A six-pack of fights kicked off tonight on Fuel TV with a clash between two talented bantamweight talents – Ivan Menjivar has been playing this game since it was still in diapers, a veteran of 32-fights he walked into the octagon following two-straight wins over Nick Pace & Charlie Valencia since his UFC return.
John Albert first raised eyebrows as a cast-member of the 14th installment of The Ultimate Fighter – He walked onto the show with a 6-1 record after recently suffering his first defeat.
Although he was eliminated from the series early by eventual winner and flyweight hopeful John Dodson he earned his way onto the UFC roster when it counted smashing the face of Team Mayhem’s Dustin Pague.
Menjivar got his hand raised when all was said and done but it didn’t come without a fight – In one of the most action-packed rounds I’ve witnessed in a long time the fight hit the floor early with Albert showing off some slick grappling skills having the Canadian in danger early with a heel hook as well as hammering him with several unanswered strikes.
But before you knew it Menjivar took control of the fight, took the back of his opponent and secured a rear-naked-choke that was set up by some hard-shots to move to 3-1 in the UFC.
Post-fight Menjivar revealed that he thought about MMA pioneer and Japanese sensation Kazushi Sakuraba when he was getting beaten by the rookie which inspired him to come back.
