Ricardo Lamas continued his climb up the UFC’s featherweight ladder with an impressive second round stoppage of top contender Erik Koch.
Erik Koch looked sharp early after coming back from a long layoff due to a knee injury, landing crisp punches and kicks to start. Lamas countered with his wrestling, putting Koch on the cage and looking to take the fight to the mat. After a battle in the clinch, the fighters separated and Koch connected with a nice combination before giving up a late takedown just before the bell.
The second round saw Koch continue to pepper Lamas with his technical striking, but an error on his part after a Lamas slip would prove fatal for the contender. After Lamas slipped to the canvas, Koch pounced but overshot, landing on his back with Lamas on top. From there Lamas went to work with brutal ground-and-pound, opening up a gash with a flurry of elbows. The wound spurted blood on the canvas and clearly affected Koch’s vision, leaving him unable to see the flurry of shots from the top, forcing a referee stoppage at 2:32 of the second round.
Ricardo Lamas improves to (13-2 ), winning his last five fights, while the loss for Koch drops him to (13-2) .