Dustin Pereira's Counter Left Hooking

He was able to keep Pereira off him and out in the middle of the cage for most of the fight. But there was other stuff there that I really liked. Is he working in longer combinations consciously because he doesn't typically do that? There was a point where he threw a 1-1-2 and then step up left kick to the body. He clearly followed Pereira back as opposed to just throwing a couple of punches and then trying to circle off.