(Props: MMAJunkie)
Nine months ago, Matt Brown was poised to break into the UFC’s welterweight title picture. Then, he hurt his back, and the division blew up without him. Tonight, “The Immortal” returns to the Octagon in his home state of Ohio to fight the dangerous (but inconsistent) Brazilian scrapper Erick Silva, who is a 2-1 favorite here for some inexplicable reason. It’s a pretty damn compelling fight, actually. But there’s no way we’re gonna waste an entire Saturday night typing out play-by-play for the rest of this mess.
In this installment of “Liveblogging the Fights You Actually Care About,” CP weekend editor and social media kosmonaut Matt Saccaro will be giving you live results for the Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva main event, as well as Erik Koch vs. Daron Cruickshank — barnburner alert! — and whatever else he feels like covering. Plus, quick results from the rest of the event, and our usual analysis of video game commercials and frozen pizza.
The FOX Sports 1 main card begins at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT, and we’ll start throwing down results after the jump shortly thereafter. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.
MAIN CARD RESULTS
– Matt Brown def. Erick Silva via TKO (punches), 2:11 of round 3
– Constantinos Philippou def. Lorenz Larkin via KO (punch), 3:47 of round 1
– Daron Cruickshank def. Erik Koch via TKO (head kick and punches), 3:21 of round 1
– Neil Magny def. Tim Means via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
– Soa Palelei def. Ruan Potts via KO (punch), 2:20 of round 1
– Chris Cariaso def. Louis Smolka via unanimous decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
– Ed Herman def. Rafael Natal via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
– Kyoji Horiguchi def. Darrell Montague via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
– Zak Cummings def. Yan Cabral via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
– Johnny Eduardo def. Eddie Wineland via TKO (punches), 4:37 of round 1
– Nik Lentz def. Manny Gamburyan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
– Justin Salas def. Ben Wall via KO (punches), 2:41 of round 1
– Albert Tumenov def. Anthony Lapsley via KO (punch), 3:56 of round 1
Daron Cruickshank vs. Erik Koch
Round 1: Koch comes in with a jab and Cruickshank counters with a right hand. Cruickshank misses a head kick. Koch eats an overhand right after attempting a leg kick. Koch backs Cruickshank against the cage with a flurry, and Cruickshank stops Koch’s aggressiveness with a side kick. Cruickshank chases Koch and lands a body kick after some sloppy punches. Not loads of contact made on anyone’s punches, to be honest. The two exchange leg kicks. Koch lands a stiff jab that sends Cruickshank’s head back. Koch hits a great leg kick on Cruickshank’s lead leg. Cruickshank lands a nasty body kick shortly after, but then Koch lands one of his own. Cruickshank lands a head kick that Koch blocks but then lands another INSANE head kick that floors Koch. He pours on the ground and pound while Koch’s head bounces off the mat (where the fuck is the ref?) before the fight is finally stopped after like 200 punches too many.
Lorenz Larkin vs. Constantinos Philippou
Round 1: Both fighters paw jabs. Larkin hits a front kick then wobbles Philippou with a hook. Philippou returns the favor. Larkin lands a leg kick and misses a left hand. Philippou comes forwards and presses Larkin against the cage. He lands some knees to Larkin’s thighs and does about a million foot stomps. They separate. Philippou hits two jabs, but then Larkin nails him with a crisp combination. Larkin lands a head kick but Philippou shrugs it off. Philippou lands a right hand and then another as Larkin tries a leg kick. These wobbled him, but then Larkin hurts Philippou with a counter hook. It was basically a back-and-forth striking scuffle. Philippou has Larkin against the cage, but Larkin separates and lands a big elbow. Costas lands a killer right hand and floors Larkin. He’s out cold. This fight is over.
Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva
Round 1: They get in each other’s faced at the stare down. They were literally nose to nose. Silva goes for an oblique kick. Brown lands a head kick and some punches. Silva does a body lock takedown. Brown reverses and winds up on top. Silva gets to his feet. Silva lands a tremendous body kcika and then another. Brown buckles to the mat and Silva lands ground and pound. He takes Brown’s back and attempts a rear naked choke. He can’t sink it in on the first attempt so he lands some strikes from the back. He goes for the choke again, but it’s more of a neck crank and Brown escapes. With about two minutes left Brown escapes. They’re back to their feet. Brown lands a vicious combo with some knees uppercuts, and elbows. Silva is out on his feet. More knees. More elbows. Holy shit. Brown misses a big head kick but lands and uppercut and then a throw. Brown keeps landing huge elbows and knees. He threw Silva to the ground like a rogdoll and he’s barely resisting now. This should be stopped. More uppercuts and visious hooks and elbows. Brown lands a takedown as the round ends. Jesus christ this was amazing.
Round 2: Knee to the head from Brown and he has Silva in the same spot as the end of last round, but Silva is starting to come back, actually. Silva lands a spinning back fist. But then Brown starts unloading elbows. They’re clinched now. They separate. Brown lands a hook to the body. Brown is teeing off on Silva; I have no idea what’s keeping him up. More elbows. My god. Brown lands a sick head kick and then some follow-up elbows. How the hell is Silva standing? Brown just keeps landing punches. A million right hands from Brown. Wow. A body shot from Silva hurts Brown badly. This is insane. Brown takes down Silva and gets side control. He lands some ground and pound. He’s got him in a mounted triangle, it looks like, but Silva escapes. Now he starts working a choke. Instead Brown moves to mount and starts landing loads of punches. He goes for the arm but misses and immediately transitions to a triangle. Looks like it’s over here, especially now that he’s going for the arm too, BUT SILVA ESCAPES. This is fucking insanity. Silva briefly passes to half guard but gets put back into guard. This fight.
Round 3: Silva lands a straight left and Brown lands a body kick. Brown lands a right hand, a knee, another knee, elbows, loads of uppercuts, more knees. Oh my god. They sort of flop onto the floor after an exchange, with Brown in Silva’s guard. Brown lands some ground and pound. Some elbows from guard. Silva is cut open bad. Brown landing some more ground and pound. Silva turtles up and the ref calls the fight. Amazing contest.