UFC 127 played to a packed house this Sunday in Sydney, Australia. And the crowd had the pleasure of applauding the victories of local fighter, suffered with the loss of one of their heroes, watched the provocation-filled fight of Michael Bisping, and accept a draw in the main event. Check out the results and breakdown of the fights on the main card:
Frustration in the main event
BJ Penn seemed to have pushed ahead with an advantage in the first two rounds, managing to take the fight to the ground and use his Jiu-Jitsu on Jon Fitch, making it to back mount. But Fitch was effective with the ground and pound throughout, a tactic that handed him the third round by washout, when BJ showed clear signs of fatigue. After the three rounds were up, one judge had Fitch as winning, while the other two had it a draw. Thus the fight had no winner, by majority decision.
The Englishman’s shut-up
Jorge Rivera even put a video on the internet just to provoke Michael Bisping. At the press conferences and at weight-in, before the event, the Englishman known for his hot temper already made it clear he didn’t like the games. During the fight, Bisping dominated the first round with takedowns but ended up landing an illegal knee. In the second, the Englishman went after Rivera with a true avalanche of strikes, getting him the technical knockout at 1:54 minutes. Then he lost his head, even spitting on someone from his opponent’s team. This is Bisping’s third win in a row since losing to Wanderlei Silva last year, also in Australia.
Put the brakes on the hometown boy
George Sotiropoulos was the one getting all the acclaim before the fight with Europe’s Dennis Siver. He was the favorite for winning five-straight fights in the UFC and for being the hometown boy. But Siver did well to steer clear of his opponent’s Jiu-Jitsu, deftly avoiding all takedowns. He managed two knockdowns in the opening round with his deadly crosses and controlled the rest of the action well, all on the feet. Victory by unanimous decision.
Efficient showboat
By entering his fight with his body hair shaved in the shape of an arrow pointing to his own head, Brian Ebersole already provided signs of what was to come. Against Chris Lytle, he applied outlandish kicks, played around, but was wholly effective. He landed spot-on knees, like in the second round, and dominated with takedowns, as well as defending well Lytle’s attempted guillotines. A well-deserved unanimous decision was the result defining his UFC debut. He used well the experience acquired over a 61-fight career.
A submission for Australia
In the first fight on the main card, local fighter Kyle Noke came out on top. After getting the better of the standup action, getting the takedown and landing straight into mounted position, Kyle took Chris Camozzi’s back to swiftly finish with the rear-naked choke. With the result, besides making the local crowd’s day, Noke notched his third win in three UFC appearances.
UFC 127
Sydney, Australia
February 27, 2011
Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn fought to a draw
Michael Bisping venceu Jorge Rivera via TKO in R2
Dennis Siver defeated George Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision
Brian Ebersole defeated Chris Lytle via unanimous decision
Kyle Noke submitted Chris Camozzi via rear-naked choke at 1:35 min of R1
Ross Pearson defeated Spencer Fisher via unanimous decision
Alexander Gustafsson submitted James Te Huna via rear-naked choke at 4:27 min of R1
Nick Ring defeated Riki Fukuda via unanimous decision
Tiequan Zhang submitted Jason Reinhardt via guillotine at 0.48 min of R1
Anthony Perosh submitted Tom Blackledge via rear-naked choke at 2:45 min of R1
Mark Hunt defeated Chris Tuchscherer via KO at 1:41 min of R1
Curt Warburton defeated Maciej Jewtuszko via unanimous decision
