UFC Fight Night 54 results: Daron Cruickshank dominates Anthony Njokuani for decision

HALIFAX – In a battle of two deft strikers, Daron Cruickshank was willing to seize openings where Anthony Njokuani wasn’t.

Over three rounds, Cruickshank (16-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) kept Njokuani (16-9 MMA, 3-5 UFC) from settling in and kept him off balance by mixing wrestling with striking in a unanimous decision.

The lightweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 54 event at Halifax Metro Centre in Nova Scotia, Canada. It aired on FOX Sports 2 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FOX Sports 1.

The final scores were 30-27 thrice for Cruickshank, who got back on the winning track after judges handed him a unanimous decision loss to Jorge Masvidal at UFC on FOX 12 in July. Njokuani dropped to 2-4 in his past six outings and likely faces a pink slip.

Cruickshank played the counter-striking game as Njokuani closed the distance. A stiff leg kick was the former WEC fighter’s best offense, but his combinations were sporadic, while Cruickshank mixed in attacks to the body and spinning attacks. When Njokuani tried to chase down a response, he was put on his back.

In the second frame, Cruickshank even played homage to UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes by carrying Njokuani across the cage and slamming him to the mat. Njokuani was more generous with his combinations, but failed to hurt his opponent.

A last-minute armbar was Njokuani’s last hope, and Cruickshank used it to seal his dominance, nearly pulling off another slam.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 54 results include:

• Daron Cruickshank def Anthony Njokuani via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Jake Lindsey via submission (inverted triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:22
• Paul Felder def. Jason Saggo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Chris Kelades def. Patrick Holohan via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Albert Tumenov def. Matt Dwyer via TKO (head kick, punches) – Round 1, 1:03
• Pedro Munhoz def. Jerrod Sanders via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:39

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 54, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Mike Bohn contributed to this report on site in Halifax.)