It’s Friday night and that means it’s time for the PFL Challenger Series on Fubo Sports Network! This week the lightweights square off for a PFL Contract and Charlie Decca and Jose Aguayo kick us off. Reminiscent of the BMF title fight, Decca, a Jorge Masvidal protege and ATT teammate takes on Nick Diaz Academy product and friend and training partner of the Diaz brothers Jose Aguayo who enters the bout on a three fight winning streak with three first round finishes.

 


Round 1 

 


The bell rings and our first bout of the night is underway as Decca quickly takes the center of the SmartCage and starts to pepper the outside leg kick.  Aguayo rolls outside and connects with a nicely timed one-two as Decca grabs the Thai clinch and lands a nice flurry of punches followed by a knee.

 


The Diaz influence is clear with Aguayo’s striking and showboating, but he may regret it as Decca lands a big high switch kick and stuns him!  Decca throws a wobbly Aguayo to the mat and starts working some ground and pound from top half guard.

 


With three minutes remaining in the round, Aguayo is able to regain the full guard briefly before Decca passes right back to half guard along the fence.  Aguayo looks to attack the legs of Decca and briefly creates a scramble but Decca winds up back on top in open space, posturing up and raining down big punches.  Decca moves to side control but Aguayo gets back to full guard and throws up a triangle! There appears to be brief danger but Aguayo cannot secure the triangle as Decca slips free.

 


The round winds down with Decca on top landing some punches to the body but with Aguayo showing much more activity from the bottom, looking for subs and landing some short punches inside.  The bell rings and that’ll be the end of a good round one for Decca.

 


Round 2 

 


Round two begins and Decca is right back to the outside low kicks as Aguayo also goes back to that one-two he had a knockdown with in the first round.  Decca is really chewing up the lead leg of Aguayo as he lands another inside low kick.

 


Decca moves in and eats another one-two from Aguayo before grabbing the Thai clinch and landing a heavy knee to the body of Aguayo.  Aguayo is having a much better round so far as he lands a nice combination of short clinch uppercuts before they break and return to the center of the SmartCage.

 


Aguayo continues to fight behind his laser sharp one-two, now adding a front kick behind it but Decca is unfazed, closing distance and again landing a knee to the body of Aguayo.  Decca continues to land heavy low kicks but eats one-two combinations as he does, as both men are leaving a bit to be desired defensively, though surely fans won’t complain as this fight has been all action.

 


With just over a minute remaining Aguayo, who is now cut behind the ear, slips a punch and lands a big counter right hand as Decca continues to chop away with heavy leg kicks, now starting to mix in some kicks up higher.

 


Aguayo lands another one-two but again absorbs a big inside low kick that clearly bothers him as he stumbles a bit, and both fighters are throwing caution to the wind and trading leather to end the second round.

 


Round 3

 


The final round begins and again it’s Decca taking the center of the SmartCage and hacking away at the lead leg of Aguayo with heavy kicks.  Aguayo is attempting to time Decca's low kick entries with punches now but can’t seem to time it up, though he is still having success with his one-two and seems to possess that patented Diaz cardio.

 


Aguayo lands a nice overhand right on the clinch break and Decca decides to change levels, briefly being stuffed on a double leg takedown attempt before out muscling Aguayo and taking top position in the full guard.

 


Decca passes to half guard with ease again as Aguayo throws short shots from the bottom and Decca seems content to fight for position and control.  Now Decca postures up and lands some big punches with two minutes remaining in the round as Aguayo gets increasingly desperate, rolling to try to get back to his feet but Decca is all over him.

 


Aguayo is throwing up submission attempts and staying busy with 90 seconds to go but Decca is defending excellently, posturing up and stacking the hips of Aguayo to allow him to get damage off with ground and pound as the clock ticks away.  Decca winds up with a front headlock after a scramble and opens up with powerful knees to the body of Aguayo, an underutilized technique in MMA.  That will do it and we’ll go to the judges scorecards in what will likely be a Decca victory.

 

 

 


OFFICIAL RESULT 

 


Charlie Decca out-wrestles Jose Aguayo to a decision and scores one for ATT in the Masvidal-Diaz rivalry!

 


Charlie Decca def. Jose Aguayo via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)