UFC Fight Night 30 results: Al Iaquinta outpoints Piotr Hallmann

MANCHESTER – Logging his second fight over the course of two months, Al Iaquinta still managed to outwork a tough Piotr Hallmann.

Judges awarded the runner-up of “The Ultimate Fighter 15? a unanimous decision by two scores of 30-27 and 29-28.

The lightweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 30 event at Phones4u Arena in Manchester, England. It streamed on MMAjunkie.com ahead of the main card on FOX Sports 2.

Iaquinta wasted no time initiating a takedown attempt but went back to striking when Hallmann stayed on his feet. Hallmann had a slight edge in exchanges, though Iaquinta was persistent in looking for the counter.

In the second frame, it was Hallmann who initially wanted the fight on the mat, but Iaquinta escaped and landed a big right hand in close. He would again find success late in the round, hurting Hallmann with a series of counters and earning a knockdown.

Hallmann pressed again for takedowns in the third, but was stopped cold by Iaquinta, who looked to land the finishing blow he couldn’t in the previous frame. He instead found Hallmann’s eye, and the bout came to a brief halt to allow the Polish fighter to recover. Upon the restart, Iaquinta took control of the fight on the feet and mat. After 15 minutes, Hallmann looked worse for the wear.

“He was tougher than I thought he’d be, and I’d watched tapes before the fight,” Iaquinta said after the win. “He gets dropped. He gets hurt. He comes back and gasses the guy out. I got him tired. I kept the pressure on and kept him thinking – got the job done.

“I was meant to fight Anthony Njokuani, that’s the fight I’m hoping for and what I want next.”

Following a year-plus injury layoff in the wake of his loss to Michael Chiesa on “TUF,” Iaquinta (7-2-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) now enjoys back-to-back wins, while Hallmann (14-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) suffers his first UFC loss and sees a 10-fight streak ended.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 30 results include:

• Al Iaquinta def. Piotr Hallmann via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Luke Barnatt def. Andrew Craig via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:12
• Jessica Andrade def. Rosi Sexton via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-26)
• Cole Miller def. Andy Ogle via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jimy Hettes def. Robert Whiteford via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 2:17
• Brad Scott def. Michael Kuiper via submission (standing guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:17

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 30, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson contributed to this report on-site in Manchester.