MANILA – Jenel Lausa of the Philippines sustained another loss in the UFC after Ulka Sasaki of Japan defeated him via submission in Fight Night at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The Saturday loss was the third consecutive for the Concepcion, Iloilo-native MMA fighter since winning his UFC debut against Chinese veteran Yao Zhikui two years ago in Australia.
Sasaki, who replaced Iranian-Australian Ashkan Mokhtarian due to undisclosed injury, was aggressive in the opening round as he sprinted across the cage and directly took down Lausa.
Lausa managed to keep in step with Sasaki in the second round, even scoring some decent punches on the feet. But Sasaki shot back in on another single leg, sending Lausa to the mat.
With Lausa down, Sasaki managed to sneak an arm underneath and pummeled the Ilonggo with punches from the top before unloading a rear-naked choke to force Lausa to tap.
“That was a lot of fun,” Sasaki said. “I was happy to show off my wrestling moves. Training with Aljamain Sterling really helped my wrestling, and it was a big part of the game plan.”
With the defeat, Lausa’s MMA record dropped to 7-5-0 (1-3 under UFC) while Sasaki improved his record to 21-5-2.
Meanwhile, another Filipino mixed martial arts fighter, Rolando Dy, also suffered a second-round submission defeat to Shane Young in the undercard./PN
