The UFC on ESPN 24 main card featured a talent-rich lightweight matchup between twelfth ranked Diego Ferreira and fourteenth ranked Gregor Gillespie. There was added intrigue to this one after the Brazilian missed the lightweight non-title weight limit by a whopping four and a half pounds. Gillespie decided to go forward with the booking but was awarded 30% of his opponent’s fight purse for the bad weight miss. By the end of the night, Gillespie had more money in his pocket and the biggest W of his career so far.
Both men worked to find range and get the measure of the other over the first couple of minutes. A takedown attempt by Gillespie was defended well by Ferreira as he threatened submissions. As the round played out, the Brazilian landed several thumping shots that forced his opponent to push that much harder for the takedowns. Eventually, the New Yorker scored one but Ferreira once against threatened submissions and forced a scramble back to the feet. Both men impressed with their pace, Gillespies tenacity, and Ferreira constantly defending every takedown with great jiu-jitsu.
Gregor Gillespie brings monsoon of wrestling to bare on Diego Ferreira
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The same narrative continued in the second as “The Gift’s” wrestling attack was relentless, yet Ferreira was up to the task early on. Never resting on his back or on the cage. Always trying to get up or throw up submissions. As the round went on, however, Gillespie’s cardio seemed to be winning out, and the pace started to have an effect on his opponent. While in the first Ferreira always got it back to the feet, in the second Gillespie was not in nearly as much danger and controlled minutes on the mat. That relentless pace became an unmanageable wave for his opponent and with 20 seconds left Gillespie scored a technical knockout victory.
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The victory is the most pivotal of the fourteenth ranked Gillespie’s career, as he moves to 14-1 overall, and bounces back in a big way from a difficult knockout loss to Kevin Lee in 2019. It’s his seventh win via strikes.
For the 36-year-old Ferreira, he loses back-to-back losses for just the second time in his career. Considering his big weight miss yesterday, one has to wonder how much his overall cut in the lead-up to the fight compromised his energy levels once he reached the Octagon..
