Marvin Vettori Tops Jack Hermansson, Jamahal Hill Trashes Ovince Saint Preux

UFC Fight Night in Vegas saw Marvin Vettori posting a victory over Jack Hermansson, thus improving his status in the UFC middleweight division.

Vettori defeated the Swed after a unanimous decision of the judges. All three gave the Italian a clear advantage in the scorecards 49-46, 49-46, and 49-45. And he deserved it to be perfectly clear. The 27-year old was all over the Swed, who, truth to be told, resisted and tried to change the situation in the octagon but couldn’t succeed in his intention.

“I feel like I could do much better, but man, this guy was tough. I thought I would finish him, but he came back. Today, I was stronger, man,” said Vettori (16-3-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC), following the match.

He came in roaring, hurting Hermansson (21-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) with punches before eventually dropping the Joker with a hard left hand. The Italian Dream tried to end the fight with a choke, but his rival managed to escape and save his skin. Vettori was better in the second sequence that saw some grappling on Hermansson’s initiative, but the Italian overwhelmed him, adding more points to the scorecards.

The third round saw a much better Joker, but insufficient for some major change, as Vettori rebuffed that surge, catching a break and dominantly cruising towards the win over the last 10 minutes.

Both fighters earned the Fight of the Night bonus, as this bout became the one with the highest number of significant strikes in the UFC middleweight history.

Vettori is currently riding a four-win streak, taking down Karl Roberson, Andrew Sanchez, and Cezar Ferrerira in the meantime. With a win over Hermansson, he is bound to become a top-10 fighter in the division, and already has big plans.

“Let’s go, Borrachinha. We’re gonna make a hell of a f—ing fight. Let’s go, baby!” Vettori called out Paulo Costa right after tonight’s match.

What also attracted attention was him calling out Israel Adesanya. The two met already once, and Izzy squeezed out a split-decision win in that match, with many suggesting that he didn’t deserve that.

“He was like, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever see Marvin again. He will never make it to the top.’ Guess what; I’m here. He thinks he has everything figured out — he has nothing figured out. … I want that fight,” Vettori said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI-lFl0kfKw

On the other side, Hermansson lost for the second time in the past three events, and that pretty much erased all the good results he had before this negative stretch. The Swed who hoped that he might get a chance to challenge Adesanya or at least earn a title-eliminator, now needs to win a few fights before getting in the center of attention.

In one other fight that created a lot of hype, Jamahal Hill defeated Ovince Saint Preux via TKO at 3:37 of the second round. Hill (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is one of the fastest rising stars in the UFC and is currently making his name in the lightweight division.

His fantastic combinations of kicks and punches hurt Saint Preux (25-15 MMA, 13-10 UFC), who tried to open up and trade blows with the rival but eventually ran out of gas, while on the other side, Hill shifted into a higher gear. We could expect this guy to face some high-caliber name pretty soon, which will be the test for revealing is he a possible contender at some point or not.