A light heavyweight contest between debuting Brazilian Marcos Rogerio de Lima and veteran Mike Kyle headlined the HDNet portion of the Strikeforce Grand Prix card. De Lima amassed a 9-0 record in his native Brazil. Kyle looked to bounce back from a loss to heavyweight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in his last outing.
Kyle opened aggressively. De Lima landed a low kick early. Stiff jab connected from Kyle and backed up De Lima against the cage. A right kick-left hook combo from De Lima landed. Kyle continued to jab and back up the Brazilian half way through the stanza. De Lima looked to be injured, but delivered a big punch when Kyle rushed in. More shots landed from Kyle as the round closed.
Big kicks from De Lima opened the second round. Flurry from De Lima landed as Kyle moved forward. Kyle continued to attack with his jab through the middle of the round. De Lima pushed the action, delivering a number of low kicks. Kyle scored with a takedown with a minute left in the round. De Lima used the cage to stand, but Kyle again took the fight to the mat at the end of the round.
In the final round, De Lima again opened with a big kick. Kyle connected with a big left that backed up the Brazilian. Jab-cross combo landed from De Lima. Kyle scored with a takedown at the three minute mark, landing in the half guard. Kyle worked to pass, but De Lima tied him up. A big elbow from Kyle opened up a cut on the Brazilian as the fight goes the distance.
The judges gave the fight to Kyle for his effective use of his jab and mixing in the takedowns. De Lima suffered the first loss of his career. Kyle acknowledged the Brazilian’s power in his post fight interview, paying respect to his opponent even in victory.
Official result: Mike Kyle def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, you can follow Rob on Twitter @RobTatumMMA.