STOCKHOLM – Nico Musoke (13-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) stayed busy and kept after Alexander Yakovlev (21-6-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC) for three full rounds, and after a close fight the judges rewarded him with a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) that looks more lopsided on paper than the bout was in practice. The welterweight bout was part of today’s UFC Fight Night 53 preliminary card. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass from Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. Despite the lopsided scores at the end, this was a back-and-forth battle in each and every round, with Musoke controlling the distance and counter-punching effectively, yet finding himself largely incapable of kicking his offense into the next gear. For his part, Yakovlev managed to open a cut on Musoke’s scalp with a glancing left hook in the first, but he struggled to do much real damage down the stretch as Musoke managed to stifle many of his attacks with effective clinch work against the fence. In the end, it seemed to be Musoke’s aggression and work rate that carried the day with judges, as the Swedish fighter consistently controlled where the fight took place and at what pace, frustrating Yakovlev’s best efforts in the later rounds
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UFC Fight Night 53 results: Nico Musoke sweeps cards to beat Alexander Yakovlev – MMA Junkie