San Diego fighters finish 1 win 2 losses at UFC 140

Light-heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, aka “Lil Nog” of the famed Nogueira twins, caught Tito Ortiz with a left hook, then finished him off with body shots to win a first-round TKO victory Saturday night at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, the latest venue to showcase the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

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With both fighters throwing power shots from the outset, it was Lil Nog’s quick left hook that gave him an early advantage and had Ortiz dazed. After landing a follow-up punch and a knee to the body, Ortiz went to the mat. Ortiz survives this onslaught by pulling Nogueira into full guard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reprieve was short-lived as Lil Nog postured up and delivered a torrent of punches and elbows. The ref gave Ortiz every opportunity to recover, but was ultimately forced to step in and halt the action at the 3:15 mark of the opening round.

After the stoppage, Ortiz rolled in pain and started to favor the side of his body that had been battered.

Despite the loss, Ortiz’s fifth in his past six fights, the former champ said he’s planning to continue fighting. Ortiz has one remaining bout on his UFC contract.

“He caught me clean,” said Ortiz of the body blows. “In the same place Rashad (Evans) did. That body shot really hurt me. But, I came in here and gave it my all.”

When you work for an organization like the UFC, there’s always talk about your job being on the line. The UFC is that one organization where you’re either a contender or you’re history.

Some say Nogueira (20-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who had lost his last two fights, saved his job with the win.  With the UFC’s huge talent pool, Dana White, el Presidente, has been quick to give people their pink slip. More than likely Ortiz (16-10-1 MMA, 15-10-1 UFC), now 1-6-1 over the past five years, will get one last hurrah and win or lose, he will be let go.

Nogueira, now 35 years of age, was excited by his victory. “I feel great! Man, it’s like a dream come true. Tito Ortiz is a legend of this sport, so I’m very, very happy. I knew he was going to try to come out strong because in his last two fights he came out aggressive. Once we took it to the ground I got on top and gave it my all.”

Another of the featured bouts featured Lil Nog’s big brother, the heavyweight legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-7-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) facing Frank Mir (16-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC).

Nogueira and Mir met at UFC 92 for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Mir won that one sided match via a TKO in the second round. Showing much improved striking ability, Mir knocked Nogueira down twice in the first round and then the referee stepped in to stop the bout at 1:54 of the second round. The loss marked the first time Nogueira had ever been stopped.

Two days after the fight, White revealed to the media that Nogueira had just gotten over a Staph infection. Twenty days before the fight, he had spent five days in a hospital. Several months down the road, Nogueira himself verified this information. In addition to the illness, his knee was injured during training. Despite the legitimate handicaps, Nogueira offered little by way of justification or excuses for his performance, only strong praise for Mir’s performance.

In Saturday’s rematch it appeared Big Nog had the victory well in hand. Instead, after having his opponent on the mat and just a blow or two away from unconsciousness, Mir miraculously escaped, slapped on a kimura and then rolled with his fellow jiu-jitsu ace before breaking Nogueira’s arm to force the stoppage.

Nogueira struck first by landing combinations to the head. Mir then scored a brief trip-takedown before they returned to their feet and continued fighting at close quarters. Nogueira landed a few elbows and a knee, and then wobbled Mir with quick a right hand.

Mir fell to his knees, ate a barrage of punches, and then fought off a guillotine choke that would have ended the bout.

After getting out of the choke hold and during that scramble, Mir ended in side control and almost instantly locked Big Nog up in a kimura. At that point, “Big Nog” kept rolling to take the pressure off the hold, but finally relented when Mir tightened up on the kimura even further, eventually dislocating and breaking Nogueira’s arm.

The ref observed the snap and halted the action at the 3:38 mark of the opening round.

After three long years of dealing with pain from the multiple hip operations, an ACL operation, the continual rehabbing, this gladiator is back to square one.

 

His opponent seemed ecstatic: “Now I’m the first person to knock him out and the first one to submit him,” said Mir. “I was trying to see what he was doing differently. Patience was the key. My game plan was to wait for things to happen. In the past I’d rush into things. My goal was also to submit him.

“I’m really glad the fight ended the way it did. I hope that ‘Minotauro’ is OK. I idolize him, and I’m curious to see what he has to say after. When you are as big as we are (Mir stands 6’3” tall and weighs 260 pounds), things are going to happen.”

With the win, the 32 year-old former UFC heavyweight champ climbs back into title contention. It’s Mir’s third straight win and fourth in his past five bouts. He now holds the record for most victories in the heavyweight division of the UFC with 14. He also holds the distinction of being the only man to both knock out and submit Nogueira and submit fighters like Brock Lesnar and Cheick Kongo.

Nogueira, who in August defeated Brendan Schaub, falls to 1-2 over his past three fights.

In the third bout featuring a San Diego fighter, Palel Watson of the San Diego Combat Academy may have had the deck stacked against him. Here was this tall, confident Californian coming to Toronto to take on a much smaller but highly popular compatriot, Yves Jabouin. As you might expect, Jabouin was able to feed off the partisan crowd and may have benefited big time from the local judges. Especially when the decision was close and it was, razor close.

 

In the first round, Jabouin ducked under a spinning back fist to land a clean right and scored a double-leg takedown later in the round. By the second round, Watson had found his range and started landing some good shots and a nice uppercut. Late in the round, Jabouin landed a spinning back fist and managed a takedown, but had to spend the final 15 seconds defending against Watson’s tight guillotine-choke attempt.

 

In the action-packed third round, both fighters fired off punches and kicks from various angles. After Jabouin scored a takedown, Watson secured a deep D’arce choke that Jabouin only narrowly escaped. The round could have gone either way, which was reflected in the final scores. The judges awarded Jabouin the split-decision win via 29-28, 28-29 and 30-27 tallies.

Interviewed later, Jabouin admitted he had trouble with his 5-foot-11 opponent’s choke attempts. “They were tight, but the will was there. The will, the heart is bigger than everything else.”

Jabouin (16-7 MMA, 1-1 UFC), a former WEC fighter, picks up his first UFC victory while Watson (9-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) suffers his first UFC loss.

In the main event, Jon Jones completed his banner year with a victory over Lyoto Machida. In 2011, he not only beat Machida, but Ryan Bader, Mauricio Rua and Rampage Jackson.

Machida won the first round by utilizing his superior movement and footwork, but then Jones closed the distance in round 2 to eventually get the submission.

According to insiders a Rashad Evans versus Jones match-up is on the horizon. There had been talk about it in the past but each time there was interest, the fight failed to materialize due to injuries to both men.

Evans is currently scheduled to face Phil Davis, another San Diegan from the Alliance Training Center in Chula Vista, Saturday, January 28, 2012 in the next Fox event held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Both Evans and Davis have relied on their wrestling expertise. While Davis appears stronger, Evans has great speed. Bookmakers feel Evans has the best chance against Jones, since they were former teammates.

UFC 140 results:

Jon Jones defeats Lyoto Machida via technical submission (standing guillotine choke) – Round 2, 4:26 (to retain light-heavyweight title)

Frank Mir defeats Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 3:38

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira defeats Tito Ortiz via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:15

Brian Ebersole defeats Claude Patrick via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Chan Sung Jung defeats Mark Hominick via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:07

Igor Pokrajac defeats Krzysztof Soszynski via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:35

Constantinos Philippou defeats Jared Hamman via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:11

Dennis Hallman defeats John Makdessi via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:58

Yves Jabouin defeats Walel Watson via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)

Mark Bocek defeats Nik Lentz via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Jake Hecht defeats Rich Attonito via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:10

John Cholish defeats Mitch Clarke via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:36