In UFC 286’s featured preliminaries card fight, Jack Shore looks to bounce back from his first career loss as he takes on “Mr.” Finland” Makwan Amirkhani.
Jack “Tank” Shore had a poor performance last time out against Ricky Simon as the Welsh fighter submitted in the second round. Amirhani is 1-4 in his last five matches and is playing at London’s O2 Arena for the third time in a row.
The fight saw Shore fight as a featherweight for the first time since 2017, before he fought in the UFC.
A game was fairly stagnant as Shore held his opponent to the cage but was unable to do any damage or advance position. Amirkhani managed to beat and control Shore in the second half of the round and, despite doing little damage to his opponent, is likely to win the first set.
As the second round wore on, Amirhani started to get sluggish as Shore delivered numerous vital strikes, leaving his opponent wobbly on more than one occasion. Amirkhani’s tank left a lot to be desired, leading the way for Shore to secure knockdowns and a smooth transition to the mount before ending the fight with a rear naked choke.
Shore admitted he moved up to featherweight after an impressive division debut.
“I wanted that tank to keep going in rounds two and three. It paid off,” Shore said in a postrace interview with Daniel Cormier.
The Welshman is up to 17-1 and will be looking to fight someone in the top 15 next time he is out.
“Mr. Finland” fell to 17-9 at the same time and had a lot to do after losing for the fifth time in the last six games.
Official result: Jack Shore def. Makwan Amirkhani via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Round 2, 4:27