UFC on ESPN 13 free fight: Dan Ige submits Luis Gomez

Dan Ige may not have earned a contract on “Dana White’s Contender Series,” but he certainly put on an impressive showing.

Riding a five-fight winning streak, Hawaii’s Ige (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) faced Luis Gomez at DWCS 3 in July 2017.

It was an action-packed first round, with Ige showing off his explosiveness with a big takedown early on. Gomez did a good job of making his way back up, and landed some solid combinations on Ige, who kept pressing forward.

Ige then made the first major breakthrough of the fight when he dropped Gomez with a right hand, then took Gomez down to the mat as he attempted to rally. Gomez’s toughness ensured he survived the barrage, and he even managed to land a takedown of his own late in the round.

In Round 2, Ige continued to pour on the pressure, as he charged at Gomez with combinations. He took him down once again, but the scrappy Gomez got back up and landed his own takedown, but wasn’t able to do much damage on top.

In Round 3, Gomez resorted to his grappling to try and win the round big, but Ige was able to keep his back off the mat for the most part. Ige stuffed another takedown by latching onto a kimura and beautifully transitioned onto the back, locking in the rear-naked choke to submit Gomez.

Despite not earning a contract on the night, Ige would get the call from the UFC for his next fight, but failed to make good in his debut, dropping a unanimous decision to Julio Arce at UFC 220 in January 2018.

Since then, Ige has won six in a row and is coming off back-to-back wins over Mirsad Bektic and Edson Barboza.

Ige returns Wednesday when he meets Calvin Kattar (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 13 headliner at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

Before he faces Kattar, relive Ige’s finish over Gomez in the video above.