Ian Heinisch weathered the early storm against Antonio Carlos Jr., and it paid off in the form of his second Ultimate Fighting Championship victory.
It wasn’t a great start for the Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series alum in the UFC Rochester co-main event, as Carlos Jr. landed multiple takedowns and threatened with a kimura in the early going. However, Heinisch continued to scramble out of danger against the grappling-minded Brazilian, and gradually his opponent wore down. In the end, “The Hurricane” relied on his conditioning and ground-and-pound to secure a unanimous decision triumph.
“I knew it was a close fight up to the third and we both had to dig deep.