Matt
Brown may be in the final act of his career, but his stellar
highlight reel is still a work in progress.
In the top prelim of
UFC on ABC 4 on Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina, the
42-year-old Ohioan flatlined fellow grizzled welterweight Court McGee
with a brutal overhand right. With the first-round stoppage, “The
Immortal” tied Derrick
Lewis’ record for most knockouts in Ultimate Fighting Championship history. Up
until the moment of the KO, the fight seemed to be shaping up into
the kind of clinch-heavy grind that had allowed McGee to stay
relevant as he headed toward his own 40th birthday. With a minute
left in the frame, however, Brown set “The Crusher” up with a front
push kick and, as McGee came forward again,
landed a single right hand that ended the fight.
Referee Dan Miragliotta rushed in to save the stricken fighter, but
Brown was already walking off with his hands raised, his 13th UFC
knockout a mere formality.
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The win elevated Brown’s record to 24-19 (17-12 UFC), while McGee
fell to 21-12 overall, an even 10-10 in the promotion.
Williams Holds on for Controversial Decision over Sherman
Karl
Williams ran out to an early lead against Chase
Sherman, then held on across the final 10 minutes, doing enough
to win in the minds of the judges tasked with determining the
winner of their heavyweight showcase. Round 1 was a clear Williams
round, as he hurt Sherman more than once with punches, and landed a
late takedown that led to some damage on the ground including a
cut, and a couple of punishing blows as they returned to the feet.
The rest of the way, Sherman appeared to pull ahead of the
increasingly fatigued Williams, whose striking volume all but
dried up while his takedown attempts proved fruitless. However, the
judges saw the fight unanimously in Williams’ favor, including two
baffling 30-27 scorecards. The win drove Williams’ record to 9-1 as
a professional, 2-0 since joining the UFC as a graduate of Dana White’s Contender Series last year;
Sherman dropped to 16-2 (4-11 UFC).
Silva de Andrade Edges Out Stamann
In a planned 140-pound catchweight contest, Douglas
Silva de Andrade (29-5, 1 NC) picked up a hard-fought win over
Cody
Stamann (21-6-1), outlanding him over the first two rounds,
then holding on as the American came roaring back in the third.
“D’Silva” was the sharper striker for most of the fight, stinging
Stamann with leg kicks and clean counter punches. Stamann looked to
wrestle early on, landing an emphatic first-round takedown, but the
Brazilian received a gift standup from referee Wayne Spinola after
landing an illegal upkick, and Stamann’s wrestling did not end up
being a factor for the rest of the fight. Likely down two rounds to
none heading into the final frame, Stamann fought like it, coming
out with a noticeable sense of urgency and dropping de Andrade with
a big left hand and a flurry of follow-up punches. “The Spartan”
swarmed with punches on the ground, but de Andrade survived long
enough to regain his wits, tie Stamann up in his guard and recover
fully. Stamann maintained the momentum, but failed to secure either
a finish or the kind of damage that might have elicited 10-8 scores
from the judges. After the final horn, Silva de Andrade prevailed
by unanimous 29-28 scores, bringing his UFC mark to 7-5; Stamann’s
tally in the promotion fell to 5-4-1.
Bohm Takes Foul-Plagued Technical Decision
In one of the more bizarre UFC fights in recent memory, Mandy Bohm
prevailed over Ji Yeon Kim
by technical decision. The flyweight meeting had been scheduled to
take place in February but was postponed when Bohm fell ill on the
day of the event. The rescheduled bout nearly didn’t make it out of
the first round, as Kim hurt Bohm badly with a pair of punches
early, then came close to being submitted when she overpursued the
finish and had her back taken. Bohm’s rear-naked choke attempt came
up short, however, and both women survived to hear the horn. The
second round was another back-and-forth affair, ending with Bohm in
top position on the canvas. Kim kicked Bohm in the chest several
seconds after the end of the round, prompting referee Larry Carter
to penalize her a point at the beginning of the final stanza. It
would prove a harbinger of the weirdness to follow. Near the
midpoint of Round 3, Kim struck the grounded Bohm with an illegal
knee to the head. The German went down in apparent distress and
when the cageside doctor examined her, she stated that she could
not see out of her left eye. Referee Carter called off the contest
and the cageside judges turned in their scores, including scores
for the truncated final round, for a technical decision. After
further review—and after the judges had already rendered their
scores—Carter then deducted a point from Kim for the foul,
necessitating a delay of several minutes while the tallies were
adjusted. Finally, the result was announced as a technical split
decision (27-28, 28-27, 28-27) for Bohm, bringing her record to 1-2
in the UFC, 8-2 overall. Kim’s fifth straight loss brought her
record to 9-7-2 (3-6 UFC).
Battle Sparks Green
The only Charlotte native on the card, Bryan
Battle (9-2) made it count, flattening Gabriel
Green (11-5) just 14 seconds into their 173-pound catchweight
contest. Green charged forward behind a storm of punches and kicks
as soon as referee Wayne Spinola waved them into action, and “Pooh
Bear” obliged him with the brawl he wanted. Battle got much the
better of it, catching his man with punches even as he backed into
the fence,
but it was one clean right hand that short-circuited Green. Battle
tacked on a couple more punches as Spinola dived in for the
stoppage and the crowd exploded. Battle missed the
welterweight limit on Friday, forcing the catchweight and
forfeiting any chance at an official “Performance of the Night”
bonus, but nonetheless moved to 4-1 in the UFC since joining the
promotion as the middleweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 29. With the crushing loss, Green’s Octagon record stood at
2-3.
Debuting Lisboa Taps Out Clark
In the opening fight of the night, Tainara
Lisboa (6-2) served notice that she is more than just a
crossover kickboxer, choking out Jessica-Rose
Clark (11-9, 1 NC) with under a minute left in their
bantamweight clash. From the early going, it proved to be more of a
balanced affair than Lisboa’s credentials as a multiple-time world
muay thai champion might have suggested. Clark experienced
significant success on the feet, landing several clean punches to
the head, while Lisboa surprised by taking Clark down, pinning her
against the fence and landing some hard strikes from half guard as
the round expired. The second round offered more of a
straightforward striker vs. grappler dynamic, as Lisboa hurt Clark
badly with a punch combination early in the round, prompting a
desperation double-leg from “Jessy Jess” and setting the pattern
for what was to come. Lisboa stung Clark repeatedly for the
remainder of the frame, turning aside several determined takedown
attempts along the way. Clark finally secured a takedown early in
Round 3, grounding Lisboa in the center of the cage and punishing
her with punches and elbows, one of which opened a deep cut over
the Brazilian’s right eye. The ground turned out not to be a safe
place for Clark either, however, as Lisboa stuffed a single-leg
takedown,
hopped on her back and cinched up a lightning-quick rear-naked
choke. The tap came seconds later at 4 minutes, 20
seconds of the final round, marking a successful UFC debut for
Lisboa; Clark fell to 4-5 in the Octagon.