Undefeated newcomer Navajo Stirling stored his ‘O’ intact, scoring a dominant determination victory over Tuco Tokkos within the UFC Tampa major card opener.
Issues began comparatively sluggish between the 2 as Tokkos skirted across the outer a part of the Octagon and Stirling regarded to strain early. With roughly 90 seconds to go within the opening spherical, Stirling appeared to catch Tokkos with a physique shot throughout a clumsy alternate. That inspired Stirling to ship a barrage of strikes towards the fence, however Tokkos survived the onslaught and made it to the second spherical.
Not eager about standing and buying and selling with Stirling, Tokkos tried to get his wrestling recreation going straight away within the second stanza. 90 seconds into the spherical, Tokkos managed to muscle Stirling down, but it surely wasn’t lengthy earlier than the New Zealander fought his manner again up and began to unload on Tokkos.
To Tokkos’ credit score, he took every little thing Stirling gave him, together with an particularly nasty uppercut towards the fence, and managed to pull Stirling again right down to the mat for the second time.
With each fighters beginning to run on empty, a lot of the third spherical was spent clinching towards the fence. With a minute to go, Stirling caught Tokkos with a few physique photographs that had him reeling.
Stirling turned up the warmth and was trying to get a end within the waning moments of the spherical, however Tokkos opted to shoot for a desperation takedown. That was sufficient to expire the clock and ship the struggle to the scorecards.
Official Outcome: Navajo Stirling def. Tuco Tokkos by way of unanimous determination (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Try highlights from Navajo Stirling vs. Tuco Tokkos at UFC Tampa:
