UFC Vegas 47 was a good card up and down, but one of the better fights overall happened on the preliminary card as we saw featherweights “Mean” Hakeem Dawodu square up against Mike Trizano. Dawodu was coming off a unanimous decision loss against Movsar Evloev back on UFC 263 and had a record of 12-2-1. Trizano was coming off winning the Ultimate Fighter and was 10-1 after defeating Ludovit Klein on UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Waterson in a unanimous decision as well.

According to some Mississippi betting apps, like BetMGM, Dawodu was listed at -185, while Trizano was the underdog at +150. Trizano had the height advantage, but Dawodu had the reach advantage by two inches.

Dawodu dominated the first round of this fight as he was applying pressure with his calf kicks and a straight right to complement it. On the other side, it seemed as if Trizano was struggling to add anything to his jab. It was clear that Round 1 of this fight would be scored in favor of Hakeem Dawodu.

In the second round, Dawodu continued to attack the body of Trizano. Trizano was more on the attack in this round, attempting to get some combinations going, but every time he attempted to step forward, “Mean” Hakeem was there to hit him with a big shot. The selection that Dawodu put on display was a primary reason why the judges’ scorecards favored him heading into the final five-minute round.

In the third and final round, Trizano knew he had to bring the pressure to attempt to corral the win here, but Dawodu was able to clinch the bigger fighter and slow the pace down. Trizano was able to score a takedown and went for a rear-naked choke, but Dawodu could spin out and get back to his feet to avoid the move. Once the fighters were back on their feet, Dawodu continued their attack, but Trizano had his way in the final moments. Unfortunately for him, it just was not enough to get the finish. The final result was Hakeem Dowadu defeating Mike Trizano by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

This fight showed the ability of “Mean” Hakeem Dawodu to continue showcasing his skills and prove he can be on the main card very soon. He had an even distribution of his significant strikes land as 42 percent were to the head, 36 percent to the body, and 20 percent to the legs. Trizano focused more on the knockout as he was forced to in the last round, as 51 percent of his significant strikes were to the head.

Dawodu has shown the ability to last the entire 15 minutes and dominate as six of his last seven fights went all 15 minutes, with the other ending with under a minute in the third round. He just needs to figure out how to add the knockout power or the ability to submit fighters if he wants to advance to the main card.

Trizano has now lost two of his last three fights and is 2-2 since the conclusion of The Ultimate Fighter. He went the distance in three of those fights but could not get control as he landed just 3.54 significant strikes per minute. He needs to regroup because he cannot afford to eat too many more losses. Otherwise, his UFC career will be over before he has the chance to get started.

This was a good fight, but most of it was just Hakeem Dawodu taking advantage of Mike Trizano due to Dawodu’s aggressive nature and experience inside a UFC octagon. Dawodu has a chance to find his way up the card soon if he can continue producing performances similar to what he did on Saturday.