The MMA Minute – UFC Fight Night 22 Aftermath

We got a pretty decent night of fights for a fight night. My picks started out pretty strong and then hit a road bump.

Quick Hits

• Lightweight bout:  Ross Pearson vs.  Cole Miller ^– Miller defeated Pearson via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:49 of round 2.

Miller came in with a nice flurry of knees and punches and rocked Pearson, dropping him to the ground. He pounced and sunk in the rear naked choke to finish the fierce Brit in nice fashion and setting himself up nicely in the Lightweight division.

• Lightweight bout:  Jim Miller vs.  Gleison Tibau – Miller defeated Tibau via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

I wasn’t sure Miller put enough together to take this decision. Tibau had a couple of takedowns in the 2nd, so when I heard the vote tallies, I thought maybe he’d stole the fight with that round, but Miller was definitely the more aggressive striker for the entire match, and shot himself into title contention in the stacked Lightweight division.

• Catchweight (159lbs) bout:  Efrain Escudero vs.  Charles Oliveira – Oliveira defeated Escudero via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:25 of round 3.

This was only the 2nd UFC fight for the Brazilian Oliveira, but he looked good. After getting a pretty strong shot to the no-no spot, he came out and finished the fight in quick fashion, jumping on Escudero’s back as he stood up and finished with a standing rear naked choke. At only 20 years old, this kid will be fun to watch for a long, long time.

• Middleweight bout:  Nate Marquardt vs.  Rousimar Palhares – Marquardt defeated Palhares via TKO (punches) at 3:28 of round 1.

Palhares is a very dangerous heel hook fighter. He almost got Marquardt in one of those hooks, but Marquardt pulled out and stood up. For whatever reason, Palhares stopped and pointed at Marquardt’s ankle and looked at the ref. Marquardt jumped on the opportunity and pounded out the TKO.

Just the small speedbump in the Escudero fight, otherwise a solid night of fights going 3-1, now I gotta get back to watching the premier of Ultimate Fighter.