If Rick Story is indeed a welterweight gatekeeper, he just turned away a major prospect in Gunnar Nelson.
Story (18-8) looked more like a title contender than a gatekeeper Saturday, battering a heavily favored Nelson (13-1-1) over the course of five rounds to win a split decision at UFC Fight Night inside Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm.
A finish never came, but that was more a tribute to Nelson's durability than any lack of effort by Story. One judge inexplicably scored the fight to Nelson, 48-47. The other two judges were far more accurate, awarding the bout to Story via scores of 49-46 and 50-44. ESPN.com scored it for Story, 50-45.
Story's best moments came late in the fight, including a left hook that dropped Nelson early in the fourth round. Story stood over Nelson's guard and looked for opportunities to finish, but eventually motioned him to get back to his feet. A high pace and a healthy stream of leg kicks and body work by Story had Nelson relatively harmless in the last two rounds.
"I switched my stance and he wasn't expecting a left hook from the lead hand," said Story, a southpaw. "I winged it out, hoping it would land, and it hit its mark.
"He's definitely quick, and normally when you hit opponents, you get an expression. He's got the toughest poker face in the game. No emotion."
Nelson, who had won 13 consecutive bouts heading into the contest, did not dispute the decision.
"I'll have to go back to training camp and see where I go from there," Nelson said. "I definitely am going to learn so much from this fight. I think everything happens and you take it and learn from it. I'm happy with this fight and glad for Rick Story. I knew it was a pretty close fight, but I'm happy with the decision."
Story, who won back-to-back fights for the first time since 2011, gave Nelson all he could handle from the start of the fight. He laid into Nelson's lead left leg with inside kicks, which appeared to remove some of the bounce of Nelson's step later in the fight. He defended several takedown attempts by Nelson and always popped back to his feet following ones he didn't.
Most of Nelson's success came off the lead right hand, which he used to close distance effectively but perhaps relied too much on as the fight progressed. He nearly landed a slick spinning wheel kick flush, but Story reacted just in time and pushed forward to avoid the brunt of it. Nelson opened a cut over Story's right eye in the second round, but it didn't appear to bother him greatly.
After the knockdown in the fourth, the fight was basically over. Nelson became an easy target for Story's left hand, which he landed almost at will to the body and head. Immediate Fightmetric cageside stats showed Story out-landed Nelson in total strikes, 193-to-53.
"Rick kept really good pressure," Nelson said. "He was kind of hard to hit and always came back every time I went in on him. He has very good cardio. He goes, goes, goes, He didn't really slow down. He's tough."
Story, who is one of only two welterweights to hold a win over current champion Johny Hendricks, improves to 11-6 in the UFC. The 30-year-old moved from his longtime camp at Brave Legion Gym to The MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona, this year. He is 2-0 since the move.
Nelson, who trains out of SBG Ireland, suffers his first professional loss.
Holloway marches forward
Max Holloway continues his assault on the featherweight division at the ripe age of 22.
Holloway (11-3) scored a first-round TKO over Akira Corassani for his seventh win inside the Octagon. Referee Kristian Hacklou was there for a criminally late stoppage at the 3:11 mark.
"I'm feeling great. I'm feeling blessed right now," Holloway said. "I just can't wait for the next [opponent].
"The fight went faster than I thought it would, but I'm not going to complain!"
A straight right hand dropped Corassani (12-5) defenseless into a seated position along the fence. Holloway stood over his opponent and rained down strikes as Hacklou looked on. The referee eventually broke it off, handing Holloway the fifth knockout of his career.
"Give me a top-10, top-15 guy," Holloway said. "I want to be ranked [near the top] early next year.
"I'm a company man. Whoever the UFC wants to give me, I'll keep knocking them down."
It was a high-paced 145-pound fight in which Corassani looked great early. He popped Holloway with an early left hook and an overhand right moments later. His timing was certainly on point, as he weaved in and out of the bigger Holloway's range.
Holloway ate Corassani's punches well, however, and started to find his rhythm about two minutes in. He touched Corassani with a straight right, slipped a counter punch, then dropped him with the right down the middle. Corassani bounced back to his feet initially and tried to tie Holloway up, but another right hand put him down for good.
A talented kickboxer fighting out of Waianae, Hawaii, Holloway has now won his last four fights. The three losses in his career came to high quality opponents in Dustin Poirier, Dennis Bermudez and Conor McGregor.
Wilkinson makes short work of Backstrom
British featherweight Mike Wilkinson obliterated Niklas Backstrom's perfect record with one overhand right.
In his first appearance this year due to injuries, Wilkinson (9-1) knocked out Backstrom at 1:19 of the first round in highlight-reel fashion.
"I can't explain how it feels to go from a loss, to being injured, to having surgery, to this. He said he was being matched up to win. He disrespected me. There was no reason to disrespect me. There was no way I was stopping until I knew I had him, and the ref stopped it."
Backstrom (8-1), of Sweden, came walking forward, hands down from the opening bell. He hit Wilkinson with several good leg kicks and front kicks to the face, showing no respect to Wilkinson's striking in the process.
That confidence backfired a little more than one minute in, as Wilkinson connected on a haymaker of a right hand after eating a Backstrom front kick. Backstrom limply fell backward from the shot. Wilkinson got a few more punches in before referee Bobby Rehman arrived to stop the fight.
Wilkinson moves to 2-1 in the UFC with the knockout. He edged Brendan Loughnane via unanimous decision in his promotional debut in December 2012, but has been heavily inactive since then due to injury. Backstrom, 25, drops to 1-1 in the Octagon.
Blachowicz blitzes Latifi
Jan Blachowicz turned in a terrific UFC debut, knocking out hometown favorite Ilir Latifi in under two minutes.
Blachowicz (18-3) hurt Latifi early with a left body kick to the liver. Wincing, Latifi backed to the fence and basically shut down from there, eventually turtling and covering up until referee Grant Waterman stepped in at the 1:58 mark.
"I feel great. This is a dream come true," Blachowicz said. "I want to show fans all over the world the legendary Polish power. I did it. And this is just the beginning."
The Polish light heavyweight, who has fought almost exclusively in his home country to this point, collects his sixth consecutive win and fifth career knockout. He took almost no damage in the fight, as he and Latifi (9-4) spent some time feeling one another out at the start.
Latifi forfeits the momentum he built in back-to-back finishes this year. The 31-year-old did very little in a decision loss to Gegard Mousasi in his UFC debut, which he accepted on short notice in April 2013. He bounced back, however, with two first-round finishes.
Prior to the body kick, Blachowicz landed several leg kicks from the outside and a short straight right that rattled Latifi. This was just his first appearance of the year and only his third fight since September 2012.
