UFC 207 results: Antonio Carlos Junior edges Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision in foul-filled fight

LAS VEGAS – Despite some early trouble keeping his fingers out of Marvin Vettori’s eyes, Antonio Carlos Junior rallied to win the fight on the scorecards.

Though Vettori (11-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) threatened to end the bout in the second, Carlos Junior (7-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) bounced back to grind out a victory via unanimous decision, notching scores of 29-28 across the board.

The middleweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 207 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on FS1 following an additional prelim on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of the main card on pay-per-view.

The bout got off to a strange start when Carlos Junior was warned for an unintentional eyepoke early on, only to turn right ahead and commit the same infraction seconds later. If that wasn’t bizarre enough, Vettori soon committed a nearly identical foul, resulting in plenty of warnings from referee Mark Smith, but no point deductions.

Action picked up in the second frame when Vettori muscled Carlos Junior to the mat, then locked up an arm-in guillotine from the top position that seemed to have Carlos Junior in some trouble. After flashing a thumbs up to the ref, Carlos Junior eventually got free of the choke, only to come under fire from a torrent of Vettori left hands before the horn sounded to end the round.

But Carlos Junior would bounce back in the final frame, using his takedowns and his clinch game to slow the action down, wearing on Vettori and suffocating his offense as time ticked away. When the matter went to the judges, all three had it for Carlos Junior, giving him the win via unanimous decision.

The win makes it two in a row for Carlos Junior, his first such streak since coming to the UFC in 2014. Vettori’s loss snaps a five-fight winning streak.

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