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UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi is over and there were some surprises; note: if you are planning to watch tonight don't read any further.
Welterweight fight: #19 Matt Hughes (43-7; #2 WW) vs. Renzo Gracie (13-6-1)
- Round One: All standup, Gracie occasionally connecting with fists, Hughes less so. Hughes gets a few good leg kicks in and gets Gracie against cage, but Gracie's round, barely. Gracie 10-9.
- Round Two: More of the same; all standup. Hughes' leg kicks are becoming more numerous, and connects with more punches this round. Hughes 10-9; 19-19.
- Round Three: More Thai kicks from Hughes are taking their toll. Gracie down from a kick, but Hughes backs off. Down again from a leg kick, he asks for and GETS Hughes to help him back up! Hughes content to win on strikes. Late in the round he connects with multiple punches, Gracie goes down and referee stops the fight.
Hughes wins by referree stoppage late in round three.
Lightweight title fight: #12 B.J. Penn (15-5-1, #2 LW) vs. #37 Frankie Edgar (11-1, #7 LW)
- Round One: Edgar was busy moving around the outside, Penn stood in the middle and fought off Edgar's occasional takedown attempts. Penn's counters were more than Edgar's taps, though Penn had a cut on his cheek. Penn 10-9
- Round Two: More of the same, but Edgar is more successful in making contact, and actually had a fluke take-down where Penn stumbled. 10-10, Penn 20-19.
- Round Three: Edgar still moving quickly, Penn getting frustrated a bit, but still fighting calmly. But Edgar did more this round. Edgar 10-9; 29-29.
- Round Four: Another close round. Penn's shots are harder, but Edgar is busier. Even; 39-39.
- Round Five: Penn has to get serious, as he might need this round. Edgar gets a real take-down, but Penn is right back up despite his corner's earlier assertion that he needed to go to the ground. Penn comes alive at the end and may have won the round. But Edgar was active while Penn did very little until the very end. Edgar 10-9; Edgar 49-48.
The judges score it 50-45 (!), 48-47, and 49-46, all for Edgar! Quite surprising, actually; after hearing the 50-45 I thought Penn would get it for sure, as you could probably more easily argue he won all 5 rounds than Edgar. But overall Edgar probably won a close contest.
Middleweight title fight: #4 Anderson Silva (25-4, #1 MW) vs. #72 Damian Maia (12-1)
- Round One: Silva and Maia circling, standing. Silva with a big kick two minutes in. Looking to strike, taking a spider-like pose. Silva is winning the round with quick kicks. Maia falls due to big kick after some odd action, Maia back up. Silva 10-9
- Round Two: Anderson is punching, toying with Maia. Not taking him seriously at all. But Maia isn't giving him any reason to, as he won't strike even when Silva puts his guard down completely. Silva has no respect at all for Maia. Silva 10-9; 20-18.
- Round Three: This is getting to be a joke. Silva is staying away from Maia and kicking occasionally, but isn't moving to finish the fight. If he doesn't, nothing will happen as Maia has no way of doing anything it seems. Silva 10-9; 30-27.
- Round Four: The fight is quickly getting to be a bore more than anything else. Silva is just staying away, not attacking. Lots of flash and movement but no punching. All the crowd-pleasing he did in the first two rounds is gone; if there were a time-limit for fighting standing up, they'd put these fighters on the ground! Now Maia is imploring him to fight. 10-10. Silva 40-37.
- Round Five: Maia's face got worse during the last round and looks even worse coming out for the fifth. Maia jumps in an gets his first good shots against Silva, striking with abandon. Silva just escapes. Crowd is behind Maia now. Silva content to ride out his points edge for whatever reason. Maia grabs a leg but Silva escapes again. Referee threatens to deduct a point away from Silva for not engaging. Maia too spent to give one last effort, but he deserves the round. Maia 10-9; Silva 49-47.
What is wrong with Silva? Is the question. Something changed during the third round; perhaps he broke his hand or had some other injury?
Silva wins the unanimous decision, of course, as he should. He says that some of the punches "got to him" and he had "ring rust" and promised it won't happen again. Apparently all that clowning in the 2nd and 3rd rounds wore him out.
Good to see round-by-round scoring & UFC 112 Results, I love to watch ufc online live streaming.
Posted by: watch ufc online | April 15, 2010 at 07:46 AM