Rising light-heavyweight star Ryan Bader extended his unbeaten record with victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 119.
Unanimous points win for Bader, Lytle beats Serra in thriller
Rising light-heavyweight star Ryan Bader extended his unbeaten record with a unanimous points victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 119.
After three rounds in the night's co-main event at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Bader secured a 30-27 nod from all three judges.
Both fighters attempted strikes from stand-up positions at the start of the contest, but most fell short until Bader made his move by taking Nogueira to the mat.
He then unleashed a series of blows and the bout looked like it could be stopped but the Brazilian recovered and eventually got back to his feet.
The second round was a more tentative affair, with a Bader takedown and a late flurry of punches from Nogueira the only significant scoring.
Bader landed some hard shots and produced another takedown in the third with Nogueira, who was bleeding from a small cut over the left eye, unable to respond as the Arizonan rounded out the win.
Home town fighter
Chris Lytle defeated good friend
Matt Serra in a punishing welterweight bout that made up for their disappointing 2006 encounter.
Points
Serra had defeated Lytle on a split decision in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 4 but was outpointed across the board by 30-27 this time.
Both fighters stood up and unloaded hooks at the start of the bout but Lytle began to assert himself as the contest wore on and in the end was a comfortable winner.
Evan Dunham suffered his first pro loss as he was on the wrong end of a split decision against
Sean Sherk.
However, Dunham put in an admirable performance and many in attendance booed as the verdict of 29-28 twice for Sherk and the same score once for Dunham was announced.
A bloodied Dunham rocked his opponent with a shot to the head in the final round but could not finish the job as Sherk went toe-to-toe, with the crowd giving both fighters a standing ovation at the end of the bout.
Lightweight
Melvin Guillard won his third fight in a row after a patient display against
Jeremy Stephens earned him a split decision victory after three rounds.
Both fighters tried to end things early on before the bout settled down. Two low kicks were then exchanged in round two.
Stephens came out aggressively in the final round but Stephens' quick counters saw him home, with two scorecards reading 30-27 and 29-28 for Guillard and one giving it to Stephens 29-28.
