UFC Fight Night 95 results: Michel Prazeres goes to judges again, sweeps Gilbert Burns

BRASILIA, Brazil – Michel Prazeres followed through on a goal to stand and strike with Gilbert Burns, but the jiu-jitsu standout proved harder than expected to put away.

Burns (11-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) gave Prazeres (21-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) trouble in the first two rounds before fading in the third round, setting up a unanimous decision.

The lightweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 95 event at Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FS1.

The final scores were unanimously 30-27 for Prazeres, who picked up his third straight win in probably his most exciting octagon appearance yet, though he didn’t manage to keep judges out of the picture.

Prazeres knocked Burns down on multiple occasions, but wasn’t in the mood to test his jiu-jitsu against the formidable grappler, who made three of his UFC opponents submit.

So instead, the stout Brazilian went to work stalking Burns around the cage, punishing his legs and rejecting takedown attempts, all while swinging for the fences. Burns’ initially countered well, but his strikes hardly had the effect he desired. Even when he followed a takedown attempt with a perfectly placed knee to the chin, Prazeres shrugged and kept on coming.

A body shot seemed to sap the life out of Burns in the third round, giving Prazeres the green light to try pounding his opponent out on the mat. Burns got back to his feet, but provided little more than a target as the seconds ticked away and Prazeres continued to punish his legs. By the time he realized the fight was slipping away and invited a toe-to-toe slugfest, he had only 30 seconds to work, and his aggression cost him a takedown.

Burns now drops to 1-2 in his past three outings.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 95 results include:

• Michel Prazeres def. Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Rani Yahya def. Michinori Tanaka via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jussier Formiga def. Dustin Ortiz via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 29-28)
• Erick Silva def. Luan Chagas via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:57
• Alan Patrick def. Stevie Ray via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Vicente Luque def. Hector Urbina via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:00
• Gregor Gillespie def. Glaico Franca via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 95, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Fernanda Prates contributed to this report on site in Brasilia.)