Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael Cavalcante looks like a shell of his former shelf.
"Feijao," the fighter who owns victories over the likes of Muhammed Lawal and Yoel Romero, had little to offer Ovince Saint Preux in their main card bout at UFC Fight Night 82 bout Saturday night in Las Vegas.
And while OSP, himself, didn't look super sharp, he did more than enough to cruise to a unanimous decision victory. The judges' scores were a pair of 30-27s and a 29-28.
Cavalcante did his best work in the opening minutes of the bout, as he throw a few nasty kicks Saint Preux's way, one of which appeared to inflict a right ankle injury.
But not only did Saint Preux push through, he took control of the bout. A big left hand turned the first round in his favor. In the second, he dropped Cavalcante again, who could only pull guard and weather the storm. Cavalcante had little to offer in the third round, either, as OSP opened up with a late ground flurry which might have been a stoppage had the bout gone 10 seconds longer.
Saint Preux (19-7) shook off a loss to Glover Teixeira in his last fight and has won three of his past four. Cavalcante (12-7, 1 NC) has dropped three straight and four of his past five.