UFC Fight Night 36 results, photos: Rodrigo Damm tops Ivan Jorge via decision

JARAGUA DO SUL, Brazil – Rodrigo Damm and Ivan Jorge repeatedly looked to referee Mario Yamasaki to sort things out in a three-rounder marred by repeated accidental fouls.

While the action was paused several times, Damm, who returned to lightweight after a rocky stretch as a featherweight, earned two of three rounds on the judges’ scorecards.

The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 36 event at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of the main card on FOX Sports 1.

The final scores for the bout were unanimous 29-28 marks for Damm, whose accuracy in counter-striking quickly proved a frustration for the aggressive Jorge.

Bobbing up and down, Jorge chased down a fight. Both fighters landed solid blows, and while none of them significantly shifted momentum, Damm held his edge in accuracy.

Damm refused to let his opponent bully him in the second frame, but Jorge continued to press the action with heavy kicks and punches. Unfortunately, Jorge walked right into Damm’s outstretched finger, and the bout was paused. Next it would be Damm who received an eye-poke, and again, time was called.

When not playing outside the lines, Damm and Jorge engaged in several frenzied exchanges. Damm, however, managed to open a cut.

The fight spilled to the mat early in the third frame, and Damm managed to trap Jorge in a crucifix. But Jorge escaped and countered with a D’Arce choke attempt that opened an offensive on the feet. For the first time in the fight, Damm got the worse of the exchange, and he briefly got out of trouble by threatening a kimura lock. Jorge, however, continued to press the action.

Then, yet again, an inadvertent blow brought a halt to the action. Jorge took a groin shot that Damm disputed, but the two closed out the third with more aggressive exchanges.

“It could have gone to either of us,” he said. “I knew he was a high-level fighter. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have made it into the UFC. We put on a great show, and everyone loved the fight. The judges are the ones who make the decisions, and they saw it going my way.”

Damm (12-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC) now enjoys back-to-back wins in the octagon while Jorge (25-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) sees the end of a seven-fight winning streak that included a UFC-debut victory over Keith Wisniewski.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 36 results include:

• Rodrigo Damm def. Ivan Jorge via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Francisco Trinaldo def. Jesse Ronson via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
• Yuri Alcantara def. Wilson Reis via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
• Felipe Arantes def. Maximo Blanco via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
• Ildemar Alcantara def. Albert Tumenov via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
• Zubaira Tukhugov def. Douglas de Andrade via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 36, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Brazil.