UFC 122 recap: Canadian Soszynski victorious, Okami wins questionable decision

Mike Johnston

UFC 122 will go down as the most multicultural fight card in UFC history as fighters from 13 nationalities were scheduled to fight. The event took place in Germany, and there was a “Polish Experiment” from Canada that was all smiles after it was over.


Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Krzysztof “The Polish Experiment” Soszynski won a unanimous decision over Croatian Goran Reljic. The fight was scored 30-27 Soszynski on all three scorecards. After the fight, Soszynski was gracious in victory despite hurting his hand in the bout. “Thank you very much for the great comments,” Soszynski told his fans via facebook. “I just arrived from the hospital, did some damage to my right hand. No break but looks like ligament damage. Not sure to what extent. Hand is swollen and very sore. I fought the whole 3rd round with no feeling in it.”

Soszynski added: “Goran is a beast. I had a great time in the octagon. Smiled the whole 15 min. Conditioning is key in this sport. I was so close to finishing him in the third. Need 20 more sec. 5-2 in the UFC. All the hard work is paying off. Off to Krakow tomorrow night. Now I can eat some Polish food and get fat!!!! Great success!!!!”

The main event saw Yushin Okami win a unanimous decision over Nate Marquardt to earn a title shot against the winner of Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort. The judges scored the bout 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 all in favour of Okami, but that came as a surprise to many fans watching. Although it was a close contest for all three rounds, most believed Marquardt won the first two rounds with Okami taking round three. Regardless of what the fans thought, Okami is now the number one middleweight contender.

Also on the main card, Dennis Siver excited his German countrymen with an impressive, thrilling first round stoppage of Andre Winner. Siver dropped Winner with a counter left hook and finished the Brit with a rear-naked choke. Siver-Winner replaced Alessio Sakara vs Jorge Rivera as the co-main event after that bout was scrapped due to an illness suffered by Sakara.

Amir Sadollah got back on the winning track by defeating Peter Sobotta by unanimous decision. And, in the opening bout of the evening Dwane Ludwig won yet another questionable decision over Nick Osipczak. It seemed clear that Osipczak won the first two rounds while Ludwig dominated the third. The judges peculiarly scored the bout 29-28 Ludwig, 30-28 Osipzcak and 29-28 Ludwig.

MAIN CARD




•Yushin Okami def. Nate Marquardt via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

•Dennis Siver def. Andre Winner via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 3:37

•Amir Sadollah def. Peter Sobotta via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

•Krzysztof Soszynski def. Goran Reljic by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

•Duane Ludwig vs. Nick Osipczak via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

PRELIMINARY CARD



•Vladimir Matyushenko def. Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 2:20

•Pascal Krauss def. Mark Scanlon via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

•Kyle Noke def. Rob Kimmons via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 1:33

•Karlos Vemola def. Seth Petruzelli via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 3:46

•Carlos Eduardo Rocha def. Kris McCray via submission (kneebar) - Round 1, 2:21


For complete results, visit ufc.com. For more MMA news and notes follow me on Twitter @MikeyJ_MMA.