MMAjunkie's 'Fight of the Month' for April: A dizzying grappling display leads the way

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMAjunkie looks at the best fights from April. Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMAjunkie’s “Fight of the Month” award for April.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.

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The Nominees

Patrick Cummins def. Jan Blachowicz at UFC 210

By all appearances, Patrick Cummins (9-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) should have been on his way to the hospital by the time his third round with Jan Blachowicz (19-7 MMA, 2-4 UFC) began.

But after Blachowicz gambled everything on a knockout in the first half of the light heavyweight fight, Cummins made the most of the latter minutes and outworked his foe to win a majority decision.

Shane Burgos def. Charles Rosa at UFC 210

For two-and-a-half rounds, Shane Burgos (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) endured Charles Rosa’s (11-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) volume approach to striking and tried to answer with sheer power in the featherweight bout.

That strategy finally paid off in the third when Burgos dropped a weary Rosa with a counter left hook, then continued pouring on the punishment even as Rosa kept bouncing back to his feet, forcing referee Todd Anderson to call it off in the third round.

Tim Elliott def. Louis Smolka at UFC on FOX 24

The expectations for the matchup between Tim Elliott (14-7-1 MA, 3-5 UFC) and Louis Smolka (11-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) was that the fight would hit the mat at some point, and it would be interesting. Surely, though, no one expected what the two flyweights produced.

Elliott and Smolka spent almost the entirety of their three-round fight trading positions and submission attempts in the midst of wild grappling exchanges. Elliott was one step ahead at almost all times, though, and for that reason he won all three rounds on the scorecards for the unanimous decision win.

Eduard Folayang def. Ev Ting at ONE Championship 54

Eduard Folayang (18-5) successfully defended his ONE Championship lightweight title for the first time with a grueling unanimous decision victory over a game opponent in Ev Ting (13-4).

All 25 minutes of the contest looked quite similar to each other. Nearly all the action was played out on the feet, with each side getting in his fair share of shots. Folayang was slightly superior at all times, though, and that’s why he kept the 155-pound belt.

Cub Swanson def. Artem Lobov at UFC Fight Night 108

Unranked Artem Lobov (13-13-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC) proved he could hang in there with Cub Swanson (25-7 MMA, 10-3 UFC) , taking some of the best shots one of the top featherweight fighters in the world could dish out over the course of five rounds.

Still, there was no doubt of Swanson’s superiority when the fight went the distance. He hit Lobov with a UFC/WEC featherweight record 209 significant strikes during the 25-minute fight, and that was more than enough to persuade the judges to award him with the unanimous decision.

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The Winner: Tim Elliott vs. Louis Smolka

Over the course of their three rounds in the cage together, Elliott and Smolka occupied just about every grappling position possible, and a few they may have invented on the spot.

In the end, it was the takedown game of Elliott that made the difference, earning him a unanimous decision win over Smolka with a clean sweep on the scorecards.

For Elliott, the takedowns came early, often and borderline easy. What proved much tougher was controlling Smolka once the fight hit the mat. Smolka created one scramble after another off his back, using creative sweeps and submission attempts to reverse Elliott again and again.

“I felt really sluggish, slow,” Elliott said. “I was surprised at how fast he was. I had a really, really good camp, and I don’t have any excuses. I don’t know if it was nerves or fighting in my hometown or what, but I felt like I was fighting in quicksand.”

But Elliott stayed on the attack and kept planting Smolka off his back, even using some of the scrambles Smolka initiated in order to threaten with submissions of his own. A mounted guillotine in the second round seemed to have Smolka in some trouble, and at least one rear-naked choke attempt seemed initially promising.

Smolka battled his way out of every bad position, and usually right into a good one. While that made for an entertaining back and forth, it didn’t do him any favors on the scorecards, since Elliott was the aggressor, controlling the action for the bulk of every round.

When the fight went to the judges, that approach translated into a clear victory, with all three judges giving the fight to Elliott with scores of 30-27 across the board.