Former bantamweight champion Brian Bowles squared off with former title challenger Takeya Mizugaki in the headlining bout of the Facebook stream.
Despite breaking his hand again in the first round, Bowles gutted through the injury and outstruck and outgrappled the Japanese fighter. Although the injury is certainly a problem, it was good to see how the ex-champion responded to another injury after many fans and analysts question his heart when he quit after he pretty much quit on his stool in losing his title to Dominick Cruz.
Bowles will likely be on the shelf for a bit, but his next fight should be an important match against a top contender in the division as the UFC is currently searching for the next title challenger.
The rest of the exciting Facebook undercard results:
Former top prospect Aaron Simpson tried to get back on track against TUF season 11 veteran Brad Tavares. The story of this fight was Tavares' landing big strikes in the stand-up exchanges while Simpson relentlessly ground on him in the clinch looking for takedowns. Tavares defended the takedown attempts well, but he couldn't escape from the clinch and had his back stuck against the fence for much of the fight. The only really significant takedown actually came from Tavares when he lifted Simpson up and slammed him but Simpson immediately popped back up and pressed Tavares back into the fence again. In the end, the cage control and grappling advantage gave Aaron Simpson the unanimous decision victory, but it certainly wasn't pretty or crowd pleasing.
In lightweight action, Anthony Njokuani completely beat down Ultimate Fighter season nine finalist Andre Winner over the course of three rounds. It was a style match-up between two exciting strikers but Njokuani's diverse Muay Thai attacks were the difference as he was able to hurt Winner badly with kicks, knees, elbows and punches while Winner mainly looked to land powerful hooks. To Winner's credit, about 99% of all UFC lightweights would have been knocked out by the combination of strikes that Njokuani unleashed on him at the end of the first round, but he didn't even go down. It was a wild flurry and Njokuani rode that momentum for all three rounds to win a dominant unanimous decision.
Two bantamweights making their UFC debuts got things started in the first fight of the undercard. Jeff Hougland and Donny Walker entered their fights riding a combined 15 fight win streak. It was Hougland, though, that would leave the Octagon with his streak intact. Hougland showcased a well-rounded skill-set, beating Walker with superior grappling and striking technique. He opened up a cut on Walker's right eye and nearly had the Ohioan finished several times with guillotine chokes and an arm bar. Walker fought back furiously in the third round, but it wasn't enough to win as Hougland was awarded a unanimous decision victory.
by Brian Hemminger
No comments:
Post a Comment