Mike Easton has long been considered one of the future 135-pounders and someone who could be put into title contention very shortly, he added another claim to that tonight with his decision victory over UFC newcomer Jared Papazian.
Easton was originally scheduled to face Ken Stone tonight but two weeks out he had an opponent change in King of The Cage champion Jared Papazian who was already preparing for a UFC debut despite not getting a call.
All three rounds were highly competitive with both men exchanging blow-for-blow on the feet. The bout opened with a throwback to the infamous Frye-Takayama fight with both men trading a barrage of shots in a clinch.
“The Hulk” was aggressively moving forward looking to put away his opponent which was a huge factor in giving him an edge in the fight, in the first round he stalked the KOTC champ throwing powerful shots and vicious knees.
The second frame was the most competitive of all, they spent a lot of the fight working in the clinch and Easton was able to get it to the floor but wasn’t able to capitalize all that much. The cleaner, more technical boxing of Papazian likely got him across the line here.
The final frame Easton took control back and did what he had to do to get his hand raised — He was able to mix up his combos nicely throwing high level of strikes using punches, knees and leg kicks.
When all was said and done Easton got across the line on all three score cards, here’s what he had to say post-fight:
“He’s a tough dude. I knew he was going to show up. He came to fight. I came to fight. We talked a little trash and put on a great show. Hey us 135lbs fighters know how to bang and entertain. It’s non-stop action. And what a better time to do it than on the first FX show. There was also a lot of technique out there as well.”
Despite his defeat Papazian was satisfied with the fight:
“Just a great fight. He was trying to take my head off and I was trying to take off his. I really thought I got the better of the first two rounds and that last round we just went at it in the middle of the cage. The plan was to keep moving, in and out, hit and counter. And to watch out for his kicks because he can do some damage with those.”
