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At UFC Vegas 28, recent Legacy Fighting Alliance middleweight champion Gregory Rodrigues made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut. The Brazilian, who failed in winning a Dana White’s Contender Series contract in September, was welcomed to the Octagon by two-fight UFC vet, and DWCS contract winner, Dusko Todorovic.
The obvious goal for Todorovic early was he wanted to get his Brazilian foe to the mat. However, Rodrigues was not interested and defended those advances and worked his striking. His first round in the UFC was a productive one, as he landed the better strikes, and he did it often. While the Serbian seemed to have as much trouble landing strikes as he did getting takedowns.
Gregory Rodrigues wins UFC debut two weeks after winning LFA gold
A little over a minute into the second, a takedown was scored, but it was by Rodrigues. As he landed an impressive blast double-leg on Todorovic. “Robocop” even got to his opponents back at one point before the fight returned to the feet. Despite having his difficulties at times, Todorovic did not seemed mentally deterred and still looked to pressure his opponent and find opportunities to score.
In the third, the 27-year-old Todorovic had more pep in his step and became the more active fighter. Both attempted takedowns early that were shrugged off. Throughout each round, the striking stats for both were close, but Rodrigues landed the more notable strikes that seemed damaging. Even though Todorovic didn’t show any signs of being affected by the landed shots.
The judges saw it the same way as Rodrigues earned his first win in the UFC after winning LFA gold just two weeks ago. It is now a second straight loss for Todorovic, after a knockout defeat to Punahele Soriano in January. He falls to 1-2 in the promotion.
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