Augusto Montano vs. Belal Muhammad

Round 1
Muhammad stakes out the center of the cage and inches forward on Montano, mindful of rangy kicks from the taller fighter. A low kick from “Dodger” lands square on Muhammad’s cup with a loud pop, and referee Herb Dean pauses the fight to give Muhammad time to recover. The ref issues a “hard warning” to Montano before the fight resumes. Montano gets back to low-kicking, this time placing hard shots on the inside of Muhammad’s lead leg. Muhammad responds with a kick outside, but he’s pulling up short with most of his punches. Left hook scores for Muhammad, then a right straight counter. Muhammad comes away from the exchange blinking his right eye, and referee Dean pauses the fight again. Replays show that the thumb from Montano’s outstretched left hand poked Muhammad in the eye. Dean tells Montano that he’s “been doing this all night” and warns him to keep his hands closed or fingers up. When the fight is back on, Montano begins throwing even harder low kicks, now one to Muhammad’s midsection. Muhammad tries a last-second takedown which is denied by “Dodger” at the fence, but Muhammad gets the last word with a partially blocked left high kick.

Sherdog Scores
Jordan Breen scores the round 10-9 Muhammad
Brian Knapp scores the round 10-9 Muhammad
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Muhammad

Round 2
Montano dips and dives around the outside, stopping and planting to kick at Muhammad’s legs whenever the shorter man comes close enough. After 80 seconds of chasing and having his legs kicked, Muhammad gets in on a good takedown attempt and rips Montano to the floor about a foot away from the fence. Montano’s left side is near the wall, while Muhammad works from deep half guard on his right. Muhammad tries to mount and instead takes back-mount as Montano rolls over. The Chicagoan establishes his hooks but loses them after 20 seconds as Montano whips around to put his back on the mat. When Muhammad tries to mount again, Montano slips out the back door and escapes to his feet. Montano is warned to watch his fingers by the referee as he sticks out his hands to ward off Muhammad’s last-ditch attacks. Muhammad is clearly the fresher man here, doing good work down the stretch with low kicks and punches.

Sherdog Scores
Jordan Breen scores the round 10-9 Muhammad
Brian Knapp scores the round 10-9 Muhammad
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Muhammad

Round 3
Muhammad continues to overwhelm Montano with his offensive output early in the final frame. Montano’s hands have dropped to his waist, and he’s got little to offer when Muhammad comes shooting for another takedown after 90 seconds or so. Muhammad wastes no time in taking Montano’s back, but again he’s unable to maintain the position. Montano squirms free and tries to crawl away, eventually getting back to his feet with just over two minutes remaining. Montano fires off a head kick, not much behind it, but he catches Muhammad with a knee to the body. Just when Montano is beginning to string together a few strikes, Muhammad turns up the heat on his own offense, mixing up his strikes to the body and head. Montano comes charging at Muhammad, who ducks beautifully underneath and executes another takedown. Montano rolls to his knees and Muhammad climbs on his back, pounding away with punches. Referee Dean tells Montano to fight back, and when the fighter doesn’t respond, the fight is waved off.

The Official Result
Belal Muhammad def. Augusto Montano via TKO (Punches) R3 4:19