By Canadian Press

Halifax’s Gavin Tucker wins first UFC bout since his 2017 loss in Edmonton

Jul 27, 2019 | 8:47 PM

EDMONTON — Halifax fighter Gavin Tucker exorcised some demons from a hellacious beating in 2017 with his first MMA win in two years at UFC 240 Saturday.

Tucker, 33, won by submission over South Korean striker Seungwoo Choi, 26, with a rear-naked choke at 3:17 of the third round of their featherweight fight.

It was the first MMA fight for Tucker (11-1) since UFC 215 in Edmonton almost two years ago, when he was beaten so badly by Rick Glenn he was hospitalized with a fractured jaw and broken bones to his face.

Tucker was undefeated at the time and the beating derailed his MMA career.

He hadn’t fought since, dealing with string of other injuries including a broken hand.

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Tucker used his grappling skills to take advantage of the taller, lankier Choi. He also had to overcome being penalized in the second round for an illegal knee to the head, which he said was unintentional.

“These past two years have been a trench, man. I’m not going to get into it, but God doesn’t build them any tougher than me,” said Tucker.

“Choi is a tough dude. I’m really glad I got my mettle tested and got the win.

“I got to show off some new skills I’ve been working on for the last two years. The heartache is done.”

In other preliminary bouts at Rogers Place, Gillian Robertson, 24, (7-3) of Niagara Falls, Ont., dismantled Brazil’s Sarah Frota, 32, in a women’s flyweight fight.

Robertson, 24, won by TKO late in the second round. She took Frota to the mat in the first and second rounds and eventually wore Frota down, grounding and pounding her and opening cuts over both her eyes.

“I knew I was going to be on top. I knew I was going to be doing damage the whole time,” said Robertson. 

“It definitely gives you confidence when you literally smell the blood.”

In a featherweight fight, Calgary’s Hakeem Dawodu dominated Japanese fighter Yoshniori Hori, ending in a third-round TKO at 4:09.

Dawodu (11-1-1) hit Hori with a flurry of strikes in the third round, ending it off with a knee to the chin followed by a kick to the side of the head that sent Horie to the canvas for good.

In a spirited flyweight battle of Brazilians, Alexandre Pantoja and Deiveson Figueiredo stayed on their feet for three rounds, trading flurries of jabs and uppercuts that left Pantoja’s face streaked with blood. Figueiredo won by unanimous decision.

Erik Koch took fellow American Kyle Stewart down four times to win a unanimous decision in their welterweight scrap.  It was a fight that involved mainly clinch strikes and grappling on the fence, although Koch had to overcome a second-round punch that bloodied his nose.

Later Saturday, in one of two headline fights, Hawaiian Max Holloway was set to defend his featherweight title against former UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar.

In the co-headline match, Montreal’s Felicia Spencer was set to square off against Brazilian legend Cris Cyborg in a featherweight fight.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press