At 4am Eastern Standard Time in the US, 9am in his home of England, Lone’er Kavanagh earned a victory in his UFC debut against a fellow undefeated prospect in Jose Ochoa; now-formerly undefeated, of course.
The first round stayed competitive throughout, but the diverse kicking attack from Lone’er Kavanaugh did the most damage and the round went to him, 10-9. He showed that he has developed new ways to land his leg kicks, even against a southpaw as an orthodox fighter.
Round two really ramped up the action. Lone’er began to pull away and moved his targets upwards, from the legs to the body and head. An ugly welt appeared on the left side of his Peruvian opponent, a result of facing a good kicker in an open stance matchup.
As Kavanagh’s kicks continued to land and his punches began to do damage too, wobbling his foe but never seemingly to completely scramble the brain of Ochoa, he grew in confidence to the point where he began to actively hunt a finish against a shockingly durable opponent.
After one beautiful combo where Lone’er landed a body kick, pulled back, and then landed a straight to the chin of Jose, Ochoa responded by walking forward like a zombie and landing his own body shots.
Kavanagh did not fold completely, but he clearly did not like that and lunged forward for a bad takedown attempt from his knees. Ochoa attacked with his known front choke series, forcing Lone’er to scramble out and give up his back in the process.
All of a sudden, the fight was flipped on its head. Ochoa had little time to work, but with ten seconds left he seemed to lock up a near-perfect rear-naked choke hold.
However, Lone’er was able to twist his foe off to his side enough to create an angle which gave his veins space to keep pumping blood to his head. Thus did he survive.
Despite nine minutes of out-striking Ochoa, Kavanagh found himself likely tied 19-19 on the scorecards going into the final round.
He responded like a veteran, showing composure and fight IQ which seemed far beyond his 25 years of age and seven fights of professional combat sports experience. Lone’er’s coaches had begged him to not brawl with Ochoa and he stayed poised, attacking from the outside with a body kick attack which only grew more vicious as the round went on. The welt on Ochoa’s side darkened to an ugly, purplish-black color.
The kicking attack and movement to stay on the outside frustrated Jose Ochoa, who looked for flashy attacks and tried to trap or bait Kavanagh in a brawl. Lone’er simply used the opportunity to land more counter punches of his own, punish Ochoa on the reset, and land a highlight-reel spinning wheel kick to the head of his foe in the final seconds.
Lone’er Kavanagh and Jose Ochoa go the distance!
How did you score it?! #UFCMacau pic.twitter.com/jeGROeGqAB
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) November 23, 2024
Ochoa stayed standing, again showing his durability, but when the scores were announced it came as no surprise that the Chinese-British undefeated highlight machine earned the decision in his UFC debut.
Every unranked flyweight fight shows how good this division is, and Kavanagh at 25-years-old is another with a bright future ahead of him.
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