UFC Fight Night 101 results: Jonathan Meunier's kicks lead to decision over Richard Walsh

MELBOURNE, Australia – Hometown favorite Richard Walsh might have scored a moral victory with a last-second ground and pound attack against Jonathan Meunier.

But on the scorecards, that moment was overshadowed by a series of frustrated efforts that left Walsh (9-5 MMA, 2-4 UFC) down on scorecards against Meunier (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC).

The welterweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 101 event at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FS1.

When his 15 minutes were up, Meunier earned scores of 29-28 and 30-27 twice for a mostly dominant performance against Walsh. The Aussie could never quite get going against his Canadian counterpart, eating dozens of shots as he tried to get inside for a big right hand.

Meunier sniped with attacks to the lead leg and wasn’t there when Walsh came in swinging. When the fight got too close, he confidently put the action on the mat.

Frustrated, Walsh tried to bully his way to success in the second round, pushing for a fight against the cage. Meunier had the right response, securing a clinch and firing knees until he was able to escape. He then caught Walsh off-guard with a front kick to the face, and followed it with a dazzling pair of wheel kicks and flying knees to end the frame with authority.

A charge at the third round got Walsh a little bit closer to cutting Meunier down to size. When a scramble offered a guillotine, he jumped on the opportunity. But again, Meunier was ready, and he passed to side control to give himself breathing room. A right hand from Walsh briefly put Meunier on the mat, forcing him to shoot for a takedown. But he quickly retorted with knees up the middle, and survived his opponent’s final attack of ground and pound.

Meunier gets back to the win column after a loss to Colby Covington in his first octagon outing. Walsh now drops to 1-4 in his past five UFC outings.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 101 results include:

• Jonathan Meunier def. Richard Walsh via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Ben Nguyen def. Geane Herrera via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
• Jason Knight def. Dan Hooker via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-26)
• Marlon Vera def. Ning Guangyou via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jenel Lausa def. Yao Zhikui via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 101, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Melbourne.)