All-action veterans Andre Fili and Cub Swanson turned in a fun 15-minute scrap that split the judges.
The featherweight bout was part of the UFC 303 preliminary card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. When the dust settled, two judges saw the bout in favor of Fili (24-11 MMA, 12-10 UFC) over Swanson (29-14 MMA, 14-10 UFC) with dueling scores of 29-28.
The feel-out process saw both fighters light on their feet, bouncing around the octagon, hunting for an opening. As they settled in, the initial exchanges were single, darting strikes from both fighters.
Fili found a home for a head kick and a hard kick to the body to get Swanson’s attention. Regardless, Swanson continued his forward pressure, eventually connecting with a sharp punch down the middle, which Fili played off by taunting.
Just as Swanson looked to pick up his pressure on the feet in Round 2, Fili switched things up with his grappling game by hitting an early takedown followed by clinch work against the fence. Swanson separated midway through the round and connected with another clean punch. Swanson defended another takedown attempt and let his hands go in a nice flurry, getting the crowd riled up.
With the fight seemingly up for grabs on the scorecards, both came out firing and landing well early in Round 3.
Fili was successful with a takedown, but Swanson didn’t allow the fight to stay on the canvas. Back on the feet, Swanson continued to pressure as Fili circled on the outside, with both landing in heated striking exchanges until the final horn.
The judges did have the fight tied going into the final round, in which two of them, Mike Bell and Ron McCarthy favored Fili’s work, while Adalaide Byrd scored Round 3 for Swanson.
Back and forth battle from the start @TouchyFili pulls out the split decision victory at #UFC303! pic.twitter.com/IGbNE05pgj
— UFC (@ufc) June 30, 2024
With the win, Fili bounces back from a first-round finish at the hands of Dan Ige in February. The 34-year-old California-based fighter has produced mixed results over his past six fights, having not put together back-to-back wins since 2019.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 303 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.
