In the third bout of the pay-per-view portion of UFC 134, Ross Pearson went up against the undefeated Edson Barboza in a lightweight matchup.
The fight started off with Barboza swinging his legs , but Pearson pushed forward and landed a couple of good punches. Pearson then landed a left hand that stunned Barboza for just a moment.
Pearson continued to press forward and landed a left hand. Barboza found himself against the cage, but quickly circled away from it. Pearson then ripped away at Barboza’s body, and Barboza answered with a front kick. Barboza then nailed Pearson with a very hard spinning back kick to the body.
Pearson then put four punches together, and anchored it with a left hand that pushed Barboza backwards. They continued to trade, but the accuracy of Pearson beating out the speed of Barboza. Pearson went for a takedown as the round came to an end, but was unable to finish it off.
On Saturday, August 27, the Ultimate Fighting Championship made its return to Brazil for the first time since 1998.
In the main event of the evening, reigning UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will be making yet another defense of his title when he takes on Yushin Okami. Silva will be entering this fight at nearly a 6-1 favorite. Will “The Spider” make another successful title defense, or will Okami be able to overcome the odds and dethrone Silva?
The evening’s co-main event will feature a rematch between “Shogun” Rua and Forrest Griffin. In their first outing, Griffin surprised many people when he was able to submit Rua in the third round of his UFC debut.
In other pay-per-view action, Brendan Schaub will be looking to move his way further up the heavyweight ranks when he takes on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Edson Barboza will be looking to further his unbeaten streak against Ross Pearson, and Luiz Cane will welcome Stanislav Nedkov in to the UFC.
Be sure to check out Bleacher Report for UFC 134 results, reaction, and analysis. And follow me on Twitter @JasonSchielke. All the cool kids do it.