UFC on FOX 26 results: Alessio Di Chirico starts slow but sleeps Oluwale Bamgbose

Alessio Di Chirico (11-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) didn’t exactly wow from the start, but his finish of Oluwale Bamgbose (6-4 MMA, 1-4 UFC) proved impressive.

The middleweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC on FOX 26 event at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It aired on FS1 following an additional prelim on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FOX.

Generally incredibly aggressive, Bamgbose was patient on the outside to open. Meanwhile, Di Chirico declined to chase the action, standing firm in the center and forcing Bamgbose to engage there. While technically savvy on both fighters’ parts, the lack of early action drew some ire from the crowd. Bamgbose did have on eye-popping spinning attack, but it failed to land, and even referee Herb Dean issued a warning to pick up the pace.

The action remained light in the second, with Di Chirico refusing to leave the center of the cage and XX content to shift laterally on the outside, looking to leap forward with single strikes. With the crowd raining down boos, Di Chirico finally moved forward to engage, punching his way into a clinch and then landing a big knee that left his opponent face down on the canvas at the 2:14 mark of the second round.

Di Chirico rebounds successfully from a January submission loss, while Bamgbose has dropped three straight in the UFC.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 26 results include:

• Alessio Di Chirico def. Oluwale Bamgbose via knockout (knee) – Round 2, 2:14
• Jordan Mein def. Erick Silva via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 26, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Mike Bohn and Ken Hathaway contributed to this report on site in Winnipeg.)