffing the bulk of his takedown attempts.
Round two was mostly more of the same, though Patrick did manage to briefly get Makdessi to the mat. Makdessi deftly wall walked his way back to his feet and regained the pace. Makdessi, however, never seemed to feel much urgency to pick up the pace.
Patrick flicked head kicks in the third round, a couple of which landed. But not enough to change the pace of the fight. Makdessi stayed content to lay back, counter, and stuff his takedown attempts, which were up to 11 of 12 by the end of the fight.
The judges don’t have those stats in front of them, of course, and unanimous picked Patrick as the winner. Patrick improved to 12-0; Makdessi had a three-fight win streak snapped as he dropped to 12-3.