Shane del Rosario continues to impress. In six of seven previous fights, his crisp standup was on display, but tonight it was his jiu-jitsu that earned him a win as the first alternate in the heavyweight Grand Prix.
Del Rosario and Lavar Johnson slugged it out standing and also worked the clinch game along the cage for control of the fight.
When the Filipino-American decided to take it the ground, Johnson was in big trouble. With just over two minutes left in the first, Del Rosario (11-0) scored a takedown. Almost immediately, he transitioned from side control to the mount. Johnson was underneath del Rosario and had 2:01 to go to reach the end of the round.
Johnson (15-4) did a solid job of avoiding major damage, but did little to extricate himself from the awful position. He allowed del Rosario to slide up his body. With 40 seconds left, del Rosario got on one knee and went for the armbar. Johnson tried to roll, stand and pull out of the hold. The attempt made things worse. Del Rosario fell to his back and yanked on the arm for the finish.
Del Rosario, 27, is a solid prospect and could make it into the main field if there's an injury that knocks one of the eight fighters from the tournament. It may be a little early for del Rosario to step up to that class, but he'd definitely pose some problems for those experienced fighters.
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