Manoel Sousa couldn’t figure out Cristian Perez in the first two rounds at Dana White’s Contender Series 79, but then everything changed in the final frame.
Sousa (13-1) found himself on the mat for the majority of the first two minutes Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Perez (13-2) got exhausted as the fight wore on and took damage until the point he found himself curled up on the mat for the TKO at the 3:00 mark of Round 3.
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It was a dramatic turnaround that had UFC CEO Dana White and the matchmakers in awe sitting cageside, and the odds would seemingly be in his favor to secure a UFC contract.
“He surprised me with all those shots and those takedowns,” Sousa told Charly Arnolt through an interpreter in his post-fight interview. “My jiu-jitsu is not bad. I was able to come out of those things out there and turn things around.
