UFC 149 – Anton Kuivanen opens the night’s action with a split decision win over Mitch Clarke
UFC lightweight prospect, Anton Kuivanen tonight picked up an important split decision win over Canadian Mitch Clarke on the UFC 149 card in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, surprisingly reversing many of the grappling exchanges to wind up on top for the most part.
Both men come out jabbing as they engage on the feet. Clarke lands a left hand before looking to take the fight to the ground. Kuivanen does well to stave off the grappling attack as he gets his back against the cage. Kuivanen gets back to his feet but Clarke dumps him back to the ground. Clarkes takes control in half-guard. Kuivanen get back to his feet before securing a takedown of his own. Clarke recovers guard. Clarke gets his feet on the hips and looks to attack with an arm-bar. Kuivanen slips out. Clarke attacks with a deep arm-bar, rolling Kuivanen to his back, but lets go in favour of top position. Clarke takes Kuivanen’s back. Kuivanen shakes his opponent off and recovers guard. Clarke ends the round on top. MMABay scores the round 10-9 Clarke.
The two men begin the second round with thirty seconds exchanging tentatively on the feet before Clarke looks for a takedown. Clarke looks for a takedown and secures a single leg. Kuivanen scrambles and secures top position but Clarke attacks with a kimura and retakes top position. Both men look to stand but Kuivanen drags Clarke back down as he has hold of his neck. Kuivanen looks for a choke but Clarke survives and gets back to his feet. This time Kuivanen rolls Clarke with the kimura and winds up in top position. Kuivanen looks to stand but Clarke has hold of a knee-bar. Kuivanen drops to the ground after eating an up-kick to the face and both men look for leg based submissions. Kuivanen with a big strike to the face from 50/50 position. MMABay scores the round 10-9 Kuivanen.
Simular start to the third round as what we’ve seen previously. Clarke looks for a takedown but Kuivanen reverses the situation and secures a takedown of his own. Kuivanen looks to pull guard with a guillotine but Clarke escapes. Kuivanen takes control in top position and pounds away from the half-guard of Clarke. Clarke attacks with a kimura from the bottom but Kuivanen pulls free and lands a left hand. Clarke gets back to his feet and looks for a takedown but Kuivanen stuffs it and looks to land a knee from the clinch. Clarke continues to look for the takedown but is punished for his trouble and Kuivanen takes control on top. Big shots from Kuivanen as he postures up. Clarke attacks the legs again of Kuivanen but the Finn stays clear of danger. The two men get to their feet in the final seconds and Kuivanen lands a big knee. MMABay scores the round 10-9 Kuivanen.
The judges scored the bout 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 in favour of Kuivanen.
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
Why not tell us what you think about this story and get your thoughts featured in this week’s edition of MMABay Radio? Email Mailbag@mmabay.co.uk, start the subject with the word ‘RADIO MAILBAG’ and we’ll talk about our favourites on the next show.
