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Round 1TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Stephens
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Stephens
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Stephens
Round 2
Stephens goes straight back to the right hand and lands it on a
leaning Payan less than 15 seconds into the round. Payan is on his
back foot, still bleeding from the cut opened in the first round,
but trying to retaliate with leg kicks and punches; most of the
punches miss, but a couple leg kicks connect. Stephens hits a
takedown on the fence and Payan quickly works back up. Stephens
keeps the action on the fence until he’s able to land another
takedown. Once on the floor, Stephens works Payan’s face with more
elbows from guard, bloodying him further. Stephens gets mount with
two minutes left and Payan gives up his back. Stephens tries a neck
crank, can’t get the tap and gives it up. Payan is just gushing
blood all over the canvas as he kneels with Stephens on his back
and fends off a rear-naked choke attempt. There is a sizeable pool
of blood on the ground when Payan gets up at the end of the
round.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Stephens
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Stephens
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Stephens
Round 3
Payan looks to be the aggressor in the early going of the final
round, but Stephens lands the first big offense with a thudding
high kick to the side of Payan’s face. Stephens snaps off some
quick punches, dodges a few slow ones from Payan, and then hits
another takedown. Right hands from Stephens now, as he traps a
kneeling Payan against the fence. Payan gets to his feet, his face
covered in blood, and defends a double-leg attempt by grabbing the
fence, for which he’s warned by ref Tognoni. Payan turns it around
and now puts Stephens’ back to the cage, but Stephens soon explodes
out and plows Payan to the mat in the middle of the cage. Payan
continues to cover the canvas in blood as Stephens drops elbows
from side-control to the final horn.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-8 Stephens (30-26 Stephens)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Stephens (30-27 Stephens)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Stephens (30-27 Stephens)
Official result: The judges score the bout 30-26, 30-26 and 30-27 for the winner by unanimous decision, Jeremy Stephens.
Round 1TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Bowles
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Bowles
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Bowles
Round 2
Roop sticks a few jabs and lands a front kick to the body in the
opening minute of round two, mostly keeping Bowles on the outside.
Bowles steps in to throw a left and gets zapped with a stiff left
from Roop, who blasts the former WEC champ with more heavy right
hands as Bowles kneels at the fence. Bowles is out of it, not
offering anything back, and ref Herb Dean waves this one off.
George Roop gets the win via TKO at 1:43 of round two.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Thompson
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Thompson
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Burrell
Round 2
Thompson holds Burrell on the fence for a moment, then releases and
lands a solid pair of body shots. Burrell looks to clinch now and
is turned around, once again with his back to the cage. Thompson
again leans Burrell on the fence, not doing much with the position
before Burrell is able to escape. They clinch up again and Thompson
lands a knee to the body, gets turned around, then reverses again
to take the outside. They disengage and Thompson lands a one-two,
then sneaks a left through as Burrell covers up. Thompson ducks a
left hook and again presses Burrell against the cage. Burrell lands
a right hook and gets grazed with a right high kick. He walks
Thompson toward the cage and lands a leg kick before Thompson spins
around with another wheel kick, then lands a short right. Burrell
partially lands a spinning elbow before being pushed against the
cage again, where the welterweights finish the round.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Thompson
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Thompson
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Thompson
Round 3
Burrell charges with a solid overhand right, then slips out as
Thompson tries to clinch. He can’t avoid the next clinch, though,
and soon they’re back in the familiar position with Thompson
holding Burrell against the cage. They jockey for position with
Thompson eventually staying outside. Burrell shoves him off and
walks forward, with a body-head combo; Thompson answers with a
series of leg kicks. Burrell tries a couple uppercuts in the
collar-tie but they seem to be deflected as Thompson covers up.
Thompson puts Burrell on the fence again, but Burrell breaks out
and spins Thompson around with a heavy left hook. Thompson survives
and escapes to the center of the cage, where he slaps Burrell’s
head with a round kick. Burrell steps in with another left hook,
then gets double-legged to the ground with 1:50 left in the fight.
Burrell is quickly back up and gets pressed on the fence, where
Thompson lands a single knee to the body. They tie up in the middle
and break after Burrell scores a knee up the middle. Thompson is
exhausted, stumbling around the cage, and Burrell tries to
capitalize with a couple left hands. Thompson grabs Burrell after a
missed flying knee attempt and holds him on the fence one last
time. Burrell gets out with 10 seconds left and finishes with
another three or four knees to Thompson’s gut.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Burrell (29-28 Thompson)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Burrell (29-28 Thompson)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Burrell (29-28 Burrell)
Official result: The judges score the bout 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 for the winner by unanimous decision, Stephen Thompson.
Round 1TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov
Round 2
Trujillo walks Nurmagomedov toward the fence, only to have a punch
ducked and countered by a hard Nurmagomedov right hand. Trujillo
escapes a clinch, but walks straight into another right hand that
spins him around. Nurmagomedov grabs another rear-waistlock and
puts Trujillo on his knees again. The Russian scores with knees to
the body before Trujillo is able to stand. Nurmagomedov trips him
down again and now locks on a body triangle from back-mount.
Trujillo escapes and is instantly thrown back to the ground. The
cycle repeats two more times before Trujillo is able to roll out
again. This time, Trujillo moves to full mount, but it lasts only a
few seconds before Nurmagomedov gets butterfly hooks, stands and
takes Trujillo down again. Nurmagomedov works the body of Trujillo
with more knees, Trujillo stands and Nurmagomedov hits another
takedown with under a minute remaining. Trujillo stands and is
pressed against the fence, where Nurmagomedov socks him with a few
lefts before the horn.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov
Round 3
Trujillo walks straight at Nurmagomedov and lands a knee before
he’s latched onto by the Russian and dragged back to the ground.
They’re up and down again, Nurmagomedov keeping back control as
they transition and throwing sporadic punches. Trujillo stands and
is slammed back down three, four more times; he motions to ref
Yamasaki, throwing his hands up in frustration. Nurmagomedov drills
the body with a few knees, then releases the waistlock and tries to
advance position on the ground. Trujillo gets to his knees, then
his feet, where he throws up his arms again as he’s tossed to the
canvas. The last minute plays out similar to the previous 14, with
Nurmagomedov having his way in the grappling department, throwing
Trujillo around the Octagon.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov (30-27
Nurmagomedov)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov (30-27
Nurmagomedov)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Nurmagomedov (30-27
Nurmagomedov)
Official result: All three judges score the bout 30-27 for the winner by unanimous decision, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Round 1TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Smith
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Whittaker
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Smith
Round 2
Smith rushes forward to strike and has the legs taken out from
under him by a Whittaker left hand behind the ear. Whittaker lands
an uppercut as he tries to follow-up, but Smith is able to get his
wits about him and stay on his feet. Smith’s right eye is looking
rough as he sparks Whittaker with a clean right cross. Whittaker,
for his part, keeps walking Smith around the outside with his hand
cocked. Smith lands a right and takes a hard hook in return, then
eats a combo from Whittaker as Smith moves forward. Smith nearly
gets Whittaker down on the next takedown attempt, but Whittaker
limp-legs him and stays up. Whittaker stands stock-still until
Smith rushes him with a flurry of punches and a knee that lands
low. Whittaker recovers quickly and the fight resumes with 2:00 on
the clock. Smith rushes in to strike and the welterweights clash
heads. Whittaker gets out of the way of a Smith combo and snipes
back with a straight left, further banging up Smith’s damaged eye.
A left hook staggers Smith, then a right hand, and now Smith is
bleeding from his left cheek as well. Whittaker denies a takedown
try and mugs Smith with uppercuts in the clinch in the final 20
seconds.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Whittaker
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Whittaker
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Whittaker
Round 3
Whittaker pops Smith with a pair of jabs early on, moving out of
the way of the American “TUF” winner’s punches. Smith rushes
forward and gets caught with a left hand on the chin that sends him
falling to his back. Whittaker follows up with a couple punches,
but ref Chris Tognoni is already running in to halt this fight.
Smith protests the stoppage immediately, as he was still moving to
roll over and avoid the punches when Tognoni stepped in.
Nonetheless, this one goes to Robert Whittaker, the winner via TKO
at 41 seconds of round three.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Holloway
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Holloway
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Holloway
Round 2
Bermudez nearly finishes a single-leg, but Holloway shoves him to
the ground, then hops on the back of the kneeling Bermudez. They
stand up and Bermudez eats a kick to the face on the way. Holloway
blocks a head kick, picks at Bermudez with a couple jabs and misses
with a spinning kick to the body. Now bleeding from his nose,
Bermudez tries a Superman punch that pulls up short. Holloway digs
a left to the body and goes up top with a right hand that slows
Bermudez’s pace midway through the round. A leg kick from Bermudez
nearly drops Holloway, but the Hawaiian pops back up. Bermudez puts
Holloway on the fence after a failed takedown try. Holloway quickly
turns it around, giving Bermudez an elbow to the face for his
trouble. Bermudez lands a leg kick outside, answered by a hard left
kick to the body by Holloway. A right high kick to the head lands
but doesn’t seem to impact Bermudez, who ducks a spinning kick and
misses with a leaping kick of his own. Both men reset and touch
gloves, smiling. Bermudez with a takedown in the final seconds;
he’s forced to dodge an armbar attempt before he’s able to land a
couple punches as time runs out.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Holloway
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Holloway
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Holloway
Round 3
Bermudez hits a takedown on the fence and again has to contend with
the lanky Holloway’s guard. Bermudez seems to be framing up a choke
of his own before releasing and resetting on the feet. Holloway is
back to moving around the outside, picking at Bermudez with jabs.
Bermudez is the aggressor now, attacking Holloway’s legs with kicks
outside and now scoring with some jabs of his own. Bermudez grabs a
single-leg and sweeps the other, then holds Holloway on the fence
when the youngster stands back up. Holloway escapes the clinch
halfway through the final round and resumes jabbing. He catches a
low kick and puts Bermudez on the ground, but Bermudez is right
back up, hitting a takedown of his own. Bermudez postures up and
slams Holloway with a series of vicious elbows, instantly opening a
cut and forming a nasty hematoma on the left side of Holloway’s
forehead. Bermudez almost advances to mount with 30 seconds left,
gets stuffed back to half-guard. Bermudez finishes the round strong
on top, dropping punches on the suddenly banged-up Holloway.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Bermudez (29-28 Holloway)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Bermudez (29-28 Holloway)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Bermudez (29-28 Holloway)
Official result: The judges score the bout 29-28 Holloway, 29-28 Bermudez and 29-28 for the winner by split decision, Dennis Bermudez.
Round 1TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Story
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-8 Story
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-8 Story
Round 2
Story is aggressive early, but he runs into a shot from Pyle as he
comes in to strike. Story hits a takedown at the base of the fence
and Pyle immediately gets to work on a straight armbar, then
transitions to a kimura. Story steps over and extracts his arm,
then goes back to Pyle’s closed guard. The pace slows halfway
through the fight, with the only offense coming in the form of a
couple short elbows from Pyle on the bottom. Pyle tries to angle
off the cage and throw up a triangle or armbar, but Story is hip to
it and flattens his man out. Story doesn’t do anything of note
through the latter half of the round, but manages to finish the
frame on top.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Story
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Pyle
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Pyle
Round 3
Story catches Pyle with a left to the body and a right to the head,
and Pyle circles away from the fence. A straight right from Pyle
has Story backing up, then shooting in after he catches a knee from
Pyle. He can’t get the takedown, so Story shoves him to the ground.
A slow push kick from Pyle backs Story away. Both men are moving
slow with three minutes left in the final round, but Pyle steps
inside and cracks Story with a nice standing elbow. Story changes
levels and puts Pyle on the fence. Pyle scores with a high knee and
another standing elbow that forces Story to back out. More elbows
land for Pyle as he walks in on a fatigued Story, who reverses the
momentum by holding Pyle on the fence with a body-lock. Story works
some knees to Pyle’s thighs as Pyle puts a hand on the ground to
prevent knees to the head. Story lands a pair of slow punches to
the body, answered by a nasty knee to the body from Pyle. Punches
are adding up for Pyle now as he marches in on Story, landing shots
against the fence. Story comes off the fence and hits a takedown
with 40 seconds left, and Pyle quickly goes on the hunt for an
armbar. He can’t get it, but he’s able to roll Story over and take
his back. Story defends the RNC and one last armbar attempt before
the horn.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Pyle (29-28 Story)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Pyle (28-28 Draw)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Pyle (28-28 Draw)
Official result: The judges score the bout 29-28 Story, 29-28 Pyle and 29-28 for the winner by split decision, Mike Pyle.
Round 1TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Cerrone
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Cerrone
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Cerrone
Round 2
Cerrone catches a kick and instantly puts Noons on the ground,
nearly securing back control, but Noons squirms over to the fence
and stands up less than 30 seconds into the round. Jabs are working
for Cerrone now, and a right hand, too, as Noons turns away. Noons
comes back to stick Cerrone with a right hand of his own and tries
to get in the pocket. Cerrone keeps him on the outside with kicks
and outstretched hands, making Noons miss on his punches. A
backhand catches Noons and now he’s pawing at his left eye. Cerrone
attacks with a combination, Noons comes forward with a punch that’s
ducked by Cerrone and countered with a left hand. Noons strings
together a couple left hands, but his face is looking worse, now
bleeding from his nose and his left cheek. Noons closes in with a
lovely spinning back-fist and gets plowed to the ground by Cerrone,
who drops grinding ground-and-pound through the Hawaiian’s guard.
Cerrone moves to half-guard on Noons’ right side and lays a forearm
across his throat between brutish punches and knees to the body.
Cerrone finishes the round in side-control, grinding his forearm on
Noons’ face.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Cerrone
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Cerrone
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Cerrone
Round 3
The lightweights trade leg kicks inside to open the final frame,
and Cerrone drills Noons’ ribs with a hard knee in an exchange.
Both men are throwing kicks and punches, Noons with the higher
volume, but neither is landing much of anything clean. With 3:45
left in the fight, Cerrone hits a takedown in the middle of the
cage and postures up to elbow from Noons’ closed guard. Mixing up
the elbows to the body and head, Cerrone bloodies Noons further,
this time on the left side of his face. Noons, to his credit, is
holding on tight, though he’s not giving any offense in return. A
couple more heavy elbows from Cerrone have Noons getting busy with
some elbows of his own, but they don’t seem to have much effect on
the Greg Jackson pupil, who just keeps throwing punches to the
body. Cerrone stands and comes back down, looking to advance
position but stalling out in Noon’s half-guard. This gives Noons an
opportunity to throw more elbows, but Cerrone passes to the left
side anyhow. Ref Mario Yamasaki asks the bloody-faced Noons if he
can see as they enter the final 30 seconds; Cerrone closes out the
fight on top.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Cerrone (30-27 Cerrone)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Cerrone (30-27 Cerrone)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Cerrone (30-27 Cerrone)
Official result: The judges score the bout 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 for the winner by unanimous decision, Donald Cerrone.
Round 1TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 dos Santos
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 dos Santos
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 dos Santos
Round 2
Dos Santos flicks out an inside leg kick and circles
counterclockwise on Hunt, then cuts an angle back. Another overhand
shot goes for dos Santos, then a jab to the body. An outside leg
kick lands for Hunt and he steps out of the way of a dos Santos
left. The next left hook connects, but Hunt stands in there. He
catches dos Santos with a left hand as he backs the ex-champ into
the fence, then follows with a right to the body. Yet another
overhand right thumps Hunt, then a stiff jab. Dos Santos piles on
more jabs midway through the round, but Hunt won’t stop coming
forward. Dos Santos ducks under a punch, resets and lands a
spinning back-kick to Hunt’s body. Hunt keeps coming and scores a
couple body shots of his own, then walks through jabs to slug JDS
with a big left on the cage. Dos Santos hits a takedown in the
middle of the cage with 90 seconds left in the round; the crowd
immediately boos the decision. Dos Santos grinds on Hunt’s face
with his forearm before briefly looking for an armlock. Half a
minute left now and Hunt is getting roughed up on the floor as dos
Santos passes to side control to look for a mounted crucifix. He
can’t get it, but Cigano hits Hunt with a couple nasty elbows
before the end of the round. Hunt goes back to his corner bleeding
from the nose.
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 dos Santos
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 dos Santos
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 dos Santos
Round 3
Dos Santos has Hunt biting on feints now, and he plucks the New
Zealander with a left hand before dipping out to the left. Hunt
walks him toward the cage, so dos Santos circles out and sticks a
couple more jabs. Hunt pushes him to the outside again, this time
clipping dos Santos with a nice left hook. Hunt misses with a tired
body kick and takes one in return. Three minutes left and dos
Santos stops moving backward momentarily, coming forward to stick a
jab. Hunt walks forward again, lands a leg kick, misses with a
vicious overhand right. Dos Santos puts a right straight on Hunt’s
cheek that has the Super Samoan smiling. Ninety seconds left now
and a tired Mark Hunt is trying to land a homerun shot, but dos
Santos’ movement is too much at this late stage. Dos Santos cracks
him with a left hook at the 80-second mark, and Hunt somehow stays
vertical. As Hunt trudges forward, dos Santos wheels around with a
spinning kick, his left heel landing flush on Hunt’s head. Hunt
falls to his back and one big right hand from Cigano is all it
takes to turn out the lights. Junior dos Santos wins with a
highlight-reel knockout at 4:18 of round three.