Dan Hardy slumped to a third straight defeat as he lost a three-round decision to Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night in Seattle.
English fighter slips to third consecutive defeat
Dan Hardy slumped to a third straight defeat as he lost a three-round decision to Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night in Seattle.
The English welterweight was outwrestled throughout the contest and all three judges returned scorecards of 30-27 in favour of Johnson.
After an early feeling out process, Johnson dropped Hardy with a left kick to the head, but Hardy was able to get back on his feet as the American went in for the finish.
The momentum was still with Johnson, however, and he landed more strikes at the end of the first round before taking Hardy to the mat in the second.
'Rumble' was again in control on the mat and heading towards the win in the third round, with Hardy attempting to turn the contest around with a fight-saving submission.
Takedown
But Johnson got yet another takedown before quickly transitioning to Hardy's back, and although he was unable to make his opponent tap, he stayed on top until the final bell.
Hardy, who headed into the fight on the back of losses against Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit, falls to 23-9 with one no contest and doubts will now be raised over his UFC future.
Elsewhere on the card at Key Arena, rising light heavyweight star Phil Davis maintained his unbeaten record with a three-round unanimous decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
Davis found his range with a few early kicks before stepping up his offense as the round went on, although Nogueira did fight back with some strikes of his own.
The Brazilian veteran was finally taken down towards the end of the second round before being locked up and pounded with a barrage of strikes.
Scores
Nogueira pursued Davis throughout the third but the Pennsylvania fighter held his nerve, scoring another takedown and keeping his opponent on the mat for the remainder of the bout. All three judges scored it 30-27.
"I knew he was tough, and he's resilient," said Davis, who claimed he had been dealing with "all types of injuries" in the training ahead of the fight.
Meanwhile, Amir Sadollah fought off a brave effort from late stand-in DaMarques Johnson to claim a second-round stoppage in their hectic welterweight bout.
Chan Sung Jung recorded the first Twister submission in the history of the UFC to defeat Leonard Garcia in the second round of their rematch.
'The Korean Zombie' gained a measure of revenge over Garcia, who won a close decision the last time the two fighters met in a WEC war.
