By Canadian Press

Canada’s Misha Cirkunov loses UFC split decision in move down to middleweight

Oct 2, 2021 | 9:13 PM

LAS VEGAS — Canadian middleweight Misha Cirkunov, moving down from light-heavyweight, lost a split decision to Poland’s Krzysztof Jotko on a UFC Fight Night card Saturday.

The judges scored it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 for Jotko (23-5-0), who raised his record in the UFC to 10-5-0.

“I was a little bit scared but when I took him down at the end I knew I won the fight,” said Jotko, who bodied Cirkunov down to the ground in the dying seconds.

It was a close fight with UFC Stats crediting both fighters with 41 significant strikes over three rounds. Cirkunov, a Latvian-born Toronto fighter who has trained out of Las Vegas in recent years, completed five of 17 takedown attempts while Jotko was good on 1-of-3.

Jotko, bouncing back from a loss to Sean (Tarzan) Strickland in May, has now won four of his last five – a run that includes a split-decision win over Canadian Marc-Andre (Power Bar) Barriault in July 2019.

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Cirkunov (15-7-0) has lost three out of his last four and fell to 6-5-0 in the UFC after winning his first four outings in the promotion. His last seven fights (three wins, four losses) had all ended in the first round.

In the all-Brazilian main event at the UFC’s Apex production facility, Thiago Santos won a 48-47, 48-47, 48-47 decision over Johnny Walker.

Santos (22-9-0) is ranked fifth among 205-pound contenders while Walker (18-6-0) is No. 10.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2021.

The Canadian Press