Today in Auckland, New Zealand, Roldan Sangcha-an kissed his undefeated record goodbye when he lost to Australia's Richie Vaculik in an intense three-round battle at the Vector Arena. The two flyweights engaged in a tussle that pitted a striker (Sangcha-an) against a grappler (Vaculik). In the end, it was the grappler who emerged victorious having controlled most of the fight by engaging his opponent on the ground. The bout was part of the undercard of UFC Fight Night: Te Huna Vs Marquardt.
In the first round, Sangcha-an immediately utilized his kicks which had Vaculik thinking of a takedown. However, it was Sangcha-an who scored the first takedown in the fight. Vaculik quickly got out of it and managed to slam the Team Lakay fighter to the mat. The two fighters spent the rest of the round in a heated grappling affair wherein they both struggled to keep the top position.
At the start of the second round, Sangcha-an landed a nasty head kick but Vaculik went for another takedown and sent Sangcha-an to the mat. After a few moments, the referee stood the two fighters up and Sangcha-an went back to throwing his leg kicks which kept Vaculik away. The Australian scored another takedown just as the round came to an end.
In the third round, Sangcha-an was most successful because he was able to keep the fight standing up. He utilized his kicks and jabs to keep Vaculik at bay while scoring points. He also was able to stuff Vaculik's takedown attempts in this round.
The judges awarded the victory to Vaculik with scores of 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28. With the loss, Sangcha-an drops to 4-1 while Vaculik improves to 10-2.
Sangcha-an is the third Team Lakay fighter to fight in the UFC. The other two are Dave Galera and Mark Eddiva. Galera fought in the UFC in January of this year albeit in a losing effort against Singapore's Roystoon Wee. Eddiva, on the other hand, fought twice in the UFC. He won his debut against Jumabieke Tuerxun in Macau but he lost his second stint to Edimilson Souza last month in Brazil.
