It only takes a split second to drastically change the course of a fight.
Marcin Held badly needed a win on Sunday night. When he was tearing it up in Bellator, fans were crying out for him to be snapped up by the UFC. Unfortunately, things haven’t worked out for ‘the Polish Prodigy’ since he joined the world’s largest MMA promotion.
He entered into his bottom of the UFC Stockholm prelims bout against Damir Hadzovic with 0-2 UFC record, losing a unanimous decision to Diego Sanchez in his debut, before dropping a controversial split decision to Joe Lauzon. Even J-Lau admitted after the fact that he thought the judges got the decision wrong, but his record still reads two consecutive losses, and not many fighters endure three on the bounce without being ousted.
After 10 minutes of fighting in the Ericsson Globe, it looked like Held was on course for that essential first UFC victory that would give him a tiny bit more job security.
Poland's @MarcinHeld trying to lock in the guillotine, but @DamirHadzo spins out and adds a BIG ELBOW!! #UFCStockholm pic.twitter.com/dh9R75RYiD
— UFC (@ufc) May 28, 2017
Held outstruck and outgrappled his opponent for the opening two rounds, landing three times as many strikes and scoring four takedowns to the Bosnian’s zero. Although Hadzovic wasn’t having much success on the feet, when he did find home with his strikes they found home with venom.
Knowing that he was up on the cards and his opponent needed a finish going into the final round, Held should have kept his risk-taking to a minimal. He didn’t necessarily have to play it safe, he just needed a high fight IQ to ensure that he didn’t leave himself open to getting caught.
That’s what he should have done, but what he actually did was the exact opposite.
After throwing a punch up top, Held shot in for an Imanari roll just four seconds into the final stanza. Three seconds later the referee was waving him off to award Hadzovic an insane come-from-behind knockout win. He didn’t set the submission attempt up properly and ended up leaping head-first into a vicious knee.
He’s now 0-3 in the UFC and could well be handed his pink slip after this devastating loss.
https://twitter.com/RootsOfFighting/status/868868405151105024
