Fil-American Ricky Turcios bounces back from near KO to beat Kevin Natividad at UFC Fight Night 215

Ricky Turcios stole the win despite getting nearly finished in the second round.

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Fil-American Ricky Turcios escaped a tough challenge from Kevin Natividad to score a huge win at UFC Fight Night 215 on Sunday (Philippine Time) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

In the match aired live via Tap Sports, the reigning The Ultimate Fighter bantamweight winner found himself in the danger zone after Natividad nearly knocked him out in the second round.

However, Turcios recovered nicely by dominating Natividad in the third round.

One judge had it 29-28 for Natividad, but the other two jurors saw Turcios winning, 29-28, and the latter took home the split decision victory.

"I think the cardio, mental toughness and fortitude, and the warrior spirit are what helped me get through those tough situations that I was in," said Turcios, who moved up to 12-3 overall while scoring his first win as a bonafide UFC fighter.

Natividad, on the other hand, lost for the third straight time and fell to 9-4 overall.

Meanwhile, the supposed main event of the card, a clash between Derrick Lewis and Sergey Spivak, was canceled at the last second as Lewis suddenly backed out while the card was ongoing due to an undisclosed illness.

Instead, the showdown between Kennedy Nzechukwu and Ion Cutelaba was elevated to main event status with Nzechukwu knocking out Cutelaba at the 1:02 mark of the second round.

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