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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
T.J. Dillashaw entered UFC 177 on Saturday night in the unenviable position of defending his title against a new opponent on 24 hours notice. However, the Champion got the job done against a tough Joe Soto, scoring a knockout in the fifth round.
The fight wound up being a tougher one for Dillashaw than his win over Renan Barao in May, though that can be chalked up to the lack of notice and preparation for the matchup as well. He tried to be very aggressive early on, only for Soto to fire off some solid counter-strikes, and that caused Dillashaw to smartly slow his game down.
Still, while Dillashaw played things a bit more methodical than he might have against Barao, he was still delivering a high rate of output offensively through the first four rounds, and appeared well on his way to cruising to a decision barring any slip ups.
Well, he didn't slip up, but much like he did against Renan Barao, he turned the pressure up even further in the fifth and final round, finally putting Soto out on his feet with a head kick and delivering a straight left for the knockout blow to finish the fight.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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