UFC 163 results and photos: Francimar Barroso decisions Ednaldo Oliveira

RIO DE JANEIRO – It wasn’t pretty, but Francimar Barroso came in on short notice and got the job done against Ednaldo Oliveira, taking home a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) after three rounds.

The light heavyweight bout took place today at UFC 163 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims on FX and the pay-per-view main card.

Barroso, a late replacement for Oliveira’s original opponent, Robert Drysdale, had to exercise caution when dealing with the much taller fighter’s reach early on. But Barroso did a fine job of controlling the distance and staying out of the way of Oliveira’s attacks on the feet, doing just enough with his kicks and his clinch game to impress the judges and shut down Oliveira’s offense, even as he seemed to fade down the stretch.

“I believe that I don’t only have trainers, I have brothers and fathers,” Barroso said. “My dedication, my training, my history and their love certainly played a big role in this. I have no words to express the blessing that God has been giving me. I only had a few weeks to train for a very tough guy, from a very good team, so I knew it was going to be a great battle. I’m glad we were able to come up with a strategy in just a few weeks.”

Barroso (16-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) gets his first win in the UFC with the decision victory, despite the lack of a full training camp to prepare. Oliveira (13-2-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has now lost two straight, with defeats as both a heavyweight and a light heavyweight.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 163 results include:

• Francimar Barroso def. Ednaldo Oliveira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28
• Viscardi Andrade def. Bristol Marunde via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:36

For more on UFC 163, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Rio de Janeiro.