Victory FC 49 results: Valdir Araujo pounds out Dakota Cochrane in night of finishes

Valdir Araujo and Dakota Cochrane

Dakota Cochrane had designs on stopping Valdir Araujo with some fancy stuff, but after one too many spinning attempts, Araujo turned the tide on him.

Araujo took advantage of a spinning back fist attempt from Cochrane in the second round, took him to the ground, and eventually pounded him out with a TKO late in the frame of the Victory FC 49 main event.

Victory FC 49 took place at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb. The card streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Both fighters opened with leg kicks, but it was a flashy jumping knee attempt from Cochrane that got Araujo’s attention. Seconds later, Cochrane tried a kick, then a jumping one – and that one caught Araujo too low. Araujo took nearly all of the five minutes he was given to recover, and when the fight started back up, he quickly took Cochrane to the canvas.

With 90 seconds left, Cochrane got back to his feet, but Araujo had him pressed against the fence in a body lock. With 50 seconds left, Araujo got another takedown, but Cochrane was back up right away. A third takedown from Araujo came right before the horn.

Cochrane tried a spinning back kick to open the second and landed to the body. Araujo tried to answer with one up high, but missed. Cochrane landed a spinning back fist 90 seconds into the round, but it cost him. Araujo was able to go to the ground and took Cochrane’s back to look for a rear-naked choke.

Cochrane fought Araujo’s hands, but when Araujo wasn’t going after the choke, he was hammering away with punches. With Cochrane covering up, he pounded away while referee Bobby Wombacher looked on. Cochrane tried to explode out to safety, but never could. Finally, Wombacher halted the fight.

Araujo (16-6) won for the second straight time. Cochrane (23-10) had a five-fight winning streak snapped with the loss.

In the co-main event, Maki Pitolo (6-2) put together a devastating performance in a second-round TKO win against Andrews Nakahara (4-3-2). Pitolo’s striking was on point throughout the first round. A spinning back kick landed for Pitolo late in the frame, and he continued to batter Nakahara against the fence right until the bell. It didn’t take Pitolo long in the second round, though, to get things finished. A straight right planted Nakahara and Pitolo finished him just 21 seconds into the middle round.

Victory FC 49 results:

• Valdir Araujo def. Dakota Cochrane via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:11
• Maki Pitolo def. Andrews Nakahara via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 0:21
• Rakim Cleveland def. Brian Houston via TKO (knee) – Round 1, 0:36
• Kassius Holdorf def. John Alford via submission (strikes) – Round 1, 1:55
• Raufeon Stots def. William Joplin via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 1:18
• Christian Camp def. Tony Ortega via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:15
• Duane Johnson def. Bernard Thomas via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3, 5:00

For more on Victory FC 49, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.