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Leites Subs Taylor, Jimmo Outpoints Gouveia at MFC 25

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Thales Leites did not get the fight he expected Friday in the main event of MFC 25 “Vindication” -- he got a much easier one. The former UFC middleweight title challenger needed less than three minutes to defeat former “Ultimate Fighter” alumnus Jesse Taylor with an arm-triangle choke in the first round.

Taylor came out very aggressive and used his wrestling to take the fight to the ground, which played right into the Brazilian’s strength. On the ground, Leites chained together one submission attempt after another until he found the one that worked at the 2:27 mark.

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“This wasn’t an easy fight, I trained a lot. Jesse is a very good fighter and an excellent wrestler and I needed to do my homework for this fight,” said the 29-year-old Leites, who improved his record to 17-3. “My fight plan was to finish this fight inside the distance. I didn’t expect a submission in the first round. Maybe late in the fight, but not the first round.”

In the co-main event, Ryan Jimmo used a wide array of striking techniques to take a dominant unanimous decision victory over American Top Team member Wilson Gouveia and pick up his 13th straight victory.

Jimmo began the fight by working kicks to the legs and body of Gouveia. In the second round, Jimmo opened up his offense and dropped Gouveia with a series of right hands. He then followed Gouveia to the ground and unleashed a barrage of punches and elbows to try and finish the fight, but to his credit, Gouveia escaped the round. Jimmo capped off the fight with a more conservative third round, but the outcome was never in doubt. The judges saw the bout 30-27, 30-26, and 30-26.

“Once he started gassing, I turned it on and it turned into straight domination,” said Jimmo afterward. “He didn’t make weight so I knew he probably wasn’t training as hard as I was so my game plan was to be more aggressive.”

Emanuel Newton silenced the pro-Dwayne Lewis crowd inside the Edmonton Expo Center, controlling the fan favorite en route to 30-27 scores across the board.

Lewis opened the fight well, with back and clinch control in the corner, but after that it was all Newton, who used his wrestling ability to score takedown after takedown and control Lewis on the ground. Other than a few upkick attempts from Lewis -- which had some force on them --Newton had very little to worry about through the fight.

“I knew Lewis hit hard, so I wasn’t looking to stand with the guy,” said Newton. “Just take him down and do it there. I threw a few quick strikes to set up the takedowns and from there it was just dominate on the ground.”

With their respective victories, Jimmo and Newton are penciled in to face each other for the promotion’s vacant light heavyweight title at MFC 26 on Aug. 27.

Pete Spratt continues to take a page from the Randy Couture playbook, as the Texas striker seems to be getting better with age. Spratt put together his second straight dominating MFC performance with a stoppage victory over Luigi Fioravanti. Spratt picked Fioravanti apart on the feet while avoiding his takedown attempts. Spratt worked the ribs throughout the fight before finishing it along the ropes with a barrage of right hands 4:02 into the third round.

In other bouts:

Gavin Neil def. Richie Hightower -- Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 2:52 R1
Chase Gormley def. Ryan Fortin -- Unanimous Decision
Chad Freeman def. Mike Froese -- Submission (Armbar) 3:48 R1
Keto Allen def. Aaron Berke -- TKO (Punches) 2:58 R1
Jevon Marshall def. Garrett Nybakken - Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 2:00 R3
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