UFC on FOX 9 results, photos: Sam Stout (mostly) stays standing, bangs past Cody McKenzie

SACRAMENTO – Cody McKenzie took Sam Stout down right away in their fight, and Stout was on the ground just long enough to know he wouldn’t want to go back there.

After that, the Canadian stuffed McKenzie’s takedown attempts, then fed him a steady diet of punches and kicks to the body on his way to a unanimous decision win.

The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC on FOX 9 event at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following an additional prelim on MMAjunkie and ahead of the main card on FOX.

Stout landed early, but McKenzie countered with a takedown attempt and got it. McKenzie went to work hoping to set up his famed guillotine choke, and Stout scrambled to retreat to his feet. McKenzie stayed stuck on him until Stout finally was able to get the break and get back to the middle. That really would be the last time Stout would have to worry.

A big body shot from Stout put McKenzie on the canvas deep into the round, and he tried to come back with another one moments later, and those shots to the body would be the story of the fight for Stout, that and avoiding further takedown attempts.

In the second, McKenzie’s takedown attempts were much more easily shoved away by STout, who tried to work kicks to the body, then up high. With two minutes left, after a high kick, Stout again tried to punch to the body to keep wearing McKenzie down.

McKenzie couldn’t get anything going in the third, and Stout continued to threaten with the shots to the body, picking McKenzie apart. Stout had a brief choke attempt, but to no avail. With 15 seconds left, Stout had a brief mount after a McKenzie takedown attempt, and McKenzie tried for a leg before Stout popped back up to finish the fight.

Scores from the judges were 30-27 on all three cards.

“I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” Stout said. “I couldn’t risk a loss in this fight – that would’ve made two in a row. I wanted to make him work hard, but my timing was off a bit in the first round. I played it safe for me and didn’t throw some combinations I probably should’ve. I made sure the fight was in my world and not in his because he is dangerous with submissions, especially that guillotine.”

Stout (20-9-1 MA, 9-8 UFC) got back in the win column after a June loss to James Krause, and he has flip-flopped wins and losses now for seven fights. McKenzie (14-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC) heads back to the loss column after an April decision win over Leonard Garcia.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 9 results include:

• Sam Stout def. Cody McKenzie via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Abel Trujillo def. Roger Bowling via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:35
• Alp Ozkilic def. Darren Uyenoyama via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 9, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Sacramento.