UFC 159 results/photos: Ovince St. Preux pokes Gian Villante's eye, awarded win

NEWARK, N.J. – A battle of Strikeforce veterans making their UFC debuts offered one of the oddest endings in recent memory as Ovince St. Preux earned a majority technical decision win over Gian Villante.

The light-heavyweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 159 event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. It aired on FX following additional prelims on Facebook and ahead of the pay-per-view main card.

The two UFC newcomers opened the fight at a moderate pace with Villante pressing forward and looking to work in the clinch. St. Preux avoided an early takedown by wrapping his arm over the top of the cage, and it worked to his advantage. For the remainder of the frame, St. Preux was a little crisper in exchanges and seemed to frustrate Villante by pushing him away from clinch positions.

Villante staggered St. Preux to open the second frame, but the pace slowed as both seemed to struggle to adjust to performing in the octagon. Villante seemed the fresher fighter as St. Preux often let his hands drift down toward his waist. Still, Villante was slow to attack and failed to capitalize on the openings.

With St. Preux opening the third with power punches, he laced out a right hand with his fingers clearly pushing into Villante’s left eye. Referee Kevin Mulhall didn’t appear to see the poke as Villante dropped to his knees. The ref quickly asked the fighter, “Can you see?” When Villante said he could not, Mulhall instantly waved off the fight in what proved to be a very unpopular decision. Villante quickly protested to no avail.

With the fight ending in the final round on an unintentional foul, the bout went to the scorecards, and St. Preux was awarded the decision with off scores of 30-28, 30-29 and 29-29.

“I definitely felt comfortable in there and I knew I was winning,” St. Preux said. “I didn’t feel like I poked him. I got poked too.

“Stuff happens, but I don’t think they should’ve stopped the fight. I would’ve won the third round because I felt great and I was coming on stronger, but still it’s unfortunate it had to end like that.”

Despite the odd ending, St. Preux (13-5 MMA, 1-0 UFC) improves to 10-1 in his past 11 fights. Villante (10-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) sees a three-fight win streak snapped.

“I couldn’t see,” Villante said. “He did poke me in the eye, so I don’t know. [Mulhall] said the fight was over, and I didn’t expect that because I was just reacting to his question.

“I got poked and my eye was closed up, so I thought he would stop it, but he didn’t; he just kind of looked at me.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC 159 results include:

• Ovince St. Preux def. Gian Villante via majority technical decision (30-28, 30-29, 29-29) – Round 3, 0:33
• Sara McMann def. Sheila Gaff via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:06
• Bryan Caraway def. Johnny Bedford via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 4:44
• Cody McKenzie def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Steven Siler def. Kurt Holobaugh via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC 159, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Newark.