Serghei Spivac makes statement win at UFC Fight Night, wants Jon Jones next
FILE – Serghei Spivac of Moldova celebrates his victory against Tai Tuivasa of Australia during their heavyweight bout of the UFC 243 fight night in Melbourne on October 6, 2019. (Photo by ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE / AFP)
Serghei Spivac made relatively short work of Derrick Lewis in a battle of heavyweights in the main event of UFC Fight Night 218 on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Spivac (16-3) won his third straight bout after forcing Lewis (26-11) to submit to an arm triangle at 3:05 of the first round.
Spivac, from Moldova, initially gained the advantage with his grappling skills before landing strikes on the ground. He then finished off the American with an arm-bar submission.
“Today, it’s just my time. The Polar Bear is here. The Polar Bear is coming,” said Spivac, who issued a challenge to the winner of the upcoming vacant heavyweight title bout between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane of France.
“Give me someone from the top five. If I tell Jon Jones or Ciryl Gane (I want the winner), they’ll make the fight? I want Jon Jones. Jon Jones, I respect you so much. Sorry, bro — but I’m coming.”
Also on Saturday, light heayweight Devin Clark (14-7) recorded a unanimous decision over Da-un Jung (15-4-1) of South Korea, and Marcin Tybura (24-7) of Poland received the same result versus Blagoy Ivanov (19-5) of Bulgaria in a heavyweight bout.
Welterweight Adam Fugitt (9-3) secured a KO/TKO over Japan’s Yusaku Kinoshita (6-2) at 4:36 of the first round via strikes. Anshul Jubli (7-0) of India did the same against Jeka Saragih (13-3) of Indonesia via elbows at 3:44 of the second to win the “Road to UFC” lightweight tournament.
The featherweight bout between Dooho Choi (14-4-1) of South Korea and Canada’s Kyle Nelson (13-5-1) was declared a majority draw.
In other bouts, Jeong Yeong Lee (10-1) of South Korea defeated Zha Yi (21-4) of China via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28) to win the “Road to UFC” featherweight tournament.
Rinya Nakamura (7-0) of Japan needed just 33 seconds to knock out countryman Toshiomi Kazama (10-3) to win “Road to UFC” bantamweight tournament.
Hyun Sung Park (8-0) of South Korea used a rear-naked choke to submit countryman Seung Guk Choi (6-2) at 3:11 of the third round to win the “Road to UFC” flyweight tournament.
South Korean Junyong Park (16-5) also executed a rear-naked choke to defeat Russian Denis Tiuliulin (11-7) via technical submission at 4:05 of the first round of the middleweight fight.
Flyweight Tatsuro Taira (13-0) of Japan stayed undefeated after using a triangle choke with an armbar combination to force Mexico’s Jesus Santos Aguilar (8-2) to submit at 4:20 of the first round.
