After UFC-Auckland win, Zak Ottow vows to stop the split decisions

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – An unsettling trend has formed early in Zak Ottow’s UFC career. It continued at UFC Fight Night 110, and he wants to stop it immediately.

For the third consecutive time to open his UFC run, Ottow (15-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) went to a split decision when he defeated Kiichi Kunimoto (18-7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in their welterweight bout at Saturday’s event, which took place at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, and aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Although Ottow has come out on the winning end twice with those split scorecards, it’s a large shift from his pre-UFC career, when all of his triumphs came by stoppage.

“I said coming into this fight with two split decisions that I didn’t want it to go that way again,” Ottow told MMAjunkie after the win. “I’ll find a way to stop making this happen. But it feels good to get the win.”

The split cards with Kunimoto may have been the most surprising of Ottow’s UFC run. All 15 media outlets tracked by MMADecisions.com had it in Ottow’s favor, but “The Barbarian” himself has become somewhat accustomed to tight fights, so he wasn’t necessarily surprised by the various scorecards.

“I did feel pretty confident (in the win),” Ottow said. “I could see how it could possibly be a 29-28. I feel some of those rounds were close. I was making some good transitions out of some bad spots, and I felt I was getting the better of the exchanges on the feet. I felt pretty confident going into it, and when the judges starting reading their scorecards and it was a split, I wasn’t surprised. But it felt good to get the win. I felt I had it.”

Ottow’s three UFC fights have all come in just over eight months since he debuted in the organization with an upset victory over Joshua Burkman at UFC Fight Night 96 in October. Consistency and a lack of emphatic results have been his biggest problem so far, but Ottow sees those patterns as breakable.

Despite the heavy schedule, Ottow said he wants to get back to work as soon as possible. However, he’s not quite ready to make any callouts quite yet.

“Surprisingly, after this grueling, three-round split decision, I feel pretty injury-free,” Ottow said. “I’m ready to get back in there as soon as possible. I’ve always got my eyes out on some people, but it looks like they’re getting matched up here in the next couple months, so I’m just going to keep training, keep getting better and whoever the UFC has for me, let’s get it done.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 110, check out the UFC Events section of the site.