Cole Miller knocks down and submits Ross Pearson
Lightweight mixed martial artist Cole Miller defeated and submitted Ross Pearson at Ultimate Fight Night 22 Wednesday evening.
The first round was close, and was largely a stand-up affair as Miller and Pearson were content to trade. Miller had the reach advantage and also scored a takedown in the round, but Pearson was able to
quickly nullify it and stand up, and the boxing battle continued. Pearson began finding his range better, moving inside his opponent’s range and hitting with the better shots to close out a tight first round.
The second round began much the same way, and it seemed that Pearson was beginning to find his groove until Miller began landing. Pearson looked momentarily flat footed, and Miller launched a flying knee
that narrowly missed Pearson’s chin, but followed up with hard hook that dropped Pearson. He then hopped onto his back while the British fighter was down and applied a rear-naked choke, to which Pearson tapped to at one minute and 49 seconds into the second
round.
The loss drops Pearson to 11-4 in his career and 3-1 in his UFC career. He was The Ultimate Fighter season nine lightweight winner. After he defeated Andre Winner to win the tournament, he rattled off
wins over Aaron Riley and Dennis Siver. But his attempt to step up with a win over Miller failed. He looked stunned after the defeat, sitting against the cage for quite some time.
For Miller, a fellow The Ultimate Fighter alumnus (though he did not win a tournament) the win is easily the biggest of his UFC career. Though he was 5-2 in the UFC before the fight (16-4 overall) none
of his victories had come against legit competition, as every fighter he won against was eventually cut from the promotion. He now has a very credible UFC win on his resume.
After the fight Miller chose to target other fighters whom he feels aren’t trying hard enough to finish their opponents, noting he’d promised a finish and had delivered one to the fans in attendance. When
the o~/Article/Edit/15994pportunity came he pounced immediately on the British fighter, showing he was not willing to play it safe, as well as having launched a flying knee in the mix. With such an exciting showing, Miller is likely to endear himself to his
UFC bosses and be set for more high-profile fights.
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