Yahoo Sports UFC Fight Night 78 Results: Neil Magny Slips Past Kelvin Gastelum
When Matt Brown had to drop out of the Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 78 main event in Monterrey, Mexico, his teammate, Neil Magny, immediately agreed to take his place opposite Kelvin Gastelum.
Gastelum came into the fight making his return to welterweight after having been forced to fight at middleweight in his last bout after severely missing weight in the previous fight.
Magny was making his tenth trip to the Octagon in the past two years on Saturday night. He fought twice in a three-week span in August of this year, losing the first, but winning the second. He’s proven several times that he is often better when he steps in on short notice.
And he showed that again on Saturday night.
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Magny survived some early pressure from Gastelum, who was pressing through Magny’s significant reach advantage to get inside and attack with punch combinations. He eventually got Gastelum to the mat, where he dominated. When Gastelum zigged, Magny zagged, constantly staying one-step ahead of him on the canvas.
The lanky fighter threatened a rear-naked choke several times, but couldn’t quite sink it. But as Gastelum twisted and turned, trying to escape his clutches, Magny maintained control of the round.
The second and third rounds saw Magny establish his control of the fight. Gastelum was again trying to rush through Magny’s reach advantage to get inside and blast him with punches, and he did here and there, but Magny started to find a way to combat that.
Magny utilized his jab to make Gastelum hesitate as he tried to get inside, and then he would slip away, leaving less and less of a target.
The third frame was close, but as Gastelum seemed to regain some momentum in the waning minute, Magny scored a takedown that might have swayed the judges.
As it looked like Magny was ramping up, Gastelum stormed back in the fourth round, dropping Magny not once, but twice, although Magny did a good job playing defense until he could recover.
Knowing it was a close fight, both men fought with a sense of urgency in the final five minutes, but Gastelum again had the better round. He scopped Magny up early in the round and slammed him to the canvas and finally got the better of him on the ground.
Magny escaped, but Gastelum rocked him with a couple solid combinations. Magny eventually secured a takedown, but he couldn’t keep Gastelum down. Magny got Gastelum back to the canvas again in the final half minute, but Gastelum quickly reversed into Magny’s guard and landed punches until the final horn.
Although Gastelum finished strong, it was too little too late for two of the judges, as Magny was awarded a split-decision victory.
Again fighting on short notice, Magny made the most of the situation, upsetting the heavily favored Gastelum, and winning his ninth fight in the past two years.
