UFC 127 recap: Penn and Fitch fight to a draw, Ring wins controversial decision

By Mike Johnston

@MikeyJ_MMA

Controversy was the theme of an overall entertaining UFC 127 card. During the Prelims Live broadcast Calgary’s Nick Ring won a controversial unanimous decision over Riki Fukuda. For the first two rounds Ring landed more strikes and controlled the action on the feet, but Fukuda was able to land several takedowns. The Japanese star took over in the third. After the fight UFC President Dana White tweeted, “Judges [expletive] suck again!! Fukuda got robbed!!” The win was Ring’s first in the UFC.

In the main event, Jon Fitch and BJ Penn fought to a majority draw. Penn won the first round by controlling Fitch on the ground, the second round was close and the third was all Fitch dominating with ground-and-pound. Fitch out struck Penn 231-48 overall and 149-2 in the third round. The three judges scored the bout 29-28 Fitch, 28-28 and 28-28.

In the co-main event, controversy reared its ugly head again, overshadowing a second round TKO victory for Michael Bisping. In the first round Bisping hit Jorge Rivera with an intentional illegal knee that hurt Rivera. The Brit was docked a point and it looked like the fight would be stopped. Rivera fought through it, but in the second round Bisping took control and finished off Rivera. He won’t gain any new fans with this performance, but he will move closer to a title shot.

Also on the main card, Dennis Siver upset George Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision. In the first round Siver dropped Sotiropoulos two separate times with a left hook. Siver also showed tremendous takedown defense, which proved to be the biggest difference in the fight. The loss was Sotiropoulos’ first in his UFC career. Brian Ebersole upset Chris Lytle by unanimous decision. Ebersole landed a huge knee in the second round that dropped Lytle and completely changed how the rest of the fight played out. Also, Australian Kyle Noke defeated his fellow TUF 11 cast mate Chris Camozzi with a rear-naked choke. Since coming off the reality series, Noke is 3-0 in the UFC.

In preliminary action, Ross Pearson and Spencer Fisher put on the show they had promised with Pearson winning a blistering decision. The TUF 9 winner displayed an improved ground game and was slightly more active in the final two rounds of their lightweight scrap. Alex Gustafsson looked impressive once again as he won his second consecutive fight via rear-naked choke. After getting controlled for the first half of the first round, the Swede reversed his fortunes and showed that he has been working on his grappling. He is now 3-1 in the UFC.

In other preliminary action, “The Mongolian Wolf” Tiequan Zhang defeated Jason Reinhardt by submission in the first minute of round one of their featherweight fight. Zhang showed solid counterpunching on the feet and when Reinhardt went for a takedown Zhang forced a tap with a tight guillotine choke. Australian Anthony Perosh made the home crowd proud by submitting Tom Blackledge in the first round with a rear-naked choke. Plus, Mark Hunt picked up his first MMA win in over five years, as he knocked out Chris Tuchscherer in the second round of their heavyweight bout.

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