There’s nothing better than a good-ol fashioned dog fight, and last night at UFC 256, that’s exactly what we got when Cub Swanson went up against Daniel ‘the Pit’ Pineda. Pineda was coming off a murderous victory against the very talented Herbert Burns, as Swanson had a major setback last year recovering from an ACL and Meniscus surgery. Swanson’s last fight inside the octagon was in October of 2019, where he won a unanimous decision victory against Kron Gracie. Swanson showed he’s still one of the best fighters in the UFC’s stacked featherweight division, as he was able to finish Pineda early into the second round.
From the beginning of the fight, Pineda was coming on strong and relentless, using his size as well as aggression, in trying to bully Swanson with his attacks. He landed several hard leg kicks on Swanson, which appeared to give him some momentum early on in the round. Pineda appeared to be the bigger fighter, however Swanson stayed light on his feet and was faster with the attacks. By the end of the first, Swanson had Pineda hurt after landing several clean strikes to the chin, even though Pineda was smiling. In between rounds there was a sense of urgency from Pineda’s corner, for they knew their fighter was hurt, and just absorbed a lot of shots. Pineda is as game as they come, as he took his break without the need of having to sit on the stool. At the start of the second round Pineda appeared tired, as he telegraphed all of his shots. Swanson was sticking and moving with grace, dodging all of Pineda’s strikes, as well as stuffing a takedown. Pineda used his weight to push Swanson against the cage, however Swanson diverted the attack with an attack of his own. Swanson was landing crispy clean shots to the face that rocked Pineda, with the last blow right on the kisser, knocking him to the ground. While Pineda was on the ground and on his back, Swanson jumped down landing a devastating knockout punch, which forced the referee to step in and stop the fight. Swanson earned the knockout victory proving once again he is still a force to be reckoned with inside the cage. The UFC’s featherweight division is one of the toughest divisions to move up in rank, and after a performance like this, it’s only a matter of time before we see Swanson again inside the octagon.
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