UFC Fight Night 110 results: Zak Ottow outpoints Kiichi Kunimoto for narrow split-decision win

Zak Ottow stunned Kiichi Kunimoto with his left hand early, then controlled him on the mat enough to fight off a late comeback attempt. And in the end it was enough – at least for two of the judges.

Ottow (15-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) nabbed a split-decision victory over Kunimoto (18-7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) thanks mostly to his work early in the fight, escaping a late surge to take the fight with scores of 29-28, 28-29, and 29-28.

The welterweight bout was part of today’s UFC Fight Night 110 prelims, which took place at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. It aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Ottow found success in the opening round of the fight thanks mostly to his strong left hand. He tagged Kunimoto twice in quick succession with the punch, showing off a clear advantage on the feet that seemed to convince Kunimoto that he’d be better off taking the fight to the mat.

But as he found out in the second frame, even there he had his work cut out for him against Ottow. After takedown, Ottow pulled off a quick escape and then immediately turned the tables in the grappling department. Kunimoto managed to make things close by escaping from Ottow’s back control late in the round, gaining the top position but without managing to do much with it.

Kunimoto would take the fight back down to start the third round, and this time he mostly succeeded in staying there, though again he struggled to do significant damage. Ottow would reverse the position late, but the push from Kunimoto was enough to make things surprisingly close on the scorecards, with one judge giving him the fight and the other two siding with Ottow.

The victory gets Ottow back in the win column following a split-decision loss to Sergio Moraes in November. Kunimoto has now lost two straight, the first such skid in his professional career.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 110 results:

• Zak Ottow def. Kiichi Kunimoto via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• J.J. Aldrich def. Chanmi Jeon via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

For more on UFC Fight Night 110, check out the UFC Events section of the site.