Sydney based fighter Mark Hunt fell short early today in his bid to capture the UFC heavyweight interim title, losing via TKO to number one contender Fabricio Werdum.
The two headlined the UFC 180 event which took place for the first time in Mexico City, Mexico on Saturday night (Sunday Australian time). The fight was shown live on Mainevent PPV.
A late replacement having taken the fight on three weeks notice, Hunt dropped his Brazilian on two separate occasions but the 40-year old was unable to capitalise on both occasions.
The first one was a minute into the fight as overhand right, grazed Werdum’s temple and sent him falling to the canvas. Hunt waited for Werdum to stand, but quickly had to defend a single-leg takedown attempt as Werdum pressured to take the fight to the canvas. Shortly after though, Hunt secured a takedown of his own and after defending the triangle attempt, “The Super Samoan”, landed some short strikes before standing back up. Back on their feet, Hunt landed an uppercut in the final seconds to all but secure the first-round.
Early in the second round, Werdum’s leg-kick was countered by a straight-right that sent the Brazilian to the ground once again. Werdum stood back up and a spinning kick allowed Hunt to throw Werdum to the ground. Werdum again got back to his feet and with a lunging knee, connected flush to send Hunt falling. Werdum immediately capitalised landing constant hammer-fists and with Hunt not showing much of a defense, the referee Herb Dean had no choice but to end the contest.
The finish came 2:27 into the second round as Werdum takes home the UFC interim heavyweight title. He now sets up a heavyweight title fight against current champion Cain Velasquez, who was forced out of the initial match-up with an injury.
Werdum moves to 19-5-1 as a professional and 7-2 inside the UFC in what is his second stint in the promotion. It’s going to be a tough road back for Hunt who has now only won one contest in his last four. He drops to 10-9-1 (UFC 5-3-1).
Earlier on the card, 23 year-old Kelvin Gastelum continues his fast paced rise through the welterweight ranks with a first-round rear-naked choke submission over Jake Ellenberger, while Ricardo Lamas also scored a first-round submission, tapping Dennis Bermudez with a guillotine choke.
Main Card (Mainevent PPV):
- Fabricio Werdum def Mark Hunt via TKO (Knee & Punches), Rd 2, 2:27
- Kelvin Gastelum def Jake Ellenberger via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 4:46
- Ricardo Lamas def Dennis Bermudez via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 3:18
- Augusto Montano def Chris Heatherly via TKO (Knees), Rd 1, 4:50
- Hector Urbina def Edgar Garcia via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 3:38
Preliminaries (Fox Sports):
- Yair Rodriguez def Leonardo Morales via Decision (Unanimous)
- Alejandro Perez def Jose Albert Quinonez via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jessica Eye def Leslie Smith via TKO (Doctor’s Stoppage), Rd 2, 1:30
- Gabriel Benitez def Humberto Brown Morrison via Technical Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 3, 0:30
Preliminaries (UFC Fight Pass):
- Enrique Briones def Guido Cannetti via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 1:44
- Marco Beltran def Marlon Vera via Decision (Unanimous)
