Jacob Malkoun, who won gold at the 2019 ADCC Asia Trials, impressed the judges with his takedowns and ground control in his dominant fight against Abdul Razak Alhassan at tonight’s UFC Vegas 24.
Malkoun immediately brought the fight to the ground with a takedown, and Alhassan ended up backed against the cage as he tried to get to his feet. Alhassan rained down elbows as he tried to defend Malkoun’s single-leg, eventually breaking free from his opponent’s control. Malkoun went for another takedown and backed Alhassan up against the cage, briefly managing to get him to the ground. Alhassan, however, was able to get up to his feet for a while. Malkoun was able to keep his opponent on his knees long enough to land a few solid strikes, but struggled to keep him there. With under a minute left, Alhassan escaped Malkoun’s control, and the fighters returned to the center of the cage.
Round two opened with another takedown from Malkoun, and Alhassan countered with a guillotine attempt. Malkoun pulled his head out and worked from half-guard, soon managing to get to side control. Malkoun transitioned to a choke for a few moments, which was defended successfully by Alhassan. Alhassan repeatedly tried to escape his opponent’s control by getting to his knees, defending choke attempts and finally managing to get to his feet with about a minute and a half left in the round, landing a few body kicks and ending up on the receiving end of a few punches to the face from Malkoun. Malkoun went for another takedown in the final seconds of the round, ultimately succeeding only in pushing Alhassan up against the cage.
After a few strike exchanges, Malkoun again forced Alhassan up against the cage and then took him down in round three, ending up in half-guard. Alhassan worked to his feet and prevented a guillotine attempt from Malkoun. Malkoun forced Alhassan against the cage in the clinch, throwing in a few big foot stomps before again getting Alhassan to the ground. The fighters worked from Alhassan’s closed guard before Alhassan returned to his feet, still not managing to escape Malkoun’s control until the last few seconds. Alhassan made one big attempt to land a final strike on his opponent at the last second, but it failed to connect.
Malkoun was declared the winner by unanimous decision.
