Jordan Williams Knockout Highlights Week 7 of DWCS; Three UFC Contracts Awarded

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Jordan Williams removed all doubt about whether or not he was major league-ready.

The Nor-Cal Fighting Alliance rep wiped out Gregory Rodrigues with punches in the first round of their middleweight showcase during Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Rodrigues (7-3) melted 2:19 into Round 1, closing the book on his six-fight winning streak.

Williams (8-3) made the most of his third DWCS invite. He walked through a sweeping right hand and a glancing head kick, backed the Brazilian to the fence and staggered him with a counter left hook. Seeing Rodrigues’ knees buckle, he then flurried with punches against the cage and kept throwing until the job was done.

The 29-year-old Williams, a Type 1 diabetic, was one of three competitors awarded contracts by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Collin Anglin and Danyelle Wolf were the others.

Anglin Bests Favored Naimov

Factory X prospect Collin Anglin navigated a minefield to capture a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Muhammadjon Naimov in an action-packed three-round featherweight confrontation. Anglin (8-1) was awarded 29-28, 29-27 and 29-27 scores from the judges.

Naimov (5-1) raced out to a quick lead in the first round, where the Elevation Fight Team rep unleashed devastating kicks to the lower leg, connected with a number of powerful right hands and blasted his American adversary with a knee to the face on the break. Anglin was undeterred. He turned up the heat in the second round, as he battered Naimov with knees from the clinch, delivered a takedown, chipped away with ground-and-pound and achieved full mount. Those efforts led to a dominant Round 3, where Anglin had the Tajikistan native teetering on the brink with standing elbows, sneaky left hooks and uppercuts. He secured another takedown, threatened with a rear-naked choke and survived being reversed in the closing moments, as Naimov settled in side control and uncorked elbows but failed to do enough damage to alter the judges’ scorecards.

Anglin, 27, has won seven fights in a row.

Related » DWCS Week 7 Round-by-Round Scoring

Frustrated Lombardo Subdues Kuppe

American Top Team’s Michael Lombardo moved to 1-1 on the Contender Series with a unanimous decision over Korey Kuppe in a largely uneventful three-round welterweight affair. All three cageside judges struck 29-28 scorecards for Lombardo (11-2).

Kuppe (8-4) mustered little in the way of meaningful offense, outside of a guillotine choke that nearly resulted in a surprise finish in the waning seconds of Round 1. Otherwise, he played defense. Lombardo executed takedowns in all three rounds, utilized suffocating top control and applied occasional ground-and-pound against his lanky 6-foot-5 adversary.

Lombardo will ride into his next assignment on the strength of back-to-back victories.

Debuting Wolf Decisions Tennant

Stiff jabs, thudding right hands and a late submission attempt carried Danyelle Wolf to a unanimous decision over Invicta Fighting Championships Phoenix Series 3 tournament winner Taneisha Tennant in a three-round women’s featherweight scrap. A decorated amateur boxer and onetime Olympic hopeful, Wolf (1-0) swept the scorecards with matching 29-28 marks from the judges.

After being outstruck for much of the first round, Tennant (3-1) adjusted her approach and turned the tide in the middle stanza. There, she upped her aggression, piled up points with leg kicks and had Wolf reeling with a burst of punches to the head and a front kick to the body. Tennant seemed poised to pick up where she left off in the third round, but an eye poke stymied her progress. She pursued Wolf in the clinch after the restart, wandered into a guillotine and spent the better part of two minutes trying to extricate herself the choke. It was enough to cost Tennant the decision.

Driscoll Outpoints Undersized Paiva

American Kickboxing Academy export Kyle Driscoll won for the seventh time in as many appearances, as he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Dinis Paiva in a three-round featherweight pairing. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Driscoll (12-3).

Neither man was particularly effective, but output was a real issue for Paiva (13-8). Driscoll secured a takedown in the first round and connected with a jaw-jacking right cross in the second, incorporating two- and three-punch combinations along with occasional kicks to the arms and body. Paiva shifted momentum his way in Round 3, where he floored his counterpart with a straight left, powered into top position, applied his ground-and-pound and freed himself from an attempted armbar. Even so, the finish he needed did not come to fruition.

The loss snapped Paiva’s two-fight winning streak.