Long Island’s own takes home win
(Kansas City, MO., April 17, 2017) – The UFC on Fox 24 card was filled with non-stop action throughout its 13 fight card, which was held at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. Many fans saw dramatic knockouts and impressive submissions.
For Long Island’s Aljamain Sterling, he used his overall mixed martial game to earn a unanimous decision victory over Augusto Mendes (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Sterling, who had lost two straight fights, after starting his MMA career with a 12-0 record, was looking to avenge his last loss, where he took the defeat via split decision to Rafael Assuncao on Jan 28 in Denver.
This time, Sterling came out with a different game plan and it worked. Instead of using leg kicks, he changed it up to punches after conceding that aggressive punches are more appealing to judges than leg kicks.
From Uniondale, the Serra-Longo star was dominant from start to finish using his great cardio and endless gas tank to earn the decision to move his record to 13-2 and 5-2 in the UFC.
The only round that could of gone Mendes’ way was round one, where Mendes worked for numerous submissions after being taken down by Sterling. Sterling survived all of it and it was smooth sailing from there on out.
In round two, the fight stayed on the feet, where most of the round was in the clinch. It wasn’t until late that Sterling secured the round with a takedown and used a plethora of ground-and-pound as the bell rang.
In round three, Mendes appeared to need a finish as you could hear coach Ray Longo in the background say, “you’re up two rounds to zero.”
Sterling held his own, allowing Mendes nothing and even landed a big punch in the pocket to seal the victory late in the round.
After the fight, Sterling took to his Instagram page. “I want to take some time out to say thank you once again to all my friends, family, and true Team Funk supporters! The love has been overwhelming and very positive. I started my career off 8-0, before getting into the UFC, where I went 4-0 before losing 2 split decisions fights. Losing is very heartbreaking for anyone, but it should NEVER define you as a person. What defines you is how you respond to the difficult times where people doubt you, media doubts, you, and in some cases, some people you may have thought were your friends doubt you. I’ve worked my (expletive) off to achieve everything I have today. I put myself in a position to succeed and when people doubted me, it gave me greater than the words that someone could put their lips together to describe me. You are whoever YOU want to be and YOU control your future. The moment I took “they” out, I was able to find myself again, and realize what got me to the UFC in the first place- being held accountable for my own actions! Control what you can control, and do what you gotta do to give yourself the best opportunity to win. And if you come up short, at least you’ll be able to live easy, and I truly believe that. Your sacrifices of today will be your successes of tomorrow! Onwards and upwards baby!!!! 5-2 UFC Love you guys!!! #teamfunk #serralongo #strongisland # UFC #mma #kansascity #NY #PTP”
In the main event, Demetrious defeated Wilson Reis to defend his flyweight title with a submission (arm bar) in the third round. With the win, Johnson has now tied Anderson Silva for most consecutive title defenses (10) in UFC history.
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Photo credit: mmajunkie
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