MONTREAL — Rung by rung, Chris Camozzi continues his climb up the middleweight ladder.
The Colorado-based fighter won just barely on Saturday night, eking out a split-decision over veteran Nick Ring at UFC 158. The fight, hardly a crowd-pleaser, was scored 29-28, 29-28, 28-29.
“I thought I did enough to win, but you never know,” Camozzi said afterward. “You don’t want to leave it in the hands of the judges. I’m mad that I didn’t finish.”
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According to FightMetric, Ring was actually the busier and more accurate fighter, landing 86 strikes to Camozzi’s 67.
Camozzi’s best round was unquestionably the third, when he landed 33 strikes, nearly half of his output for the fight.
“I train to speed up each round,” he said. “I want to finish faster than I start.”
Utilizing faster hands a superior head movement, Ring out-struck Camozzi in the first, but the action tightened as it went on. While both fighters threw with the same volume, it was Ring leading in accuracy, though the judges apparently believed Camozzi’s landed blows were more significant.
Camozzi has now won four straight, making him 19-5.
Ring fell to 13-2.