Vitor, by Josh Hedges.
UFC 133 featured some splendid knockouts, this Saturday in Philadelphia. In all, five bouts ended in such manner. And the main event thus ended as well. The veteran Tito Ortiz tried what he could on Rashad Evans, but the second stanza saw Rashad land a sublime takedown and stifle his rival on the ground, whether in half-guard, side-control or reverse crucifix, where he trapped Ortiz’s arm to punch. Tito escaped but remained turtling on the ground to avoid knees to his face. But Evans caught him by surprise with a potent knee to the midsection that rendered him helpless. A few follow-up strikes left the ref no choice but to step in and call an end to the encounter.
In the co-main event, Vitor Belfort lived up to his monicker of Phenom. He rained punishment on Yoshihiro Akiyama with strikes standing till Akiyama dropped to the ground. True to his style, Vitor carried on striking non-stop. In just 1:52 minutes he notched his 14th career knockout.
In the undercard, Chad Mendes maintained his unbeaten record, grinding out his 11th win, against Rani Yahya. Chad stifled Rani’s attempts to take him to the ground and even managed to get takedowns of his own. After three rounds the Brazilian had proven ineffective, earning Mendes the unanimous decision.
Now Rafael Sapo managed his first win in the UFC, against Paul Bradley, where he had one loss and one draw prior. The Jiu-Jitsu black belt didn’t allow his opponent to take him down and dished out solid kicks throughout the affair. Having had the advantage for most of the three rounds, the judges game him a unanimous not. Sapo snapped his opponent’s six-fight win streaking.
Check out the complete results:
UFC 133
Pennsylvania, United States
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Rashad Evans defeated Tito Ortiz via TKO at 4:48 min of R2
Vitor Belfort defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama via KO at 1:52 min of R1
Brian Ebersole defeated Dennis Hallman via TKO at 4:28 min of R1
Constantinos Philippou defeated Jorge Rivera via split decision
Rory MacDonald defeated Mike Pyle via TKO at 3:54 min of R1
Alexander Gustafsson defeated Matt Hamil via TKO at 3:34 min of R2
Chad Mendes defeated Rani Yahya via unanimous decision
Ivan Menjivar defeated Nick Pace via unanimous decision
Johny Hendricks defeated Mike Pierce via split decision
Mike Brown defeated Nam Phan via unanimous decision
Rafael “Sapo” Natal defeated Paul Bradley via unanimous decision
Bonus awards:
Fighters were awarded $70,000 bonuses:
• Fight of the Night: Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
• Knockout of the Night: Vitor Belfort
• Submission of the Night: None awarded (Dana White said the money went to Ebersole, for beating Hallman and his shorts.)