Lyoto Machida moved a step closer to a title shot inside the UFC’s middleweight division as he out-worked Gegard Mousasi in the main event of UFC Fight Night 36 on Saturday night (Sunday in Australia).
The event was held at the Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil and shown in Australia on Fuel TV.
In typical Machida fashion, the Karate practitioner stayed calm and capitalised when the opportunities opened up. Machida mixed it up with jabs, knees and kicks. In the second-round the Brazilian landed a solid head-kick, while in the fifth round a failed takedown attempt from Mousasi allowed Machida to the top position. With the crowd behind him, Mousasi transitioned to the back only for Mousasi to escape.
Machida swept the decision on the judges’ score-cards 49-46, 50-45 and 50-45.
Machida moves his professional record to 21-4 (UFC 13-4), while Mousasi drops to 34-4-2 (UFC 1-1).
In the semi-main event, former Strikefoce champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza made it three wins from as many appearances in the UFC, as he won a unanimous decision against Francis Carmont. The experienced grappler was able to control the majority of the action from the top position , with his Canadian opponent doing well not to get submitted at times.
Judges awarded it 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.
Main Card (Fuel TV):
- Lyoto Machida def Gegard Mousasi via Decision (Unanimous)
- Ronaldo Souza def Francis Carmont via Decision (Unanimous)
- Erick Silva def Takenori Sato via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 0:52
- Nicholas Musoke def Viscardi Andrade via Decision (Unanimous)
- Charles Oliveira def Andy Ogle via Submission (Triangle Choke), Rd 3, 2:40
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass):
- Joe Proctor def Cristianno Marcello via Decision (Unanimous)
- Rodrigo Damm def Ivan Jorge via Decision (Unanimous)
- Francisco Trinaldo def Jesse Ronson via Decision (Split)
- Iuri Alcantara def Wilson Reis via Decision (Split)
- Felipe Arantes def Maximo Blanco via Decision (Unanimous)
- Ildemar Alcantara def Albert Tumenov via Decision (Split)
- Zubaira Tukhugov def Douglas Andrade via Decision (Unanimous)
