(Dana White isn’t there. Joe Rogan isn’t there. Arianny and Brittney aren’t there. But if you’re the Veteran Voice of the Octagon, you grab a polo shirt out of the hamper and show the hell up. It’s called integrity, okay? Hippofan knows what I’m talking about. / Photo via MMAJunkie)
Ali Bagautinov. Marcos Vinicius. Tor Troeng. Piotr Hallman. The people of Belo Horizonte don’t care about these dudes, and neither do we, to be honest. So we’re going to try something a little different for tonight’s liveblog of UFC Fight Night 28, and only run play-by-play for the three fights on this card that are worth liveblogging: Joseph Benavidez‘s meeting with Brazilian flyweight contender Jussier “Formiga” da Silva, the middleweight co-main event between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Yushin Okami, and the light-heavyweight headliner between Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader.
Live round-by-round results for those fights will be located after the jump starting around 8 p.m. ET-ish. We’ll also post quick results from the supporting card beforehand. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and if you’re watching along with us on FOX Sports 1, use the comments section to let us know how you feel.
Quick results…
FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT)
Glover Teixeira def. Ryan Bader via TKO, 2:55 of round 1
Ronaldo Souza def. Yushin Okami via TKO, 2:47 of round 1
Joseph Benavidez def. Jussier Formiga via TKO, 3:07 of round 1
Piotr Hallmann def. Francisco Trinaldo via submission (kimura), 3:50 of round 2
Rafael Natal def. Tor Troeng via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
Ali Bagautinov def. Marcos Vinicius via TKO, 3:28 of round 3
FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS
Kevin Souza def. Felipe Arantes via split-decision (29-28 x 2, 28-29)
Lucas Martins def. Ramiro “Junior” Hernandez via technical submission (rear-naked choke), 1:10 of round 1
Elias Silverio def. Joao Zeferino via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
Ivan Jorge def. Keith Wisniewski via unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27)
FACEBOOK PRELIM
Sean Spencer def. Yuri Villefort via split-decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Alright, let’s do this.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier “Formiga” Da Silva
Round 1: Benavidez measures his distance with front kicks. Benavidez stalks forward and they clash with punches. Benavidez sticks and moves. Formiga trying to play the counter game, with limited success. Benavidez throws a body kick, Formiga fires a hard left hook. Benavidez with a left straight. He throws some punches at the air and fires a high kick that’s blocked. Front kick and punch from Joe. Formiga tries a turning side kick. Benavidez lands hard with a pair of punches and a knee to the body, and Formiga crumples to the mat. Benavidez drops some bombs from the top, and the ref stops it. Excellent performance from Joe B…he was the aggressor the whole time, and seized on the finish at his earliest opportunity.
Joseph Benavidez def. Jussier “Formiga” Da Silva via TKO, 3:07 of round 1.
Yushin Okami vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
Round 1: Okami pawing with the jab. Jacare flashes the front kick. Body kick from Jacare, who shoots to clinch afterwards. Okami shakes out, but Jacare lands a big punch that stuns Okami, then punishes Okami against the fence with a barrage of strikes. Okami looks to be in trouble, but he escapes and they return to the center of the cage. Jacare throws a big overhand right. Okami returns fire. Jacare throws the overhand right again and knocks Okami to the mat. Jacare fires down some nasty right hands from the top and the ref has seen enough. Man, did I pick the right fights to liveblog or what?
Jacare says an injury prevented him from doing his Jacare crawl. So you might as well just watch Jade Bryce do it.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza def. Yushin Okami via TKO, 2:47 of round 1.
Glover Teixeira vs. Ryan Bader
Round 1: Bader shoots for a single right away and Teixeira defends it. Bader tries for a guillotine on the mat when Teixeira engages in close. Teixeira defends. They get back to their feet and clinch against the fence. Teixeira considers a guillotine of his own. They separate. Bader fires off some punches, and a high kick as Teixeira tries to close distance on him. Teixeira slips to the mat (or is he staggered?) after Bader launches a punch volley at him. Teixeira gets to his feet but he looks shaky as Bader continues his striking attack. But then Teixeira catches Bader on the chin with a right straight/left hook combo and Bader falls to the mat! Teixeira follows it up with punches from the top and it’s all over. Damn…all three fights ended the exact same way.
Glover Teixeira def. Ryan Bader via TKO, 2:55 of round 1.
“I’m telling you, this belt is gonna be mine,” Glover says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Jon Jones or Gustafsson, it’s gonna be mine.” He admits to being knocked down by Bader, and says it was due to being overconfident.
Did that performance change your opinion of Teixeira in any way? Is he a future title threat or not? Let us know in the comments, and enjoy the rest of your night…