Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Chiesa was as predictable as it was unexpected, if that makes any sense. Allow me to explain. The Fight Night 50 main card opener that pitted the TUF 5 alum against the TUF 15 winner was predictable in the way that all Joe Lauzon fights are: It was a back-and-forth, ferociously paced banger that brought the crowd to life from the very moment it started. There’s a reason why Lauzon has scored a UFC record 13 fight bonuses, and his most recent performance was no exception.
The fight’s ending was unexpected, however, in that Lauzon emerged victorious via TKO — something he hasn’t accomplished since 2008 — and that said TKO came due to the doctor’s intervention. As you might expect, Chiesa was upset with the decision and immediately took to Twitter to protest the stoppage while demanding an immediate rematch.
“Out of all the bloody three-round wars I’ve seen … Diego, Lauzon and many others, why the hell did they stop my fight?” asked Chiesa. “I was never beat, my will was never broken, I was winning that fight. I demand a rematch before the year ends. I hope you all were entertained, you guys got robbed as much as me. That fight was going to be a three-round war. We all got robbed.”
Lauzon responded shortly thereafter with the above Instagram post, showing that not only had all 3 judges had scored the first round for him, but stating his belief that “rematches are dumb.” That led to this exchange between the two lightweights on Twitter:
Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Chiesa was as predictable as it was unexpected, if that makes any sense. Allow me to explain. The Fight Night 50 main card opener that pitted the TUF 5 alum against the TUF 15 winner was predictable in the way that all Joe Lauzon fights are: It was a back-and-forth, ferociously paced banger that brought the crowd to life from the very moment it started. There’s a reason why Lauzon has scored a UFC record 13 fight bonuses, and his most recent performance was no exception.
The fight’s ending was unexpected, however, in that Lauzon emerged victorious via TKO — something he hasn’t accomplished since 2008 — and that said TKO came due to the doctor’s intervention. As you might expect, Chiesa was upset with the decision and immediately took to Twitter to protest the stoppage while demanding an immediate rematch.
“Out of all the bloody three-round wars I’ve seen … Diego, Lauzon and many others, why the hell did they stop my fight?” asked Chiesa. “I was never beat, my will was never broken, I was winning that fight. I demand a rematch before the year ends. I hope you all were entertained, you guys got robbed as much as me. That fight was going to be a three-round war. We all got robbed.”
Lauzon responded shortly thereafter with the above Instagram post, showing that not only had all 3 judges had scored the first round for him, but stating his belief that “rematches are dumb.” That led to this exchange between the two lightweights on Twitter:
Now 0-2 against Lauzon thanks to that sweet burn, Chiesa took to the media to vent his frustrations with the stoppage, telling MMAJunkie that he would even being willing to give up the $50,000 “Fight of the Night” money he earned in order to receive a rematch.
Everyone’s like, ‘Cheer up, you got the bonus.’ I don’t care. I would give that $50,000 back just to be able to go the rest of the fight.
It just upsets me. I’m not taking a shot at the commission, but I feel like they should have at least given me through the round. Herb did his job coming in and checking the cut, but we train three months for one moment. To take it away from me in a fight where I was never out of the fight isn’t right.
Again, it’s easy to see where Chiesa is coming from. The loss to Lauzon snapped a two-fight win streak for the TUF 15 winner, whose only professional loss prior to last weekend came at the hands of former Strikeforce title challenger Jorge Masvidal in July of 2013. But it’s easy to claim that you’d hand over 50K when the option isn’t actually on the table, which is why Lauzon proceed to grant Chiesa his rematch on Instagram this morning under one condition: Chiesa put his money where his mouth is.
“Accept the loss like a man, or the @UFC can send me your FoTN check and we do it again,” wrote Lauzon.
I think we can all agree that immediate rematches are best when saved for title fights, and even then often seem rushed and/or doomed to fail (*cough* Dillashaw-Barao *cough*). In the case of Lauzon-Chiesa, a rematch seems especially impractical — it’s not like Chiesa suffered his cut from an accidental headbutt ala Bonnar-KSos 1. He received it while eating a flurry of knees and punches, and like Lauzon pointed to, all three of the judges had scored the first round for him. Simply put, it does not appear as if Chiesa was exactly “robbed” like he claims.
A rematch would do next to nothing for Lauzon, but God love the kid, he’s willing to accept one for the mere price of Chiesa’s bonus check. Because Joe Lauzon loves bonus checks. He likes the smell of freshly printed paper. He loves the Arabic Typesetting font. Hell, Lauzon even likes it when he cuts himself between the thumb and forefinger while opening a bonus check, and it’s that kind of attitude that has made “J-Lau” the UFC’s first billionaire.
The ball is now in Chiesa’s court, in any case. In the meantime, we guess he’ll just have to bite his tongue and accept that…
(Ronaldo Souza and Gegard Mousasi, showing about as much intensity as the average person does while ordering fast food at a drive-through. / Photo via Getty)
In the immortal words of Jeff Monson: “You like watching people get f*cked for free?” Then follow us after the jump for round-by-round results from the UFC Fight Night 50 main card, which our dear friend Ryan Harkness will be compiling after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET, along with his usual charming commentary. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and follow us on twitter for even more hijinx. Thanks for being here.
(Ronaldo Souza and Gegard Mousasi, showing about as much intensity as the average person does while ordering fast food at a drive-through. / Photo via Getty)
In the immortal words of Jeff Monson: “You like watching people get f*cked for free?” Then follow us after the jump for round-by-round results from the UFC Fight Night 50 main card, which our dear friend Ryan Harkness will be compiling after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET, along with his usual charming commentary. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and follow us on twitter for even more hijinx. Thanks for being here.
PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
John Moraga vs. Justin Scoggins
Al Iaquinta def. Rodrigo Damm via TKO (strikes) at 2:41 of round 3
Rafael Natal def. Chris Camozzi via decision (split) (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Chris Beal def. Tateki Matsuda via decision (unanimous) (29-28 x 2, 30-27)
Chas Skelly def. Sean Soriano via decision (unanimous) (30-27 x 3)
Souza, on the other hand, recently picked up his third straight UFC win (and sixth in a row overall) over Francis Carmont at Fight Night 36. We highly doubt he’ll be lacking motivation heading into his rematch with Mousasi, who ended his night with an upkick KO when they previously met in the Dream middleweight finals back in 2008. Ah, Dream, how we have forgotten you so.
But Mousasi vs. Souza II isn’t the only big fight to be booked today, not by a long shot…
(Mousasi vs. Souza 1, Dream 6 Middleweight Grand Prix Finals, 2008)
Souza, on the other hand, recently picked up his third straight UFC win (and sixth in a row overall) over Francis Carmont at Fight Night 36. We highly doubt he’ll be lacking motivation heading into his rematch with Mousasi, who ended his night with an upkick KO when they previously met in the Dream middleweight finals back in 2008. Ah, Dream, how we have forgotten you so.
But Mousasi vs. Souza II isn’t the only big fight to be booked today, not by a long shot…
According to BloodyElbow, Fight Night 42 victors Ben Henderson and Rafael Dos Anjos have also agreed to meet in the main event of Fight Night Tulsa, which will be transpiring on August 23rd, a.k.a the same day as Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le in Macau. Way to optimize viewership, UFC!
As I mentioned, both Henderson and Dos Anjos picked up stoppage wins at Fight Night 42, the former by 4th round submission over Rustam Khabilov and the latter by second round TKO of the now-fired Jason High. The fight will serve as both Dos Anjos’ first main event and first five round contest, which is quite an accomplishment for a guy best known as the victim of Jeremy Stephens’ uppercut from Hell for a large part of his UFC career.
Another pivotal lightweight matchup announced earlier today is that of Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Chiesa. Things have been up-and-down for Lauzon both professionally and personally as of late; the TUF 5 alum bounced back from the first two fight skid of his career to trounce Mac Danzig at UFC on FOX 9 and recently saw his newborn son diagnosed with cancer only to kick its ass at just two months of age. Take *that* cancer, ya dick!
I guess I should mention that Chiesa has scored back-to-back wins over Colton Smith and Francisco Trinaldo at Fight for the Troops 3 and UFC 173, respectively. So there’s that.
Finally, a light heavyweight contest between Ryan Bader and Ovince St. Preux as the main event of a Fight Night event in Bangor, Maine on August 16th. The announcement was made by Bader himself on Twitter just moments ago. Similar to the Henderson/Dos Anjos booking, both Bader and OSP picked up decisive victories at UFC 174 last weekend over Rafael Cavalcante and Ryan Jimmo, respectively, and all but agreed to fight one another when some media mark tried to play matchmaker in the evening’s post-fight press conference. Hooray for that guy!
My prediction: OethhP by Submithhion. (I’m sorry, that was a low blow.)
Despite the enthusiastic and supportive Fort Campbell crowd, last night’s Fight for the Troops 3 event began with some bitter defeats for the handful of UFC fighters with military backgrounds. Army Staff Sgt./TUF 16 winner Colton Smith kicked off the main card by tapping to a rear-naked choke from TUF 15 winner Michael Chiesa — which earned Chiesa a $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus — while former Marine Liz Carmouche ate her second UFC defeat in a decision loss to Alexis Davis.
Luckily, Tim Kennedy saved the operation. The Special Forces vet fed off the energy in the room and tagged Rafael Natal with a long left hook that put the Brazilian’s lights out near the end of round 1, and won Kennedy a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bump. As he explained after the fight:
“I had to wait for the crowd to stop cheering because I was afraid to emotionally commit to something and not do it for the right reasons,” he said. “They’re screaming, ‘Ranger up! Ranger up!’ And I want to start throwing overhands and blitz the guy. I was waiting for them to stop, and they didn’t stop. Then they started cheering ‘U-S-A!,’ and ‘Kennedy!,’ and I was like, ‘For the love of God.’
“It had a negative effect on me because I was waiting and apprehensive. If there was any amount of pressure that could be put on a single fighter for a fight, I can’t think of a situation that would be more stressful than this.”
By the way, Kennedy tore his quad in the last week of training camp, but as he told Ariel Helwani later, “There’s no way you’re getting me off this card. They would have had to shoot me. If they had to roll me up with a wheelchair, I would have got in that cage, I didn’t care.”
Check out video of Kennedy’s knockout above, check out full results from the fight card right here, and follow us after the jump for lots more UFC Fight for the Troops 3 video highlights…
Despite the enthusiastic and supportive Fort Campbell crowd, last night’s Fight for the Troops 3 event began with some bitter defeats for the handful of UFC fighters with military backgrounds. Army Staff Sgt./TUF 16 winner Colton Smith kicked off the main card by tapping to a rear-naked choke from TUF 15 winner Michael Chiesa — which earned Chiesa a $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus — while former Marine Liz Carmouche ate her second UFC defeat in a decision loss to Alexis Davis.
Luckily, Tim Kennedy saved the operation. The Special Forces vet fed off the energy in the room and tagged Rafael Natal with a long left hook that put the Brazilian’s lights out near the end of round 1, and won Kennedy a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bump. As he explained after the fight:
“I had to wait for the crowd to stop cheering because I was afraid to emotionally commit to something and not do it for the right reasons,” he said. “They’re screaming, ‘Ranger up! Ranger up!’ And I want to start throwing overhands and blitz the guy. I was waiting for them to stop, and they didn’t stop. Then they started cheering ‘U-S-A!,’ and ‘Kennedy!,’ and I was like, ‘For the love of God.’
“It had a negative effect on me because I was waiting and apprehensive. If there was any amount of pressure that could be put on a single fighter for a fight, I can’t think of a situation that would be more stressful than this.”
By the way, Kennedy tore his quad in the last week of training camp, but as he told Ariel Helwani later, “There’s no way you’re getting me off this card. They would have had to shoot me. If they had to roll me up with a wheelchair, I would have got in that cage, I didn’t care.”
Check out video of Kennedy’s knockout above, check out full results from the fight card right here, and follow us after the jump for lots more UFC Fight for the Troops 3 video highlights…
(Tim Kennedy bum-rushes Rogan and Goldie’s event recap in hilarious fashion. And please, Mike, stop trying to make “The Sniper” happen. It’s not happening.)
(Cuban middleweight Yoel Romero’s just-as-nasty KO of Ronny Markes, also from the main card.)
(Rustam Khabilov shows he’s more than just “that suplex guy,” landing a sweet spinning heel kick to Jorge Masvidal’s neck. Somehow Masvidal recovered and fought on, but Khabilov still won the fight by unanimous decision, pushing his UFC record to 3-0. Both men earned $50,000 Fight of the Night bonuses for their efforts.)
It seems as though every time the UFC and the U.S. military get together, fireworks ensue.
Wednesday night’s Fight for the Troops 3 card from Fort Campbell, Ky. was no exception, as Tim Kennedy’s first-round knockout of Rafael Natal put an …
It seems as though every time the UFC and the U.S. military get together, fireworks ensue.
Wednesday night’s Fight for the Troops 3 card from Fort Campbell, Ky. was no exception, as Tim Kennedy’s first-round knockout of Rafael Natal put an exclamation point on an evening where eight of 13 bouts ended in stoppages.
Known throughout his career as more of a methodical technician than an explosive finisher, Kennedy floored Natal with a leaping left hook 22 seconds before the end of the first round of their main event fight and followed with a series of strikes on the ground that forced referee Herb Dean to stop the action. The sudden outburst cut short what had been a fairly competitive effort by the three-to-one underdog Natal and put the assembled crowd of American soldiers into hysterics.
It was a fitting end for a show that had been exciting from the jump and carried on a tradition where somehow, some way the UFC’s benefit shows for the non-profit Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and veterans with traumatic brain injuries deliver highlight after highlight.
And occasionally some cringe-worthy violence. There’s a certain level of irony in the fact these happenings aimed at helping victims of TBI occasionally turn out to themselves be such ferocious contests but, hey, it’s a charity fight show. What do you expect?
On this night, there was just something about the cramped quarters inside one of Fort Campbell’s aircraft hangars—not to mention the boisterous crowd—that gave this event a little extra zip. Clearly, the UFC and the military are an easy fit, but at this point, the Fight for the Troops shows have taken on an intangible quality, a kind of volatility that characterizes the series itself more than any single fight card.
Call it a mutual eagerness to please, perhaps.
The initial Fight for the Troops set the trend in 2008 with one of the more brutal collections of finishes in UFC history. That card included five TKOs and two submissions in 10 total fights, as well as a leg injury suffered by lightweight Corey Hill that still stands as perhaps the ugliest ever seen in the Octagon.
A bit more than two years later, the second FFTT show started more slowly—when six of the first eight fights went the distance—but eventually built to a fever pitch that saw the final three bouts all end via first-round TKO, all of them inside of three minutes.
This year’s midweek show was not to be outdone. The momentum began to build when Derek Brunson choked out Brian Houston 48 seconds into the first fight of the night and upstart Yancy Medeiros KOed veteran Yves Edwards in 2:47 two bouts later. By the time Lorenz Larkin and Chris Camozzi had themselves a bloody good time to close out the online prelims, it was clear this FFTT was going to be another doozy.
Among all the great bouts, Rustam Khabilov’s decision victory over Jorge Masvidal nabbed the hotly contested Fight of the Night honors, though Dennis Bermudez’s win over Steven Siler and Michael Chiesa’s back-and-forth battle with Colton Smith were arguably just as good.
Chiesa padded his pocket with a Submission of the Night award for managing to force a tap from Smith after the two exchanged dueling rear-naked chokes in the first fight of the main card.
Many analysts had Khabilov’s clash with Masvidal circled on their bout sheets prior to this one, and the two lightweights lived up to the hype. Their fast-paced fight climaxed early in the third, when Khabilov decked Masvidal with a spinning kick that by all rights probably should’ve knocked him out.
The replay showed Khabilov just missed, the kick connecting with the neck, and Masvidal survived, making things competitive to the end. Because it was that kind of night.
Even when things went bad, they were still fun enough to be interesting.
Alexis Davis’ unanimous decision over Liz Carmouche was the night’s most lackluster fight and even that wasn’t bad, considering Davis made meatloaf out of Carmouche’s lead leg with low kicks while peering out a dripping mask of her own blood.
What was shaping up as an entertaining scrap between Bobby Green and James Krause was cut short and Green declared the winner after referee John McCarthy missed Green’s third low blow of the first round.
Amanda Nunes’ TKO of Germaine de Randamie was the result of a questionable stoppage.
To borrow one of Gus Johnson’s most infamous verbal gaffes: These things happen in MMA. All of it was overshadowed by the stellar nature of the rest of the card.
By the time the main event culminated with Kennedy laying out Natal, it was clear that this show should be one we all remember for a long time. Sad to say, with UFC cards scheduled for two of the next three weekends and three more on tap next month, we probably won’t.
(That’s the easy, confident smile of a guy who knows he could probably call in a drone strike if things aren’t going his way. / Photo via Facebook.com/MMAFighting)
Handling play-by-play for the Fox Sports 1 main card will be our own Matt Kaplan, who will be sticking live results after the jump beginning at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please shoot your own thoughts into the comments section. #murica
(That’s the easy, confident smile of a guy who knows he could probably call in a drone strike if things aren’t going his way. / Photo via Facebook.com/MMAFighting)
Handling play-by-play for the Fox Sports 1 main card will be our own Matt Kaplan, who will be sticking live results after the jump beginning at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please shoot your own thoughts into the comments section. #murica
PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
– Bobby Green def. James Krause via TKO, 3:30 of round 1 (weird finish)
– Francisco Rivera def. George Roop via TKO, 2:40 of round 2
– Dennis Bermudez def. Steven Siler via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Amanda Nunes def. Germaine de Randamie via TKO, 3:36 of round 1
– Lorenz Larkin def. Chris Camozzi via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
– Yancy Medeiros def. Yves Edwards via KO, 2:47 of round 1
– Seth Baczynski def. Neil Magny via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
– Derek Brunson def. Brian Houston via submission (rear-naked choke), 0:48 of round 1
My brother, currently a U.S. Army Ranger captain stationed in Savannah, GA, used to be at Ft. Campbell with the 101st, so I’ve been anxious to cover this event (and Tim Kennedy, of course). And here we are.
Colton Smith vs Michael Chiesa
Rd. 1: Both men paw tentatively, and Smith opens with an easy roundhouse kick that grazes. Smith kicks higher now. Chiesa kicks, and Smith smiles at him. Chiesa charges in with a punch, and they clinch. Smith gets the takedown, and Chiesa turns towards Smith. Sweep, back control, and body triangle for Chiesa as he goes for the neck. Smith pries Chiesa’s hands away for now, escapes, and takes Chiesa’s back. Chiesa is up, but Smith is all over him. Smith looks to sink in the RNC as Chiesa tries to slam Smith off of him by dropping to the mat. Chiesa is out of the choke for now, but seemed to have taken a lot from Chiesa. Smith still has back control. Chiesa escapes and gets to his feet just seconds before the bell.
Rd 2: Early clinch and Smith has Chiesa against the cage. Smith lands some knees. Chiesa is off the cage and lands some long punches. Again Smith has Chiesa against the cage. Chiesa gets the takedown, takes Smith’s back, and chokes him out. That was an emphatic slam for a takedown, and the finish came seconds later. Looks like Smith was knocked silly by the takedown. Yup; they just replayed it. Chiesa hip tossed Smith onto his head. Nice win for Michael “Maverick” Chiesa.
Winner: Michael Chiesa via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:41 of round 2
Jorge Masvidal vs. Rustam Khabilov
Rd 1: Early jab, faked shot, and beefy overhand right from Khabilov. That was heavy. Masvidal is starting slowly, but throwing hard. Both men look poised. Khabilov keeps changing levels, which seems to be keepi ng Masvidal from opening up. Khabilov misses a big right hook and bounces around calmly. Masvidal, Joe Rogan points out, might want to go back to some leg kicks. Masvidal presses ahead, clinches, and knees Khabilov. Khabilov grabs a single leg, but Masvidal knees and escapes. Masvidal lands a kick to the body. A Masvidal flying knee ends in a brief scramble. Masvidal is catching kicks and landing leg strikes of his own now. Khabilov catches a Masvidal kick and lands an overhand right. The round ends with both men clinching on the cage. Good action so far.
Rd 2: Khabilov looks loose, as does Masvidal. Khabilov is committed to the jab and working off of it. Masvidal is kicking now. Another 1-2 from Khabilov. Masvidal knees from the clinch and gets out before Khabilov gets a real hold of him. Nice left from Masvidal. Khabilov is really looking for that big overhand right off the jab. Again they clinch against the face, where Masvidal is hitting with knees. Masvidal drags Khabilov down and throws ‘bows. Khabilov is up now, and they separate. Khabilov charges in for the double, but Masvidal is staying up. Khabilov is having a hard time keeping Masvidal down. 1-2 from Khabilov, and there’s the horn.
Rd 3: Khabilov throws an early kick upstairs, which Masvidal blocks. Both men trade jabs. Stinging straight right from Masvidal. Spinning back heel kick to the face from Khabilov and Masvidal is down. Khabilov has his back and Masvidal is spinning away. Jeez. They scramble, but Khabilov has back control and looks for the choke. Masvidal hip escapes and seems to have recovered a bit. Wow. They’re back up. Masvidal stuffs a takedown and has Khabilov against the cage. Masvidal tosses Khabilov down, but Khabilov is back up right away. Masvidal tries the same spinning back kick, but Khabilov smothers it and has back control. Masvidal rolls out and goes for Khabilov’s back. They’re up against the cage. They scramble. Masvidal shoots, Khabilov pounds at the body, and there’s the horn. Good fight.
Winner: Rustam Khabilov via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
Ronny Markes vs. Yoel Romero
Rd 1: Nice inside leg kick from Markes early on. Romero flicks a kick after some feeling out. Markes snatches Romero’s lead leg, gets the takedown, but Romero pops up. Romero lands a hard left hand. Romero kicks at the body, slips, but is back up again before Markes can capitalize. Markes is looking to land the right cross, but Romero is moving fluidly. They clinch, and Markes is on top of Romero in side control. Markes lands some leather and wants the kimura on the left arm. Romero escapes, and they’re up. Straight left from Romero, who’s keeping his hands very high. Another left to the chin from Romero. Markes kicks the body. Markes misses a front head kick and stuffs a takedown. Markes front kicks to the body, but Romero blocks.
Rd 2: Romero pumps his right jab, blocks a head kick from Markes, and stuffs a takedown attempt. Romero kicks at the lead leg. Markes answers with an uppercut that misses. Markes hasn’t answered Romero’s left hand, and Romero muscles Markes to the mat. Markes is up and eats another left. Markes misses with both hands, and there’s the Romero left hand, right down the middle. Heavy kick to the body from Romero. Markes is down and Romero stands over him. The ref stands Markes up. Romero changes levels and lands another hard left. Here comes Markes with punches, but Romero ducks away from each strike. Romero fakes a shot and eats a right from Markes right before the round ends.
Rd 3: Markes comes out swinging, misses the takedown, and wants Romero to follow him to the ground. Nope. Romero answers a Markes left hand with a harder left of his own. Nice body kick from Markes. Romero sticks a left hand to the body of Markes. BAM. Romero drops Markes with a left over the top, follows up with a right hammer fist, and that’s it.
Winner: Yoel Romero via TKO, 1:39 of round 3
Liz Carmouche vs. Alexis Davis
Rd 1: All the ladies in the house say, “Ye-ah.” The lefty Carmouche jabs and kicks early, but Davis defends. Davis jabs and avoids a hard right from Carmouche. Carmouche kicks the lead leg and circles away from Davis’s right hand. Carmouche kicks the inside leg, and Davis counters with a 1-2 that Carmouche blocks. Davis licks low and again fires a 1-2. Davis blocks and overhand right from Carmouche. Davis is landing that inside leg kick, and it seems to be taking a toll on Carmouche, who kicks the outside of the lead leg of Davis. Big right from Carmouche. Both ladies kick at one another’s legs now,Davis kicks low, throws a 1-2, and there’s the horn.
Rd 2: Davis again sets up the 1-2 with the leg kick. Carmouche is kicking low and throwing the right over the top, but Davis is controlling the center of the cage. Hard punch from Carmouche, and Davis is cut. They clinch against the cage, but break subsequently. Davis is bleeding pretty heavily from her left eye brow now. She keeps coming forward though. Carmouche kicks at the body and backs off of the longer Davis. Davis pumps the left jab as Davis pumps the left jab as kicks low. Again Davis kicks the inside of the lead leg really hard. Carmouche’s right leg is definitely bothering her now. Davis catches a Carmouche kick and throws Carmouche down. Davis is in half guard and dropping the shoulder on Carmouche. Davis keeps side control and knees the body with ten seconds left. Carmouche escapes and gets top position, but the round ends before she can get any offense going.
Rd 3: Davis fires the 1-2 and knocks Carmouche down with a hard, low kick to the lead leg. They clinch against the cage; knees from Davis to the body and thighs. Carmouche lands a knee of her own, but Davis has double underhooks. The ref breaks them up and they go back to the center of the cage. Another 1-2 from the bloodied Davis. Carmouche is circling away pretty well, but there go two more hard kicks from Davis. Davis again has Carmouche on the fence and lands an elbow from close quarters. Both women swing and miss in the center of the octagon. Davis is getting her strikes off first, and Carmouche is flat-footed now. Davis keeps kicking and moving ahead. Carmouche lands a short uppercut and a front kick to the body, and that’s the end of the fight.
Winner: Alexis Davis via unanimous decision (30 x 27 x 2, 29-28)
Tim Kennedy vs. Rafael Natal
Rd 1: Kennedy catches a kick from Natal and fires an overhand right. Natal kicks again. And again. Once more. Natal ducks a right hand and lands a jab to Kennedy. Natal pumps the jab, and Kennedy answers with a high kick. A left hand from Natal sneaks through. Natal kicks low, Kennedy high. Natal ducks a right hook and gets a quick takedown, but Kennedy pops up. Natal drops Kennedy with a hard leg kick. Kennedy lands a kick of his own. Kennedy’s left leg is red now. Huge body kick from Kennedy. Kennedy kicks high and misses with the right. Natal kicks low steps back, and throws a spinning back fist. Natal has been switching stances, and Kennedy is staying patient. A monster left hook catches Natal backing up, and he’s down. Kennedy drops some bombs, and that’s it. Natal is out.
It seems as though every time the UFC and the U.S. military get together, fireworks ensue.
