Whittaker outpoints Romero for interim UFC gold & Overeem decisions Werdum in trilogy match

Foto por Jairo Pardo

The original headliner of UFC 213 ‎from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada may have disappeared yet, that did not stop the second of the two originally scheduled UFC title bouts from materializing in the form of some late and loud 4th of July fireworks.

After a short feeling out process between Yoel Romero (13-2) and Robert Whittaker (19-5), the dazzling strikers traded big punches in the middle of the Octagon as they slid in and out of the pocket. ‘Soldier of God’ Romero mixed in his patented flying knee and sneaky oblique kicks as well as lightning quick punches over the top while ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker returned fire via front kicks, jabs and overhand shots for those exciting opening minutes. ‎Romero edged him out in the cleaner strikes department temporarily slowing down the Aussie’s offense.

For Round 2, Romero threw his now famous jumping knee attack, landing it on Whittaker’s mid section really taking steam away from The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes winner. The Cuban racked up points hitting a few more kicks along the way to Whittaker’s lead left leg before shooting for a single or double leg takedown. The New Zeland favorite threw a few straight punches before Romero changed levels and secured a big takedown with 3 minutes left in the stanza. ‘The Reaper’ managed to work his way back up to his feet but was quickly taken down to the mat off of a body lock for his troubles. Once they were back upalong the cage wall in a clinch ‎Romero sunk in an inside leg trip to lock in one final takedown seconds before the round ended taking control of the match by finishing in top control.

However, the tide would turn under some peculiar circumstances.

Whittaker told his corner during the 60 second break that his left knee was thrashed so , heading into Round 3 he turned it up and ‎fought very intelligently disguising any physical ‎issues as he took control of those following 5 minutes. The Australia native implemented angles to land punches on Romero, lots of in-and-out movement to make his man miss on counters and also pushed forward making his opponent be on the defensive. He had also timed Romero perfectly, stuffing the bulk of the Cuban’s takedown attempts for the next 15 minutes via dropping levels, using body locks and over-unders. Amazingly enough with a seriously injured knee that he admitted in the post fight press conference hurt even with the adrenaline pumping, Whittaker seemed to fight better thanks to the injury as well as great instructions from his corner.

In Round 4 Romero likely took the first 2 minutes by dropping levels and securing a body lock on his man. The Cuban controlled Whittaker as he tried to drag him to the mat or muscle him into guard but Robert slipped and rolled out of harm’s way. The TUF winner then held his own and kept the takedown attempts from finishing using an underhook or wizerand finally broke away following those chess-like 120 seconds. He then ‎took over the round by landing the cleaner blows, pushing his man back and stuffing every takedown attempt from Yoel as he mixed in stiff jabs and counter punches. Whittaker also popped him with a front kicks and overhands that got the judges’ attention. His take down defense was on point throwing off the timing and rhythm of his adversary.

For Round 5 Romero was lacking balance and missing wide since his punches were very slow and loopy. His footwork was a mess as he lunged forward and came up short time after time, breathing heavy with his mouth open. ‘The Reaper’ caught him on the head with a strike that opened up a cut which dripped blood from the top of the head down the face of Romero, adding one more distraction to his championship round. On the other hand the Australian warrior controlled the distance and got top control in the final minute of the match after kicking out his man’s leg making him trip following an exchange. The young gun slid into his foe’s guard taking top control as he landed some great strikes to punctuate the round en-route to a points verdict.

In the end the judges’ official scores were 48-47 all across the board for the new UFC Interim Middleweight champion of the world, Robert Whittaker.

Michael Bisping stepped into the cage to congratulate Whittaker following the post-fight interviews with Joe Rogan letting the new title holder know that the belt ‘The Count’ holds is the real deal and to come fight him for it as Bisping the gold at Whittaker’s feet.

OVEREEM THE BETTER MAN IN WERDUM TRILOGY

Foto por Jairo Pardo

The newly minted UFC 213 co-main event tonight featured former heavyweight champions in multiple organizations such as Strikeforce and Dream ‎colliding for their third and final meeting. The first 10 minutes was spread over a mountain of feints while moving and circling around one another as well as both men’s hesitancy to let their hands go but landing accurately if they did. The final chapter in their trilogy may have taken a decade and three different MMA promotions to happen but it lacked the fast-paced fireworks that it could have easily produced.

The better striker of the two, as he was throughout the series was Overeem. He applied a crisp step-in jab tonight which he used effortlessly to snap his man’s head back‎ and a looping left hook that found its mark which stung Werdum who pulled out of the pocket with his hands down at his waist almost every time. He eventually adjusted and launched some low leg kicks and front kicks that hit their mark but they were too far and in-between to make an impression on the judges. The former UFC heavyweight champion also tried too much to counter and the faster hands of ‘The Reem’ would not allow it during the battle.

The highlght drama happened with 3 minutes left in Round 3 as Werdum caught his man clean with a mean right knee in the clinch after they exchanged punches and Werdum had just tried to pull guard. Th‎e blow instantly stunned Overeem sending him unto his backside like he was sitting down and someone pulled the chair away from him. The former K-1 champion was clearly hurt and Werdum jumped into his guard but Overeem managed to scramble up. Once he did, the brilliant Brazilian closed the distance and landed a nice 1-2 combination and two right hooks along the cagewall then inexplicably changed levels dumping his man unto the mat via double leg takedown. Werdum was looking for a submission finish from inside Overeem’s guard while peppering him with hammer fists even though along the cage wall he had just landed with absolutely no problem. Nonetheless, from the clean takedown Werdum stayed in top control for the remaining 2 minutes of the 3rd Round to close out the match.

‎The official scores were 28-28, 29-28 and 29-28 for Alistair Overeem who defeats Fabricio Werdum via majority decision. At the post-fight press conference Overeem did not have a preference in opponent and understood if he did not earn a title shot off of that performance.

BLAYDES PUTS ON DULL ‎PERFORMANCE VIA POINTS WIN OVER OMIELANCZUK

‎Curtis Blaydes (7-1) popped his jab and used a stick and move game plan over the course of 15 minutes lacking much engagement against his foe. The lackluster unanimous decision over Daniel Omielanczuk (19-8-1) with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27 took away from the momentum he had coming in that he was a player in the loaded heavyweight division. Daniel, a 7-1 underdog bags the moral victory of holding his own against a much more skilled fighter thanks to his willingness to stand and trade and push forward each round even attempting some takedowns against the slicker opponent.

‎PETTIS EASILY DECISIONS MILLER IN VINTAGE SHOWTIME SHOWCASE

Former WEC and UFC lightweight champion, Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis, helped erase some of the blemish of his recent 3rd round TKO loss to Max Holloway with a unanimous decision win over Jim Miller with scores of 30-27 from all three judges.

The Wisconsin native stuffed every takedown from Miller, landed the cleaner strikes and even put together some combinations, spinning attacks and various leg kicks as he was commonly known to do in the beginning stage of his UFC career. Miller gave him the perfect target by lunging with his jab or stepping back and throwing a hook. The top notch wrestler strayed away from his bread and butter opting to stand and trade with the Tae Kwan Doe black belt but‎ did do very well snapping a low leg kick to the lead leg of Pettis which Anthony barely blocked.

‘Showtime’ scrambled very well and willingly dove into his man’s guard eager to show the crowd that he could land some great standing to ground strikes or off of his back threaten with triangle chokes and armbars as he did as then UFC champion. The perfomance puts the division on notice that the two-organization title holder is back and working his way back into the mix.

FONT FINISHES SILVA DE ANDRADE IN 2 ‎ROUNDS

‎Rob Font’s fight opposite Douglas Silva de Andrade was moved up to the main card once Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevcehnko bout was scrapped from the event.

This was simply due to the buzz recently created by Rob Font’s rise up the rankings and he proved match makers and bookers coorect with a 2nd Round guillotine choke of Douglas Silva de Andrade at (4:36)‎ of the stanza. Both men got off to a great start and traded at close range in a fire fight but by round 2 Font had figured his foe out. He instinctively dropped down for the choke along the cage wall in the 2nd round following a quick exchange and put his man away in a signature performance worthy of PPV points.