UFC on FOX 22 results: Alex Morono rallies, finishes in dominant form against James Moontasri

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – For the first half of the fight, the struggle for Alex Morono was in finding a way inside the kicks of James Moontasri.

But once he made it inside, Morono (13-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) was reluctant to leave, battering Moontasri (9-5 MMA, 2-4 UFC) down the stretch to claim a unanimous-decision victory with scores of 29-28 across the board.

The welterweight bout was part of today’s UFC on FOX 22 preliminary card at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. It aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of the FOX-televised main card.

Early on, Moontasri’s kicking game proved to be a problem for Morono. It kept him too far out to do much damage with his hands as Moontasri chipped steadily away with kicks to the legs and body while easily avoiding most of Morono’s counter attacks.

But midway through the second frame, Morono committed to himself to a forward charge behind some heavy looping rights, and soon he had Moontasri right where he wanted him.

After opening Moontasri up with an elbow from the clinch that started blood trickling down from Moontasri’s eye, Morono went on the attack with a vicious series of punches and elbows, hammering Moontasri again and again while keeping him stuck to the fence.

Somehow, Moontasri managed to weather the storm, even with referee John McCarthy watching closely in anticipation of a stoppage. By the end of the final round, Moontasri was even firing back at the exhausted Morono with more body kicks.

But by that point it was too little, too late, and the judges agreed. All three of them gave the fight to Morono, resulting in a comeback win via decision that he had to get a little messy in order to earn.

Morono has now won seven straight fights, the last two of which came in the UFC. Moontasri loses his second in a row.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 22 results include:

• Alex Morono def. James Moontasri via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Josh Emmett def. Scott Holtzman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Leslie Smith def. Irene Aldana via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Eddie Wineland def. Takeya Mizugaki via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:04
• Hector Sandoval def. Fredy Serrano via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
• Sultan Aliev def. Bojan Velickovic via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report from on site in Sacramento.)