Michinori Tanaka LAS VEGAS – Michinori Tanaka gritted his way out of one submission attempt after another and kept the pressure on Joe Soto , right up until the pace he maintained threatened to exhaust him completely. But in the eyes of at least two judges, the work from Tanaka (11-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was enough to earn him the nod over a game, aggressive Soto (15-5 MMA, 0-3 UFC), resulting in a split-decision victory (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) for Tanaka after a thrilling and at times frantic fight. The bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 195 event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 1 and a main card on pay-per-view. The story of the first two rounds of the fight was the battle between Tanaka’s takedowns and Soto’s guard game. After peppering Soto with counter right hands and standup attack that was difficult for Soto to time or catch up with, Tanaka put Soto down with takedowns in both the first and second frames, only to find himself immediately fending off submission attempts once the fight hit the floor
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UFC 195 results: Michinori Tanaka keeps submission-happy Joe Soto from first UFC win – MMA Junkie