UFC Fight Night 79 results: Marco Beltran edges Ning Guangyou in snoozer

Marco Beltran

SEOUL – It won’t win any “Fight of the Night” awards, but Marco Beltran got the victory and edged Ning Guangyou.

Beltran (7-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a semifinalist on “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America,” and Guangyou (5-2-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a “TUF: China” winner, simply lacked meaningful offense.

The bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 79 event at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

In the opening round, the fighters traded some early blows before Beltran caught an accidental kick to the groin, which forced a brief timeout. Unfortunately, it was among the little action in the first round, and the lulls in action brought out some boos from the crowd – both in the opening round, as well as the remainder of the fight.

Beltran opened the second round with a kick, but Guangyou countered, quickly closed the distance and forced the fight to the mat. Beltran tried to tie him up (and was warned about grabbing his opponent’s gloves), but Guangyou remained heavy on top and dropped short elbows and punches while in closed guard. It was a rare moment of offense in the fight. But the ref called for a too-early standup, and the rest of the round lacked theatrics.

Entering what was likely the deciding third round, the fighters again stood and traded, but little landed. The occasional leg kick found its mark, but both fighters refused to commit to combinations. The tic-for-tac fighting bored a restless crowd, even as Beltran started to land. After a tie-up against the cage, though, the pace again slowed. While in the clinch, the fighters traded some bigger blows in the final minute of the fight, including a solid knee from Beltran, but it wasn’t enough to rouse the crowd.

In the end, Beltran earned the split-decision victory via 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 scores.

Beltran has now won back-to-back fights since a three-fight skid from 2012-2014. Guangyou snaps a three-fight winning streak.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 79 results include:

• Marco Beltran def. Ning Guangyou via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Dominique Steele def. Dong Hyun Kim via knockout (slam) – Round 3, 0:27

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 79, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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