B.J. Penn (left) faces Jon Fitch (right) at UFC-127
With controversy, rivalry and disputed fights, UFC 127 excited the audience at the Acer Arena, in Sydney, Australia. The event, which took place in the early hours of this Sunday (27), featured as its main attraction the fight between the North American Jon Fitch and the Hawaiian B.J. Penn. At the end of three highly contested rounds, the draw between the athletes frustrated the more than 22 thousand spectators who supported BJ.
Penn started the duel trying to surprise Fitch, and attacked his opponent's legs to take the fight to the ground. The Hawaiian got to Jon's back, attacked with a rear naked choke, but was unable to finish the fight. In the second round, the dispute remained balanced and with alternating positions in the ground fight. In the last and decisive round, the North American displayed physical fitness and completely dominated BJ, who only defended himself during the five minutes of the contest. At the end of regulation time, a side judge scored Fitch's victory 29 to 28, but the other two saw it equal at 28-28, with a majority draw being declared.
The fight program also featured two highlights: In a fight full of rivalry and controversy, the Englishman Michael Bisping he knocked out the American Jorge Rivera in the second round, while the German Denis Siver frustrated the local public by beating the Australian George Sotiropoulos in a unanimous decision by the judges.
The fight between Bisping and Rivera was surrounded by a lot of provocation during the promotion of the event, but the English athlete, who had already gotten excited at the weigh-in when he attacked his opponent, lost his balance again inside the octagon. Michael, who didn't want to take any chances in the stand-up fight against Rivera, knocked the American down, but when he was on all fours (with his feet and knees resting on the ground) to get up, he landed a strong knee to the face, action which is prohibited in MMA. With the illegal blow, Rivera had five minutes to recover and return to the fight, while Bisping was punished with the loss of a point. In the calmer second round, the English athlete managed to impose his game and punished Rivera with an arsenal of punches in the stand-up fight, which forced the referee to stop the fight and declare a technical knockout.
In the long-awaited duel between lightweights Denis Siver and George Sotiropoulos, it was better for the German athlete, who, with excellent takedown defense and hard striking strikes, dominated the local fighter. With a spectacular first round, where he managed two knockdowns, Denis abused powerful boxing blows that made the Australian athlete unable to find himself in the fight. In the following rounds, Sotiropoulos recovered and tried to counterattack Siver's attacks, but it was too late. At the end of the fight, the three side judges gave the victory to the German fighter.
Another highlight of the night was the exciting fight between Chris Lytle and Brian Ebersole, which brought the crowd to its feet at the Acer Arena. Lytle started the fight better, landing good blows and almost finishing the duel on two guillotine occasions. But Ebersole, who showed a lot of irreverence during the fight, recovered in the second round and landed a beautiful knee, which led to Chris being knocked down. In the third and decisive round, Brian managed to control the fight at close range and score points in the ground fight, while Chris tried, unsuccessfully, to land a guillotine choke. At the end of a fiercely contested 15 minutes, the side judges signaled victory for Bris Ebersole (30×27, 29×28, 29×28)
Check out the other results of the event below:
Main Card:
Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn finished in a tie;
Michael Bisping defeated Jorge Rivera via TKO in R2;
Dennis Siver defeated George Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision;
Brian Ebersole defeated Chris Lytle via unanimous decision;
Kyle Noke submitted Chris Camozzi with a rear naked choke in R1;
Preliminary Card:
Ross Pearson defeated Spencer Fisher via unanimous decision;
Alexander Gustafson submitted James Te Huna with a rear naked choke in R1;
Nick Ring defeated Riki Fukuda via unanimous decision;
Anthony Perosh submitted Tom Blackledge with a rear naked choke in R1;
Tiequan Zhang submitted Jason Reinhardt via guillotine choke in R1;
Mark Hunt defeated Chris Tuchscherer by knockout in R2;
Curt Warburton defeated Maciej Jewtuszko via unanimous decision;
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