British lightweight Marc Diakiese remains undefeated, but he was made to work for his win last evening when he faced American Frankie Perez at UFC Fight Night Albany.

Having made his UFC debut back at UFC 204 in Manchester just two months ago, Diakiese last evening faced a massive step up in competition as he travelled across the Atlantic to Albany in New York to face Perez, a New Jersey native with the crowd fully behind him.

Despite playing the role of the villain this around, Diakiese showed little sign of nerves as he settled into his task nicely from the outset.

The British fighter has recently been known for his stunning knockout victories, but this time around he had a different gameplan and looked for to close the distance on the American quickly and look for takedowns.

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In the first round the Brit scored a takedown after a minute and a half and dominated the rest of the round in top position occasionally working in the off strike.

Having dominated the opening five minutes, Diakiese found himself on the back foot as Perez himself decided to go for a takedown. The American successfully wrestled Diakiese down to the mat and from there he landed some big elbows that sliced Diakiese just above the eye and sent blood pouring across his face.

Luckily Diakiese just made it through the round, but it wasn’t looking good with the momentum fully on Perez's side heading into round three.

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Staring adversity in the face, the former champion then showed great courage in the third and Diakiese caught a low leg kick from Perez and took him down to the mat again after just a minute. From there Diakiese smothered the American and denied him space to wriggle free. Diakiese managed to keep him down until the final bell leaving no doubt in the judges mind who had won the fight.

Thankfully there were no surprises on the scorecards and with Diakiese winning two of three rounds all three judges scored the fight 29-28 to the British fighter.
Victory was hard fought, but the lessons learned will no doubt be invaluable for Diakiese moving forward. Speaking on the microphone after, Diakiese said he wanted his next fight to be at UFC Fight Night London in March and that he wanted to face the German, Nick Hein.

In the main event of the evening, Derrick overcame a sluggish start to beat Shamil Abdurakhimov, while in the co-main event, French phenom Francis Ngannou defeated Anthony Hamilton with a devastating kimura submission.

MAIN CARD

Derrick Lewis def. Shamil Abdurakhimov via TKO (punches), Round 4, 3:42
Francis Ngannou def. Anthony Hamilton via submission (kimura), Round 1, 1:57
Corey Anderson def. Sean O’Connell via TKO (punches), Round 2, 2:36
Gian Villante def. Saparbek Safarov via TKO (punches), Round 2, 2:54

PRELIM BOUTS

Justine Kish def. Ashley Yoder via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Randy Brown def. Brian Camozzi via TKO (knee, punches), Round 2, 1:25
Gerald Meerschaert def. Joe Gigliotti via submission (anaconda), Round 1, 4:12
Andrew Sanchez def. Trevor Smith via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Shane Burgos def. Tiago Trator via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-27)
Marc Diakiese def. Frankie Perez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Ryan Janes def. Keith Berish via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Juliana Lima def. J.J. Aldrich via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)