In the opening fight of UFC 252, Hawaii’s Kai Kamaka took home an entertaining and tough decision win over Tony Kelley.
Both men came out swinging early, with Kelley finding his range a little faster, but Kamaka soon found his counter shots, particularly left hooks to Kelley’s head as well as a good mix of body shots. A body shot is what looked to weaken Kelley late in the first round, and Kamaka took advantage, scoring a couple takedowns as well.
The second round featured a similar pace but, this time, Kelley seemed to be the one finding more success on the feet, particularly in the clinch with knees to Kamaka’s body and digging hooks to his head. Kamaka reasserted himself in the final frame, though, leaning on his wrestling to slow the pace down and grind the round out after Kelley went for a guillotine choke that ended with him with his back on the mat. An accidental groin strike paused the action for a bit, but after the pause in the action, the two featherweights went at it for the final 90 seconds.
In the end, Kamaka got the decision with 29-28 scorecards down the line and a win in his UFC debut
