Tag: UFC 195

UFC 195 Results/Highlights: Lawler Bests Condit In Questionable Decision, Miocic Earns His Title Shot, + More


(Dana White’s face says it all. via Getty)

We can debate the decision that capped off UFC 195’s welterweight title fight between Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit all we want. We can take to Twitter to vent our frustrations with an (admittedly) outdated judging system until the cows come home. In fact, we have been for years, but with no change in sight, it’s probably best that we just focus on the latest in what has been an incredible series of title fights for the UFC, and that’s exactly what Lawler vs. Condit was.

Results and highlights after the jump.

The post UFC 195 Results/Highlights: Lawler Bests Condit In Questionable Decision, Miocic Earns His Title Shot, + More appeared first on Cagepotato.


(Dana White’s face says it all. via Getty)

We can debate the decision that capped off UFC 195′s welterweight title fight between Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit all we want. We can take to Twitter to vent our frustrations with an (admittedly) outdated judging system until the cows come home. In fact, we have been for years, but with no change in sight, it’s probably best that we just focus on the latest in what has been an incredible series of title fights for the UFC, and that’s exactly what Lawler vs. Condit was.

Results and highlights after the jump.

While the numbers might paint UFC 195′s main event as an incredibly one-sided affair in Condit’s favor — “The Natural Born Killer” outstruck “Ruthless” nearly two to one — it was Lawler’s time-tested power that must have swayed the judges. Despite looking a step behind the challenger in most of the exchanges and relying on an offense that consisted almost solely of wide, looping hooks, Lawler was able to land the most significant strikes of the fight, dropping Condit in the second round and nearly finishing him in the closing moments of the fifth. If one were to base their opinion of the winner solely on how each fighter looked when all was said and done, Lawler would have almost undoubtedly been declared the winner across the board.

That’s not to say that Condit didn’t get his, though. Condit dropped the champ in the first, had him wobbled in the third, and landed his own onslaught of punches in the fifth as well. It was that ever-important third round that most of the debate seems to stem from, but again, there’s really no point to all the discussion with no proposed way of improving MMA judging currently on the table.

Of course, the easiest way to avoid another judging debacle — if you’re Stipe Miocic, at least — is to quickly and violently shut your opponents lights out, which is exactly what he did against Andrei Arlovski.

The story of Arlovski’s comeback from suicidal falling star to title contender has been an inspiring and much-lauded one, but just as quickly as it came, it ended against the Ohio native on Saturday night. Miocic clipped Arlovski early with a short right behind the ear and swarmed the former heavyweight champion before he could recover, bringing an end to his title hopes in a manner that would be hard to declare as anything but anticlimactic.

But with 5 wins in his last 6 fights (and the only loss being a decision to Junior Dos Santos that may or may not have been BS, if we complained about that sort of thing), it looks like Miocic will finally get his shot at the winner of the Werdum-Velasquez rematch…and he only had to scare Dana White shitless to get it.

Elsewhere on the UFC 195 card, Brian Ortega put on a Jiu Jitsu clinic over Diego Brandao, Abel Trujillo snagged a rare submission victory over Tony Sims, Joe Duffy and Dustin Poirier went to war, and Michael McDonald scored one of the most insane submission reversals you will ever see in his UFC return, so head below for all the highlights and results from UFC 195.

Lorenz Larkin vs. Albert Tumenov

Brian Ortega vs. Diego Brandao

Michael McDonald vs. Masanori Kanehara

UFC 195 Results:

Main Card
Robbie Lawler def. Carlos Condit via split decision
Stipe Miocic def. Andrei Arlovski via first-round TKO (0:54)
Albert Tumenov def. Lorenz Larkin via split decision
Brian Ortega def. Diego Brandao via submission (triangle) (R3, 1:37)
Abel Trujillo def. Tony Sims via submission (guillotine) (R1, 3:18)

Undercard
Michael McDonald def. Masanori Kanehara via sub (RNC) (R2, 2:09)
Alex Morono def. Kyle Noke via split decision
Justine Kish def. Nina Ansaroff via unanimous decision
Drew Dober def. Scott Holtzman via unanimous decision
Dustin Poirier def. Joseph Duffy via unanimous decision
Michinori Tanaka def. Joe Soto via split decision
Sheldon Westcott def. Edgar Garcia via first-round TKO (3:12)

The post UFC 195 Results/Highlights: Lawler Bests Condit In Questionable Decision, Miocic Earns His Title Shot, + More appeared first on Cagepotato.

Lorenz Larkin’s Braces Appeared to Get Pulled Out During UFC 195 Fight

The most gruesome sight at UFC 195 on Saturday wasn’t seeing the life get squeezed out of Masanori Kanehara. It wasn’t watching Edgar Garcia get beaten for a prolonged period of time while turtled on the canvas. Heck, it wasn’t even watching Andrei Arl…

The most gruesome sight at UFC 195 on Saturday wasn’t seeing the life get squeezed out of Masanori Kanehara. It wasn’t watching Edgar Garcia get beaten for a prolonged period of time while turtled on the canvas. Heck, it wasn’t even watching Andrei Arlovski’s Cinderella run get ended abruptly by Stipe Miocic.

The ugliest thing fans saw at UFC 195 was Lorenz Larkin’s braces appearing to get pulled out while sitting on the stool in-between rounds of his fight with Albert Tumenov. The moment was captured during the event’s broadcast and was quickly immortalized on social media.

You can see the video here (Warning: Video contains NSFW language):

While Larkin was in his corner, one of his coaches delicately removed his mouthpiece. As he did so, a line of braces could be seen, dangling between the mouthpiece and Larkin’s teeth. Larkin let out an expletive or two, and the referee went over to inquire what the issue was with Larkin.

What happened after that, unfortunately, remains a mystery. Did his corner pull them out completely? Were the braces jammed back into the mouthpiece to be held in place for somebody else to deal with later? Nobody outside of Larkin and his team knows for sure.

Regardless, Larkin would recover well, going punch-for-punch with Tumenov, but unfortunately, he came a hair shy of winning as the judges awarded Tumenov a split-decision win. For what it’s worth, Larkin posted a video of himself discussing his performance on Instagram (NSFW language) and seems to be all right.

What comes next for him, both in the cage and at the dentist’s office, remains a mystery. Hopefully he can bounce back soon.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 195 Results: Book Lawler & Condit an Immediate Rematch Before It’s Too Late

We were left with two questions on Saturday after Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit completed their epic welterweight title fight at UFC 195—one of them hard and one of them easy.
The most difficult and most immediate question was, who the heck won…

We were left with two questions on Saturday after Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit completed their epic welterweight title fight at UFC 195—one of them hard and one of them easy.

The most difficult and most immediate question was, who the heck won?

We’re probably going to be arguing about the outcome of this bout for a while.

When the dust settled after 25 minutes—and arguably one of the greatest final rounds of all time—three ringside judges at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas allowed Lawler to retain his championship via split decision (47-48, 48-47 x 2).

Meanwhile, most spectators on social media appeared to think Condit should’ve gotten the nod. Fifteen of the 20 media analysts who scored the fight at MMADecisions.com also had it for the challenger. UFC President Dana White came to the postfight press conference and said he did too.

Among the listed media scorecards, only three observers favored Lawler (27-10-1 overall; 12-4 UFC) in the bout. Two opted to make it a draw.

But despite that disparity, there was no robbery here. This fight was so good and so close all positions are equally viable. In other words: It’s a quandary and leaves no clearcut way forward for Lawler and his welterweight title.

Luckily, the second, far simpler question provides a highly effective remedy.

That question is, “What do we do now?” and the obvious answer is: Book an immediate rematch between Lawler and Condit before it’s too late.

In the wake of this loss, Condit (30-9 overall; 7-5 UFC) is openly talking about retirement.

These sorts of declarations are common in the immediate aftermath of physically and emotionally grueling defeats. But the 31-year-old veteran—who is already the former UFC interim and former WEC champion—is the sort of guy who might not simply be blowing smoke when he says this time he left it all in the Octagon.

“I’ve been at this for a long time—over 40 professional MMA and kickboxing fights,” Condit said at the postfight press conference. “Tonight was kind of a do-or-die moment for my career, and I was all in. If I got that strap, I was going to keep fighting, and if I didn’t, like I didn’t, I have to see if I can continue to do this.”

By now, this fight’s numbers are well-known. Condit threw nearly 500 significant strikes during the five-round affair and out-landed Lawler 176-92 in that department, according to Fight Metric—the UFC’s official statistics service.

Condit’s significant strikes landed are the second-most all time in a UFC title fight, according to Fight Metic’s Michael Carroll. Lawler’s minus-84 differential is the worst ever for a decision winner, Carroll posted to social media.

Condit out-struck Lawler in every round, though Lawler stormed back to make things much closer in the definitive final stanza. Condit’s sheer volume and his ability to control range with his kicks were impressive. Yet, Lawler appeared to stun him with hard shots on several occasions, including dropping Condit to the canvas with the fight’s single-most powerful punch (a right hook) in the second round.

In the end, who you tabbed to win this bout likely came down to a discussion of whether Condit’s work rate outdid Lawler’s power. The answer may reveal a philosophical rift in the bedrock of the sport—one that isn’t easily explained away and where the opposing sides aren’t likely to meet in the middle.

MMA is not strictly a numbers game, after all. The sport is too dynamic and too diverse for that. Nobody wants to get to the point where winners are determined simply by adding up the number of punches and kicks. In this instance, Condit’s areas of expertise were on full display—and they may well have been good enough—but so too were Lawler’s heart and fearsome heavy hands.

There are likely deeper discussions to be had here, too. MMA’s 10-point must system continues to be a fairly blunt instrument for scoring such a nuanced athletic contest. It may be time to start looking into alternative systems, as well as the specific methods by which all these techniques are being scored and by whom.

For now, though, we’re left with a puzzle with only one solution: Let’s do it again, brother. Let’s do it again.

White was characteristically reticent to plot out a hair-trigger next step on fight night. He and the rest of the UFC brass no doubt want to go back to the office, survey the options and crunch the financials. It’ll be some time yet before we find out the immediate future of the 170-pound title.

“We don’t make the fights tonight,” White said at the presser. “The fight was awesome…and I had it 3-2 for Condit. It was an amazing fight, congrats to both guys. We’ll see. We’ll see how this thing plays out and what happens.”

And look, much like reforms to the scoring system itself, immediate rematches are the sort of thing we all want to be careful with. Nobody wants the UFC title picture to devolve into an endless series of do-overs. We’re already getting a heavyweight rematch at UFC 196 next month and recently deposed champs like Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey are likely to get second cracks to regain the gold during 2016.

As a general rule of thumb, the UFC should move to keep things moving, to keep thing fresh. In this instance, however, an exception should be made.

The welterweight division is among the sport’s most competitive right now, but it’s not as though there are a wealth of better options banging on Lawler’s door.

Rory MacDonald remains the division’s No. 1-ranked contender, but he just lost to Lawler (in another thrilling bout) at UFC 189 last July. It was MacDonald’s second career defeat to Lawler, and without significant upheaval at the top, he’ll need another win or two to rehabilitate himself into a viable title challenger.

No. 2 Tyron Woodley is the cut-and-dried next choice, and from a purely competition-based standpoint, he certainly deserves it. But Woodley isn’t much of a proven draw and—though he beat Condit in March 2014—his two most recent victories (over Dong Hyun Kim and Kelvin Gastelum) don’t exactly make him a slam dunk.

On top of that, Woodley has never seemed like the UFC’s favorite. In June 2014, White went on record saying he believes Woodley “chokes in big fights,” via MMAFighting.com’s Dave Doyle. That’s a harsh indictment of a fighter who remains 15-3 overall, but it could matter when the UFC sits down to decide its next move.

Former champion Johny Hendricks (No. 3) is the only other man ranked above Condit right now. He split his first two meetings with Lawler in a pair of exciting fights at UFCs 171 and 181, but he too seems to have fallen from the fight company’s favor recently.

Hendricks was forced to pull out of a scheduled bout against Woodley at the last minute in October 2015 after complications during his weight cut. His next fight will be against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson at UFC 196 and doesn’t shape up as the bout he needs to tee him up for another title opportunity.

If the UFC takes a sober (and fiscally mindful) look around the welterweight division, it seems likely that Condit-Lawler II will come out smelling like a rose.

If Condit is serious about walking away from the sport, it also adds a fair amount of urgency.

While immediate rematches aren’t always the ticket, this one is. Let’s get it done, before we lose the chance forever, and we’re left with more questions we can never answer.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Video: Michael McDonald Taps Kanehara After Beautiful Back Take at UFC 195

Michael McDonald (17-3) had not fought inside the Octagon since 2013, and that is exactly what it looked like through the first round of his fight against Masanori Kanehara (25-13-5) at UFC 195 on Saturday night.
It was a tough task for his return figh…

Michael McDonald (17-3) had not fought inside the Octagon since 2013, and that is exactly what it looked like through the first round of his fight against Masanori Kanehara (25-13-5) at UFC 195 on Saturday night.

It was a tough task for his return fight after more than two years out of action, and the No. 8-ranked bantamweight contender struggled to find the same success that made him a title contender prior to his injury. Kanehara was making his long-awaited return less triumphant by the second.

Kanehara got McDonald to the mat early in the second round and went for an arm-triangle choke.

As Kanehara passed to the side to tighten up the submission attempt, McDonald contorted his body to slip out of danger and take his opponent’s back. It was a marvelous back take that opened the door for him to finish the fight right away.

McDonald sunk in the rear-naked choke, and Kanehara had no choice but to tap out.

The back take into the submission makes it an early Submission of the Year candidate. It was an extraordinary transition and fight reversal. The dramatic ending ensured that McDonald made an impact in his Octagon return.

Following UFC 195, it is evident that Mayday is the perfect nickname for Michael McDonald.

With the victory in the featured preliminary bout on Fox Sports 1, the American is right back in the thick of the bantamweight division. And he is still just 24 years old. The UFC has options on how it wants to bring McDonald back into the mix. After this performance, fans will be interested in what comes next.

McDonald’s incredible finish will be hard to top, but there are 12 months for another mind-boggling submission to occur. 2016 should be a whole lot of fun.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit: Breaking Down the FightMetric Numbers

The UFC 195 main event, a welterweight title fight between champion Robbie Lawler (27-10 (1)) and challenger Carlos Condit (30-9), will be labeled as many things. War. Brawl. Battle. Instant classic. Slobberknocker.
Unfortunately, another label that ha…

The UFC 195 main event, a welterweight title fight between champion Robbie Lawler (27-10 (1)) and challenger Carlos Condit (30-9), will be labeled as many things. War. Brawl. Battle. Instant classic. Slobberknocker.

Unfortunately, another label that has been thrown around a lot is “robbery.” While the official decision read as a 48-47, 47-48, 48-47 split decision in favor of the champion, a number of fans and pundits cried foul, scoring the fight in favor of the challenger.

Naturally, a fair bit of that outcry came from the loser’s camp. The usual mix of training partners, friends and managers (Warning: NSFW Language) aired their grievances about the call, but so too did a lot of impartial bystanders. Yes, there was still a degree of support for Lawler, but it is impossible to dismiss the amount of controversy surrounding this fight.

While the numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story, they are worth looking over following a bout like this. So why not take a look at the scorecards, the striking numbers and the pure nuts and bolts, to see if they agree with the judges or the masses?

The Hands of the Judges

When it comes to analyzing a fight’s decision, the first talking point, naturally, is the judges’ scorecards. Here they are, via MMAFighting.com on Twitter:

The judges were unanimous in their scoring for four out of five rounds. All three scored Rounds 1 and 4 in favor of Condit while giving Rounds 2 and 5 to Lawler. The deciding round was the third, which two gave to Lawler and one gave to Condit.

Interestingly, however, FightMetric.com’s tally (which you can find here) gave Condit an edge in the volume of significant strikes in each of the five rounds. While some may take that as proof that he actually won the fight…not so fast.

FightMetric.com defines a “significant strike” as “all strikes at distance and power strikes in the clinch and on the ground.” Needless to say, not all “significant strikes” are truly “significant,” as a labored leg kick from Condit in Round 5 is scored the same as a stiff jab or a heat seeker down the pipe. That said, the numbers do not necessarily disagree with the scores for those four rounds.

According to FightMetric, Condit out-landed Lawler by a substantial margin in Round 1 (28 significant strikes by Condit to 12 by Lawler) and Round 4 (47 to 6). Though Condit actually out-landed the champion in both Rounds 2 and 5 as well, a knockdown swings Round 2 back into Lawler’s favor, while his nonstop aggression against a tired Condit (which isn’t really quantifiable) helped him take Round 5.

That leaves Round 3…

The Deciding Round

The significant strike tally for Round 3 favors Condit, as it reads a fairly decisive 22-11. Peeling those numbers apart a bit further doesn’t necessarily discount the differential either, as FightMetric’s breakdown of the targeted areas indicates he landed six significant strikes to the head, nine to the body and seven to the legs (in comparison to Lawler’s nine shots to the head and two to the legs).

The quantitative, however, doesn’t necessarily coincide with the qualitative.

Round 3 can functionally be divided into two halves. Condit clearly controlled the first half, using his high-volume striking to stifle Lawler’s offensive output. The second half broke in Lawler’s favor, as he hammered Condit with an elbow and followed it up with a few more heavy shots.

The majority of fans and pundits, obviously, gave the nod to Condit. Some still favored the champ based on those few clean hits.

Regardless of how many people on Twitter fall into the former camp, the three judges sitting cageside hold all the cards when it comes to the record books. While they weren’t often in agreement Saturday night (four of UFC 195’s fights ended in split decision), the unchangeable fact is that two of them fell into the latter category. Both men had a strong claim to victory, and public outrage doesn’t change that.

What Should Fans Make of This?

While many used the label of “robbery” for this fight…that’s just silly. As is pointed out following every controversial decision, there are few true “robberies” in MMA. 

What the judges had here were two fighters with radically different styles who both successfully implemented their game plans. One did so for a longer period of time to lesser effect (Condit), while the other did so for a shorter period of time to greater effect (Lawler). One controlled the action for a longer period of time, while the other came closer to ending the fight on more occasions.

This was a hotly contested fight that went to decision. Nothing more, nothing less.

A strong case can be made that Condit won the fight and is the rightful UFC champion, and the numbers don’t disagree with that assertion. Yours truly (conveniently) scored the fight as a 48-48 draw, giving Condit Rounds 1, 3 and 4 while giving Lawler Rounds 2 and 5, with the fifth being scored 10-8. If that 10-8 is changed to a 10-9, things obviously swing in favor of Condit.

The numbers, however, do not tell the whole story, and even though Condit’s high-volume style is suited to padding his FightMetric stats, this was not a runaway performance from him on paper. While one can infer that Condit did indeed have a stronger claim to victory than Lawler, the difference was not so overwhelming that a decision breaking in Lawler’s favor should lead to torches and pitchforks.

There is one important takeaway from this match, though.

History shows, again and again, that if a champion manages to win two rounds off a challenger, regardless of almost anything else, he will walk away with the title. There are plenty of examples, including Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson, Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar 2 and Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks, that demonstrate judges are reluctant to award challengers with 48-47 scorecards.

While some may disagree, it feels like the oft-discussed “champion’s advantage” still lives on to some degree. UFC contenders in all divisions ought to make a note of this.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 195 Results: Winners, Scorecards from Lawler vs. Condit Card

UFC 195 finished with a classic. Main events rarely live up to the hype, but Saturday night’s featured bout surely did. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler retained his UFC Welterweight Championship with a thrilling and close split-decision win over “The Natural …

UFC 195 finished with a classic. Main events rarely live up to the hype, but Saturday night’s featured bout surely did. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler retained his UFC Welterweight Championship with a thrilling and close split-decision win over “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit. MMA Junkie shared the official scorecards:

The fight had several momentum shifts, and it was punctuated by a fifth round that will go down as one of the best in welterweight history. ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto thought it might have been the best regardless of weight class:

Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter took it a step further:

The fight stats for the bout are interesting, but the numbers from the fifth round are especially notable. Per UFC.com, Condit landed 81 strikes to just 43 for the champion. By most accounts, Lawler took the final round because it looked as though he was on the verge of stopping Condit, but The Natural Born Killer proved to have a granite chin.

SB Nation’s Luke Thomas shared those sentiments:

Even with Lawler’s hard combinations wobbling the challenger, it’s hard to ignore Condit’s edge in volume. In fact, he had a huge advantage in strikes landed throughout the fight. Falling just shy of 200 strikes landed, Condit hit Lawler 198 times, while the champion landed 78 strikes. That’s a huge discrepancy.

Looking at those numbers, it’s easy to find fuel for opinions like the one former UFC fighter and current Fox Sports analyst Kenny Florian shared:

With that said, decisions aren’t awarded based on strikes landed; the judges go by rounds won. The third round was probably the toughest to call. No one was rocked, but Condit did outland Lawler 22-10 in the frame.

In any case, it was a great and competitive fight. Though I scored it for Condit, it was too close to call the decision a robbery. After the bout, the challenger seemed to feel slighted by the judges, per Bleacher Report MMA:

The classy champion gave Condit all the respect he earned in his post-fight interview. Per MMAFighting.com, he laid the groundwork for a potential rematch:

Lawler isn’t a matchmaker, and some fans are clamoring for Tyron Woodley—a man who defeated Condit—to finally get his shot at the gold. After this epic clash, fans might be more inclined to shell out dough to see Lawler vs. Condit II as a main event, though, than they would for Lawler vs. Woodley.

That could be all UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and UFC President Dana White need to book the rematch.

 

Miocic Smokes the Pit Bull

Stipe Miocic walked through former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in 54 seconds. The two men exchanged a few insignificant jabs and body shots, but the first shot of substance came from Miocic.

A hard right hand caught Arlovski on his ear, and Miocic followed up with a right and left hand that put the Belarusian down. Arlovski dropped to all fours, and Miocic dropped one more shot that forced referee Herb Dean to call an end to the fight.

Seconds after the win, Miocic ran over to White and began screaming at him, “I want my shot!” He was referring to a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship. The champion is Fabricio Werdum, but he has a rematch with Cain Velasquez already scheduled for UFC 196 on February 6.

With Miocic’s knockout victory over Arlovski, he has to be next in line for a shot at the winner of the UFC 196 main event. Bleacher Report MMA thinks it’s time for Miocic to get his crack at the belt, as well:

Here’s a look at all of the results from Saturday night’s card in Las Vegas:

Results

UFC 195 Main Card

  • (c) Robbie Lawler def. Carlos Condit, split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
  • Stipe Miocic def. Andrei Arlovski, TKO (Round 1, 0:54)
  • Albert Tumenov def. Lorenz Larkin, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
  • Brian Ortega def. Diego Brandao, submission (triangle choke, Round 3, 1:37)
  • Abel Trujillo def. Tony Sims, submission (guillotine, Round 1, 3:18)

 

Prelims on Fox Sports 1

  • Michael McDonald def. Masanori Kanehara, submission (rear-naked choke, Round 2, 2:09)
  • Alex Morono def. Kyle Noke, split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
  • Justine Kish def. Nina Ansaroff, unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Drew Dober def. Scott Holtzman, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

 

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass

  • Dustin Poirier def. Joe Duffy, unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Michinori Tanaka def. Joe Soto, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
  • Sheldon Westcott def. Edgar Garcia, TKO (Round 1, 3:12)

 

The Highlights

Westcott Pounds Garcia

Edgar Garcia’s only chance to beat Sheldon Westcott was with his striking on his feet. Westcott made sure Garcia didn’t stay on his feet for long. Early in the first frame, Westcott secured a takedown and started pounding Garcia.

For some reason, referee Chris Tognoni elected to allow the fight to continue for 30 to 40 seconds longer than it needed to. Garcia was defenseless with Westcott clinging to his back. Finally, Tognoni called an end to the bout, and Westcott was named the victor.

The Canadian’s celebration made UFC Europe nervous:

The victory was a huge one for Westcott. He had lost his first two fights in the promotion, so the win might have saved him from the cut line.

 

McDonald Chokes out Masanori Kanehara

It had been more than two years since Michael McDonald last competed in the Octagon, and his return had some anxious moments. Masanori Kanehara proved to be a better grappler than most expected, and McDonald had to fight through a serious side arm-triangle choke.

Just when it looked as though McDonald was in trouble, he popped out of the hold and immediately took Kanehara’s back. Without hesitation, the American sunk his arm under Kanehara’s chin to force the tapout.

McDonald is just 24 years old despite his eight UFC bouts and 20 total professional fights. His future looks bright, but he may need to guard against overconfidence moving forward.

 

Trujillo Squeezes Sims

When you’re strong, you don’t necessarily need to do things in textbook fashion. Tony Sims was outstriking Abel Trujillo, before the former made the mistake of going for a takedown.

Sims slipped a wild punch nicely, but when he lifted Trujillo, the powerful Des Moines, Iowa, native was able to lock in a guillotine. Trujillo used the butterfly to push Sims over and apply his weight and strong arms on his opponent’s neck.

It didn’t take long for Sims to tap. Both fighters were coming off losses, so it was somewhat of a must-win situation. Trujillo got the much-needed victory.

 

T-City Explains the Meaning of His Name

I was wondering what Brian “T-City” Ortega’s nickname meant. In his victory over Diego Brandao, Ortega showed us and proved why the moniker makes sense. The “T” stands for triangle, and that’s the brand of choke he used to submit Brandao.

After likely losing the first two rounds, the Gracie-trained Ortega put his Brazilian jiu-jitsu into effect and displayed some high-level transitioning. The winning sequence started as an anaconda choke, moved to full mount and within seconds became a triangle choke.

T-City baby!

USA Today and MMA Junkie’s Ben Fowles understands the nickname but still doesn’t like it:

Whatever his alias is, Ortega showed an excellent chin, poise and some awesome grappling. Keep your eye on this young man. 

 

What’s Next

UFC Fight Night 81

The main event scheduled for the January 17 card in Boston could easily be a headliner for a pay-per-view. MMA fans will be delighted to know it’ll be on Fox Sports 1.

UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw will defend his title against former titleholder Dominick Cruz in what could be a classic battle. In the co-main event, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis will return to the Octagon to take on former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com