Chris Weidman is still the UFC middleweight champion.
In five rounds , he defeated challenger Lyoto Machida by unanimous decision (49-45, 48-47, 49-46).
The champion started out better and after a close first round, grew his control over Machida in the next two rounds.
Round three was Weidman’s best and many felt the fight could have ended there.
Machida held on and proved on round 4 that nothing was written in stone.
A cross punch to Weidman’s chin made the champion’s legs woobly and the Brazilian saw his opportunity to snatch the belt.
For the next minute and a half, Lyoto worked his punches, but wasn’t able to finish the matter.
Fighting five rounds for the first time in his career, Weidman put his gameplan in action on round 5 and was able to control the action once again.
With less than two minutes to go, Weidman got the takedown to make things more safe for him.
Machida had no more strength to do anything else.
The bell rang and the crowd cheered like crazy, recognizing the great action they had witnessed.
Weidman kept his belt and talked about the opponent: “He was tough as I thought. Fast, unpredictable I don’t remember if I got hurt. Have to watch the tape”.
Machida, as classy as always, gave all the credit to his opponent: “He deserves the title. He is the true champion. I’ll be back.”
On the co-main event of the evening, Ronda Rousey once again showed her fans (and haters) that she is one step (maybe two) ahead of her opponents.
In only 16s, Rousey clocked Alexis Davis and got her trademark judo throw to land in side control and puch from there until the ref said enough.
“It just seems that whatever I’m working on in training camp I have implemented effectively in the fight,” commented Ronda on her win.
Fearless, when asked if she would fight less than one month from now, on August 2, she said: “I have to talk with my team, but it’s likely.”
On a sadder note, the UFC pulled the fight between Stefan Struve vs. Matt Mitrione due to a non-life-threatening, near-fainting spell backstage.
Later on, during the press conference, Dana White said that Struve is ok and the doctors have cleared him.
Even so, the UFC boss added, commenting on Struve’s heart condition: “It’s one of those things. He has to think about his life and make a decision.”
Here are the other results of the evening.
UFC 175: Weidman vs. Machida
July 5, 2014
Mandalay Bay Arena, Las Vegas
Main Card (on Pay-Per-View)
Chris Weidman defeated Lyoto Machida by unanimous decision (49-45, 48-47, 49-46)
Ronda Rousey defeated Alexis Davis by KO (punches on the ground) at 0:16 of R1
Stefan Struve (251.5) vs. Matt Mitrione (254) was cancelled due to a heatlh issue with Stefan Struve
Uriah Hall defeated Thiago Marreta by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Russell Doane defeated Marcus Brimage by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Preliminary Card (on Fox Sports 1)
Urijah Faber defeated Alex Caceres by submission (RNC) at 1:09 of R3
Kenny Robertson defeated Ildemar Alcantara by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Bruno Santos defeated Chris Camozzi by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Rob Font defeated George Roop by KO at 2:19 of R1
Preliminary Card (on UFC Fight Pass)
Luke Zachrich defeated Guilherme Vasconcelos by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Kevin Casey (185) defeated Bubba Bush by TKO (elbows) at 1:01 of R1
Here’s a photo gallery of the post-fight press conference:
