Former JCK welterweight champion Ding Meng went fifteen minutes with Rami Hamed for a UFC contract, but today, his efforts were not enough.
The two battled to a decision, through multiple fouls, and it would be Hamed walking away with a win. Here's how it went down:
Ding Meng (34-9) began the fight attempting to lower the guard of Rami Hamed (13-3) with faints and low kicks. Hamed was already carrying his hands near to his waist, while Ding kept a high guard. A straight left from Rami Hamed was the first punch connected in the fight. At just over two minutes into the first round, a low blow from Ding to Hamed paused the action momentarily.
Hamed kept trying to time Ding Meng coming in with combinations, launching a jumping knee that barely missed the mark. Instead, Ding looked to clinch with Hamed with strikes within the clinch. A body punch from Ding landed hard on Hamed who answered with a head kick in return. An uppercut from Ding opened the door to push the fight against the cage once again, but ate left hook when the two separated.
The second round began with Ding Meng continuing to control the location of the fight, with Rami Hamed keeping his hands low to counter strike. Whenever the two moved close, Hamed was typically the fighter landing the harder strike on the exit of engagement. And still, Ding Meng look to clinched against the cage, unclear if the goal was to strike or look for the takedown.
A knee from Ding Meng drew in audible grown from Hamed with almost three minutes into the second round, but referee Chris Tognoni did not pause the action. At this point in the fight, Ding Meng had Rami Hamed with his back against the cage while attempting to land combinations. With one minute left, Ding Meng began throwing his infamous body strikes on the body of Hamed. With just ten seconds left, Ding landed a trip on Hamed to end the round on top.
The fight could have been close to begin round three. Ding Meng seemed to be picking up the pace, attacking the body with punches. Rami Hamed, conversely, may have been slowing down. After another pause for a low blow to Hamed, caused Ding Meng to lose one point on the scorecards.
The fight once again resumed with two and a half minutes left. The point deduction to Ding Meng meant that the fight could be ruled to draw if Ding won the third round. In other words, the judges scorecards could have been all over the place and a finish may be necessary. However, Ding moved to back into the clinch with Hamed, landing a strong body punch in the process. Ding Meng continued to strike the body of Hamed up to the final second, but was unable to take his Lebanese opponent out.
The judges scored the fight 30-26, 29-27, and 29-27 for Rami Hamed.
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