Charlie Brenneman had a long, strange trip to Sunday night’s UFC Live event, with a series of match-up changes leading to him being told on Monday that he wouldn’t fight on the card at all, then told on Saturday that he’d fight Rick Story in the co-main event.
For as crazy as things went for Brenneman in the week leading up to the fight, the fight itself went great: Brenneman pulled off a surprising upset and beat Story by unanimous decision.
It was a great grappling display by Brenneman, and an indication that he’s a more talented fighter than his previous performances inside the Octagon have suggested.
Story started the fight with a nice throw, putting Brenneman on the ground, but Brenneman quickly got back to his feet, and he soon took Story down and controlled him for most of the rest of the first round. It was a surprisingly effective display on the ground from Brenneman, and a sign of things to come: Brenneman being more effective on the ground was the story of this fight.
In the second round Story threatened with an early submission, but soon it was Brenneman on top and more of the same, with Brenneman staying on top and probably winning the second round as well.
Story appeared to go into the third round knowing he had lost the first and the second, as he was more aggressive going for submissions and attempting to finish Brenneman on the ground. Story achieved full mount with more than a minute remaining in the fight, but Brenneman clung to him, wouldn’t let go and eventually got out of the mount and on top of the fight. He stayed on top until the final horn sounded and got up and celebrated, knowing he had won: All three judges scored it 29-28 for Brenneman.
Story, who falls to 13-4, was widely viewed heading into this fight as a future welterweight title contender. Now it’s back to the drawing board, as Brenneman exploited some serious holes in Story’s ground game. Brenneman improves to 14-2, and he just earned by far the biggest win of his career.