It was strength against strength when Kurt Pellegrino faced Gleison Tibau. The UFC veterans are accomplished grapplers and pretty much nullified each other for 15 minutes, but it was Tibau who was a little stronger down the stretch and was able to score a pair of takedowns in the final two minutes. The Brazilian walked away with a split decision victory, 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29, in the first fight of UFC 128's Facebook broadcast from Newark, N.J.
After a dead even first round, Pellegrino landed the biggest punch of the fight. The New Jerseyan drilled Tibau (22-7, 8-5 UFC) with a right hand that buckled Tibau's legs with 3:10 left in the second. He followed that up with another big right, picked up Tibau and slammed him to the floor.� Tibau was clearly stunned but Pellegrino (16-6, 7-5 UFC) couldn't land a fight ending shot and couldn't pass guard to get to side control or the mount. All the work on top, may have tired Pellegrino out for the final round.
Tibau was the fresher and more poised fighter in the final five minutes. His hands were tight and he landed some nice shot to mark up Pellegrino under his left eye. Pellegrino got sloppy with his right hand and was flailing a bit.� Tibau scored a pivotal takedown with two minutes left in the fight and then another with 40 seconds left. That sealed it for Tibau. He avoided two straight losses while Pellegrino suffered his second straight defeat.
Pyle edges Almeida behind some big knees
This matchup was almost identical to the previous fight. Ricardo Almeida and Mike Pyle are dynamite ground artists. The Brazilian may be more decorated on the international scene, but Pyle is a gritty MMA vet who's pretty solid in all facets of the game. Pyle, the fresher fighter through and better on the feet, rolled to a unanimous decision victory, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Pyle's gameplan was clearly to keep things on the feet. On two occasions, he dumped Almeida to the mat and basically walked away asking the referee to stand Almeida back up. Pyle (21-7, 4-2 UFC) never landed anything huge but he was effective with some knees as Almeida (13-5, 6-5 UFC) shot for takedowns. Pyle's takedown defense was excellent and when he did hit the deck he got up quickly. This is a huge win for Pyle, who waited a long time to get to the big show. The 35-year-old has now won three straight. After dropping down from 185 pounds, many thought Almeida would be a force at welterweight, It hasn't worked out for "Big Dog" who's just 2-2 at 170 pounds.
29-28, 30-27, 30-27 ..Pyle
UFC 128 undercard:
Erik Koch def. Raphael Assuncao via KO (punch) - Round 1, 2:32
Nick Catone def. Costantinos Philippou via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Joseph Benavidez def. Ian Loveland via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
No comments:
Post a Comment