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CURITIBA, Brazil – Francisco Trinaldo threw just about every strike he knew at Yancy Medeiros, but he couldn’t put the tough Hawaiian away.
Instead, after battering Medeiros (12-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC) to the brink of unconsciousness, Trinaldo (20-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) had to settle for a unanimous decision victory in a fight that featured gutsy performances from both men.
The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 198 event at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.
Trinaldo put Medeiros in trouble late in the first round, backing him up against the fence and letting fly with a series of brutal left hands that rocked Medeiros in the closing moments of the round.
Medeiros seemed to recover well between rounds, however, and in the second he was right back in the mix, threatening with spinning kicks and body shots that appeared to slow an already fatigued Trinaldo even further. In this round it was Medeiros’ turn to make a statement with seconds to go, as he dropped Trinaldo with a right hand to the eye just before the horn sounded to end the second.
Trinaldo came roaring back in the third, again hammering Medeiros with thumping left hands up against the cage. This time the blows left Medeiros unable to stand under his own power, and at several points he staggered and collapsed as soon as he tried to stand.
Still, Medeiros refused to give up, even after a sustained assault that seemed all but guaranteed to bring about a TKO stoppage. In the closing seconds of the round, he even managed to get on top of Trinaldo and threaten him on the mat, a borderline superhuman feat after all the abuse he’d suffered at the hands of Trinaldo only moments before.
It was an inspiring effort from Medeiros, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. When the judges had their say, all three of them gave the fight to Trinaldo, who took the unanimous decision with scores of 29-26, 30-27, and 30-26.
“It was a very tough fight,” Trinaldo said. “We both came to give it all inside the octagon. It was a great result for me. Now I want to improve and face whoever comes next.”
The win makes it six in a row for Trinaldo, who has not lost in two years. Medeiros has now lost two of his last three.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 198 results include:
- Francisco Trinaldo def. Yancy Medeiros via unanimous decision (29-26, 30-27, 30-26)
- John Lineker def. Rob Font via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-26)
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Patrick Cummins via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:42
- Luan Chagas vs. Sergio Moraes declared split draw (29-28, 28-29, 28-28)
- Renato Moicano def. Zubaira Tukhugov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
For complete coverage of UFC 198, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan, Mike Bohn and Fernanda Prates contributed to this report on site in Brazil.)
