Make that three in a row for Charles Oliveira…
The 25-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist has run his featherweight win streak after defeating Jeremy Stephens.
Oliveira (19-4) dominated Stephens on the ground through two rounds and then survived a late onslaught in the third to take a unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight for Oliveira via scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.
“I was training very hard for three months for this fight and he said something that I didn’t like and it made me only want to beat him more,” Oliveira said. “I came and struck with him despite an arm injury, and I was good on the ground, so it’s no doubt to me that I earned this win.”
The Brazilian did a great job of putting the power-punching Stephens (23-11) on his back foot early. He came forward at the start of the fight and shot on Stephens against the fence. Stephens defended the takedown initially, but when Oliveira fell to his back, Stephens obliged the submission specialist by dropping into his guard.
Stephens drops to 1-2 in 2014. He suffered a unanimous decision loss to Cub Swanson in his prior fight in June.