UFC Fight Night 104 results: Chas Skelly outwrestles, chokes out Chris Gruetzemacher

HOUSTON – Chas Skelly used his takedowns and ground control to dominate Chris Gruetzemacher in the first round, then used the very same skills to put him away in the second.

With a rear-naked choke early in the second frame, Skelly (17-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) forced Gruetzemacher (13-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) to tap at the 2:01 mark of Round 2, bringing a decisive end to a mostly one-sided fight.

The featherweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 104 event at Toyota Center in Houston. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FS1.

Skelly started off the fight putting his grappling skills on display, taking Gruetzemacher down and grinding away at him against the fence as Greutzemacher could only look for opportunities to strike off his back.

That strategy resumed right away in the second, with Skelly quickly taking Gruetzemacher down and then transitioning to his back. From there, Gruetzemacher got creative with some back elbows to the forehead of Skelly, but the position he was in kept him from getting too much force on the blows.

As Skelly looked to adjust, Gruetzemacher tried to scramble out, which gave Skelly the momentary opening he needed to sink the rear-naked choke from the back. Thought Gruetzemacher initially stopped the choke from getting in under his chin, he couldn’t free himself or relieve the pressure, leaving Skelly free to crank the choke against his jaw. Finally, with nowhere left to go and the force on his neck unyielding, Gruetzemacher was forced to tap.

The win makes it two in a row in the UFC for Skelly. Gruetzemacher’s loss snaps a 12-fight winning streak, mostly outside the UFC.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 104 results include:

For complete coverage UFC Fight Night 104, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson and John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Houston.)