(via UFC on FOX)
Following a brutal, nearly unbearable two day stretch without a UFC event to lift us above the suffocating mediocrity of our everyday lives, the world’s premiere MMA organization returned on Saturday morning for Fight Night 72: Bisping vs. Leites. And what an event it was, jam-packed with ferocious knockouts on the undercard and the opposite of that on the main card. Booyah, Glasgow!
In the main event of the evening, Michael Bisping did his Michael Bisping thing, stickin-n-movin his way to a split decision win over a game Thales Leites. While the fight wasn’t exactly the most memorable thing (especially given every card that’s led up to it in these past couple weeks), it did showcase the continuously evolving arsenal of Leites even in defeat, especially in the striking department. First Werdum, now Leites, it’s like Brazil is finally starting to catch up to the sport they invented. (commence Internet outrage….now!!)
In related news you never would have seen coming, bisping used the win to call out “cheating, scumbag motherf*ckers” Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson, then a title shot. Which, aside from the lulz I got from that last part, LOL at the first part!
Elsewhere, the Fight Night 72 card featured a one-sided grappling clinic between journeyman lightweights and a women’s strawweight battle for the ages, so check out all the highlights and results from Saturday’s card after the jump.
You know that thing I said earlier about Brazilians learning to strike? Well, the British should really take a page out of their book and apply it to wrestling. (Bring it on, 3 people who still comment here!!)
Evan Dunham thoroughly outgrappled Ross Pearson en route to a unanimous decision victory, nearly finishing things in the first with this INSANE armbar that Pearson somehow gritted through. The Brit’s enthusiasm for matwork was almost non-present from then on, which he later blamed on his opponent’s love of lay-n-pray. To which I always say, “If a guy can win a fight simply by laying on you, aren’t *you* mostly to blame?” (Internet outrage meter: Critical.)
Anyways, the loss crushed any hope Pearson might’ve had of winning back-to-back fights for the first time since 2013, while Dunham did exactly that for the first time since 2012.
JoJo, we need to have a talk. You need to stop scaring me so bad in the early going of your fights, mmmmkay? You are my Khaleesi, my moon and stars, and I’m 90% sure that your laugh could cure cancer, so please, stopping letting these last-minute replacement opponents pummel the piss out of you for the first minute of the fight. Also, will you please return my calls? I don’t care what the judge says, we belong together.
All kidding aside, it seemed as if Joanne Calderwood needed to get punched in the face a few times by the unheard of Cortney Casey on Saturday before she could came to the Jason Bourne-esque revelation that she was a trained killing machine. Maybe it was a confidence thing, but JoJo weathered the early onslaught and took over, blistering Casey with nasty knees, body kicks, and the occassional butthole punch or two en route to a unanimous decision victory.
A credit is due to Casey for the heart she displayed while being absolutely savaged in the latter rounds, and we can’t wait to see what she looks like with a full training camp under her belt. My guess: Cortney Casey w/full camp > Mendes full camp > TRtor > Motivated Penn.
Joseph Duffy is for real, ladies and germs. Yes, the man known best as The Last Guy to Beat Conor McGregor™ once again impressed against Ivan Jorge, who I’m just going to assume was a competitor on one of the Brazilian TUFs. (I’ll admit, I’m just trying to piss people off at this point.)
After displaying his smooth, smooth boxing skills early, Duffy snatched up one of the smoothest triangle chokes you will ever see during a scramble midway through the first round. Though it at first seemed like Jorge would grit his way out of it, the Duffman We Deserve™ would simply not be denied. Duffy now sits at 2-0 in the UFC’s lightweight division and will mostly certainly be receiving a step up in competition soon.
The full results from Fight Night 72 are below.
Main card (FOX Sports 1 at 1 p.m. ET)
Michael Bisping def. Thales Leites via split decision (47-48, 49-46, 48-47)
Evan Dunham def. Ross Pearson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Joseph Duffy def. Ivan Jorge via submission (triangle choke) 3:05 of round 1
Joanne Calderwood def. Cortney Casey-Sanchez via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Leon Edwards def. Pawel Pawlak via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Steven Ray def. Leonardo Mafra via TKO (punches) at 2:30 of round 1
Undercard (FOX Sports 1 at 11 a.m. ET)
Patrick Holohan def. Vaughan Lee via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ilir Latifi def. Hans Stringer via KO (punch) at :56 of round 1
Mickael Lebout def. Teemu Packalen via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Robert Whiteford def. Paul Redmond via TKO (punches) at 3:04 of round 1
Undercard (UFC Fight Pass at 10 a.m. ET)
Jimmie Rivera def. Marcus Brimage via TKO (punches) at 1:29 of round 1
Daniel Omielanczuk def. Chris De La Rocha via TKO (punches) at :48 of round 1
The post Fight Night 72 Results: Bisping Outpoints Leites, Dunham Tops Pearson, Duffy Continues to Wow + More appeared first on Cagepotato.
