UFC Fight Night 36 ended fittingly, with a decision. The card, which took place in Santa Catarina, Brazil, had ten fights go the distance, and in the night’s middleweight main event, Lyoto Machida took home a unanimous decision against Gegard Mousasi.
The first two rounds played out as a feeling out process of sorts between the two middleweights. Machida and Mousasi were patient with their striking output and tried to capitalize on whatever possible error their opponent would make.
Machida was the slightly more active fighter in the two rounds, especially the first, and he also landed the most significant strike of the two periods, a left head kick.
Machida began to increase his rate of strikes in the third round and began to take control of Mousasi. Along with landing a pair of left head kicks, Machida led Mousasi into his stiff combinations en route to being the victor of the third round.
In the fourth frame, Machida continued to showcase his poise on the feet by getting the better of Mousasi on the feet. Half-way through the round Machida pushed Mousasi down in an effort to create space, but Mousasi ended up on his back. Machida obtained top position, only for Mousasi to sweep him. The Russian spent a large part of the rest of the round controlling the bout from a positional standpoint, although he did land an illegal upkick as time in the period dwindled down.
After once again winning the vast amount of the stand-up exchanges, Lyoto Machida brought the fight to the ground in a scramble, but this time he was able to maintain dominant positions and spend a lot of the round controlling Mousasi’s back.
Since making the move down to middleweight, Machida (21-4) is now 2-0 in the UFC’s middleweight division. The defeat was Mousasi’s (34-4-2) first since a loss to Muhammed Lawal on April 17th, 2010.
Souza moves up the middleweight ranks
After three rounds of action, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza had his hand raised and was awarded a unanimous decision in his middleweight bout with Francis Carmont.
Souza dominated the first round. After keeping Carmont guessing with unpredictable movements from side-to-side, Jacare knocked him with an overhand right and controlled him from the back position for over three minutes. Carmont was able to survive a close rear-naked choke attempt to escape the period.
The second frame was more closely contested than the first. Throughout the first half of the round, Souza was able to consistently find a home for his right hand against his lengthier opponent, but Carmont was more active and accurate with his strikes in the latter portion of the period.
In the last period, Jacare followed the same script of the first round. Other than Souza’s method of bringing Carmont down to the canvas being a takedown rather than a knockdown, the two frames were essentially identical. Souza spent the majority of the round controlling Carmont’s back and threatening with a myriad of submission attempts.
For just the fourth time in his career, Souza (20-3, 1 NC) won a fight on the judges’ scorecards and this victory was his sixth win in a row. Carmont’s (22-8) eleven fight winning streak was snapped by the loss.
The complete UFC Fight Night 36 results are below.
Main Card: (Fox Sports 1)
Lyoto Machida def. Gegard Mousasi via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45)
Ronaldo Souza def. Francis Carmont via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Erick Silva def. Takenori Sato via KO (strikes) – Round 1, :52
Nico Musoke def. Viscardi Andrade via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Charles Oliveira def. Andy Ogle via submission (triangle choke) – Round 3, 2:40
Preliminary Card: (Fight Pass)
Joe Proctor def. Cristiano Marcello via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Rodrigo Damm def. Ivan Jorge via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Francisco Trinaldo def. Jesse Ronson via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Iuri Alcantara def. Wilson Reis via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
Felipe Arantes def. Maximo Blanco via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Ildemar Alcantara def. Albert Tumenov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Zubaira Tukhogov def. Douglas Silva de Andrade via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)