Lessons to learn for Mark Striegl from Skelly loss

MANILA, Philippines – Despite losing to Chas Skelly via technical knockout in the second round in UFC Fight Night: Walker versus Hill at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, there are still positives for Mark Striegl to take away.

For one, Striegl led on two of the judges’ scorecards after the first round.

Chris Lee and Tony Weeks had Striegl leading, 10-9, after the first round of action. The third judge, Sal D’Amato gave that opening round to Skelly, 10-9.

Striegl did well in the opening minute of the second round until an elbow, consecutive strikes, and a knee dropped him at the 2:01 mark.

Skelly was also worried about Striegl’s leg kicks and strong wrestling base.

Said Skelly, “I thought Mark was going to do a lot of naked kicks and what I wanted to do was to counter them.”

“I’ve seen him gassing against smaller guys if the action stays going,” noted, Skelly who watches a lot of film of his opponents. “He’s got muscle but as you can see I am a much bigger guy. I am bigger and broader and the game plan was not to concede position.”

Skelly stands 5’11 to Striegl's 5’8”. More than that, Skelly looked huge.

And yet, during the fight, he saw an opening.

“I noticed that he drops his right hand a lot. And when you throw strikes, his head goes up. Right before the finishing sequence, I slipped through I saw he brought his head straight up. I threw an overhand right and he did the same. Then I caught him clean and followed up with anything.”

Skelly in all likelihood ended his mixed martial arts career with a 19-3-0 with one no contest record. Striegl dropped to 18-4-0 with one no contest but is 0-2 in the UFC. He has three more fights in his current UFC contract.