UFC Fight Night 109 results: Joaquim Silva narrowly defeats Reza Madadi in exciting affair

STOCKHOLM – Reza Madadi and Joaquim Silva gave the crowd something to cheer for over 15 minutes of back-and-forth action.

But as the fight went into the final round, Silva (10-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) had more left in the tank, closing the frame with crucial offense that earned him two of three scorecards over Madadi (14-6 MMA, 3-4 UFC).

The lightweight fight was part of today’s UFC Fight Night 109 prelims at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. It aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

The final scores were 29-28 twice for Silva, with one judge giving Madadi the fight by the same score. By all measures, it was a close fight for the first two rounds. But the frenzied pace took more of a toll on Madadi, who stepped up on short notice to fight in front of his adopted home crowd in Stockholm.

Madadi made no effort to hide his plan to take Silva to the ground. And after taking a straight right from the Brazilian, he expedited his efforts. Silva had prepared for that and fought off an initial attempt. When he finally wound up on his back, he tied up Madadi, limiting his offense to pitter-pats to the body. By the time Madadi advanced to side mount, looking to set up for a crucifix, time had run out.

Silva came out aggressively in the middle frame, trying to made Madadi think twice about taking him down. Instead, Madadi was game to trade punches, cracking him repeatedly with a left jab. Silva continued to press forward and attacked the body with relish. But as they traded takedowns and takedown attempts, Madadi managed to sneak in shots that forced Silva to reset. Even when Madadi took a head kick and flurry of punches against the cage, he countered with a spinning backfist that sent Silva backward. It was a taxing round for both fighters despite the crowd’s approval.

Silva continued to work Madadi against the cage in the third frame, and it became apparent that his earlier work had paid dividends. Even when he missed a guillotine attempt and wound up on bottom, Madadi could do little to rack up points. Silva repeatedly won positional battles as Madadi tried desperately for the takedown and wound up on his back. By the end of the round, Silva was on top landing shots overhead.

Silva now has won three straight in the UFC while Madadi drops to 1-3 in his past four outings.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 109 results include:

• Joaquim Silva def. Reza Madadi via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Bojan Velickovic def. Nico Musoke via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:37
• Darren Till def. Jessin Ayari via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-27)
• Damir Hadzovic def. Marcin Held via knockout (knee) – Round 3, 0:07

For more on UFC Fight Night 109, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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