UFC Fight Night 101 results: Bloodied Daniel Kelly grinds way to decision over Chris Camozzi

MELBOURNE, Australia – A little blood isn’t going to stop Daniel Kelly – or even a lot of blood.

Kelly (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) painted the octagon crimson as he walked down Chris Camozzi (24-12 MMA, 9-9 UFC) and smothered him on the mat, earning a unanimous decision in exchange for a plasma donation.

The middleweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 101 event at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FS1.

Kelly took home scores of 29-28, 29-27 and 30-27 despite his horrific physical appearance, which bled through to Camozzi as he lay on his back and sponged up the blood.

Camozzi had the right idea early on in the fight. He attacked Kelly’s lead leg, flicked a jab, and kept constant lateral motion against his stalking opponent.

But as Kelly so often does, he simply ignored the damage he took and turned the fight into an ugly one, charging in to land big left hands on the retreating Camozzi, who decided that if the usual tools weren’t going to get the job done, he might as well use more damaging ones.

Kelly walked straight into a lead elbow, and instantly, his face was a bloody mess. He cleared a doctor check between rounds, but it was clear he needed a turnaround.

In the second, he found just that as he got Camozzi to the canvas and worked him over from top position. Between the sweat, blood, and punches, Camozzi could do little to get off his back and clearly lost the frame.

With five minutes left to erase the middle frame, Camozzi returned to the successful strategy with which he started, making Kelly eat dozens of jabs. The problem for him was that Kelly ate them all and still managed to close the distance for his heavy left hand. A late-round takedown seemed to seal Camozzi’s fate, as Kelly closed with another ground-and-pound attack.

Kelly now has won three straight in the UFC, while Camozzi has dropped back-to-back bouts.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 101 results include:

• Daniel Kelly def. Chris Camozzi via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 30-27)
• Damien Brown def. Jon Tuck via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Jonathan Meunier def. Richard Walsh via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Ben Nguyen def. Geane Herrera via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
• Jason Knight def. Dan Hooker via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-26)
• Marlon Vera def. Ning Guangyou via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jenel Lausa def. Yao Zhikui via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 101, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Melbourne.)