Hello folks and welcome to the beginning of Inside Fights’ LIVE UFC 159 coverage! I’m Jon Kirschner and I am live, here at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ ready to bring you up-to-the-minute coverage on every fight. Stay with us all night as we bring you coverage live from bell to bell!
If you missed the two Facebook fights you can find our coverage right here.
Lightweight: Rustam Khabilov vs. Yancy Medeiros
Round 1: Yancy is coming in with his strikes in very good angles. He hits a good leg kick. Rustam is picking his shots carefully. Yancy nails a leg kick, Rustam kind of counters with a hook but he turns it into a takedown and he has Yancy’s back. Not for long however, as they are both back on their feet after a scramble. Fight pauses, and fight is called off. Yancy’s finger looks to be broken? Maybe a dislocation? Either way, fight is over. Called off.
Result: Rustam Khabilov defeated Yancy Medeiros by way of TKO (doctor stoppage) 2:32 into Round 1.
Light Heavyweight: Gian Villante vs. Ovince St. Preux
Round 1: Villante and St. Preux trade leg kicks. St. Preux goes for a body kick but it’s caught. Villante pushes St. Preux against the cage. St. Preux stuffs the takedown with the assist of grabbing the top of the cage. Villante connects with the first hard hit of the fight which is a headkick, but St. Preux comes back with a fury of his own! Villante pushes St. Preux against the cage but gets hit with a knee to the gut and then has the tables turned on him. Villante pushes off St. Preux and they are back in the middle of the octagon. Fight pauses to cut some unwrapped wrist-wraps. Fight resumes but not much action happens afterwards. I’d give the round to St. Preux, he dictated where the fight went more. 10-9 St. Preux.
Round 2: St. Preux has a bit of a scare after getting knocked down, but he gets right back up. Villante is making the leg kicks a big part of his offense. Both fighters are cautious of each other’s power, which is leading to each man picking-and-choosing their shots carefully. Every single time someone is pinned against the cage, the crowd yells “KNEE”. It’s cute. Villante feigns a superman-punch that seems like it would have connected. Villante is sticking with the leg kicks as we are four minutes into the round. St. Preux connects with a left hook to silent the crowd as they start to boo. St. Preux hits a nice body shot. St. Preux whiffs on a spinning back kick. Slow round. 10-9 St. Preux.
Round 3: St. Preux clobbers Villante with a hook, but accidentally pokes him in the eye. This looks bad, it’s already swelling up. Referee calls the fight, the crowd is pissed.
Result: Ovince St. Preux defeated Gian Villante by way of majority technical decision.
Women’s Bantamweight: Sara McMann vs. Sheila Gaff
Round 1: McMann opens up the round with an explosive takedown. After that, not too much action happening. Nobody is advancing. McMann postures up and tries to throw some shots but nothing dangerous connects. Three minutes in, now, and McMann is still in the same position. We have the first boos for a women fight in the UFC. Referee stands them up and Gaff is very active. McMann eats a bit of a knee and lands another takedown, she has Gaff in the crucifix and is throwing bombs. Gaff is eating shot after shot and she is trying to defend herself but is trapped. She eats one shot too many and the fight is over! McMann gets the victory. First TKO of the night goes to the girls. Good job, ladies.
Result: Sara McMann defeated Sheila Gaff by way of TKO (punches in crucifix) 4:06 into Round 1.
Bantamweight: Bryan Caraway vs. Johnny Bedford
Round 1: Bedford is bouncing around a lot and is fighting on his toes. Both throw shots but none of them are rock solid and won’t do any damage. Caraway is keeping his distance. Bedford goes for a shoot, Caraway backs off and hops of his back. Both hooks are in, Bedford needs to think two steps ahead of every single move he tries to make. Bedford makes it back to his feet and they’re in the middle of the octagon. Bedford hits a right hook, body kick, and another right hook that brings the crowd to life a bit. Caraway acts like he’s going to shoot, but changes it up to a high kick just like Leonard was doing last fight. Didn’t work then and didn’t work now. Caraway lands a takedown with ten seconds left. Horn sounds. 10-9 Caraway
Round 2: Caraway opens with a shoot, and Bedford almost clobbers him with a countering knee. No dice, though. Bedford hits a leaping hook, first hard shot of the round. They collide heads a bit as they separate from a clinch. The action is back to how it was early on in the first; both keeping their distance and not connecting much. Bedford is not hopping around like he was in the first. Caraway shoots and successfully earns a takedown. He makes a swift and nice transition to side guard only to go back into Bedford’s half-guard. Not much striking has happened in the last three minutes. I’m surprised the weird NJ crowd hasn’t started to boo yet. Horn sounds, round ends with Caraway on top swinging. 10-9 Caraway.
Round 3: Caraway hits a nice straight about a minute into the round, then gets his eye poked. Referee doesn’t stop the fight and there’s no mention of it. Odd. Bedford almost keeps getting cracked with counters but pulls back just in time. Caraway shoots, Bedford defends and is on top. Scramble, and now Caraway is on top. Bedford almost locks in a triangle and an armbar but Caraway is aware and safely escapes. Caraway is not trying to advance with purpose. A fan tries to start an ECW chant, but fails. Wrong event, buddy. Back to the fight, Caraway is still on top. Caraway sinks in a guillotine out of nowhere and Bedford submits! Game over, man.
Result: Bryan Caraway defeated Johnny Bedford by way of submission (guillotine) 4:44 into Round 3.
