By Alex Mattis
From one continent to another, the Ultimate Fighting Championship traveled to the land down under for their 2nd fight card installment on the FX network. The Allphones Arena in Sydney was the venue for the main event of Thiago Alves Vs. Martin Kampmann; two UFC veterans, both looking for another run towards the top.
The styles the two bring to the octagon promised an exciting fight and they didn’t disappoint. The power and technique of Alves proved to be too much for Kampmann early, but the resiliency of “The Hitman” came through yet again. Shades of his come-from-behind victory over Drew McFederies in 2007, Kampmann capitalized on a mistake made by Alves and secured a victory. Kampmann countered an Alves takedown attempt with a guillotine choke that he was able to mount with. Alves had no choice but to tap. With this victory, Martin Kampmann is as close as he has ever been to a welterweight title shot.
This event also kicked off the mini-tournament to determine the UFC’s inaugural flyweight champion. The opening bouts saw Demetrious Johnson defeat Ian McCall and Joseph Benavidez stop Yasuhiro Urushitani. Johnson won a unanimous decision victory, amongst great controversy, while Benavidez stopped his opponent at the beginning of the second round. At the post fight press conference it was revealed that the Johnson-McCall decision had a judging error that had the bout awarded to Johnson when it was meant to be scored a draw. Now, Johnson and McCall will immediately rematch.
The evening began with Ultimate Fighter winner, Court McGee battle rising middleweight prospect, Constantinos Philippou. The two took the bout the distance and, in the end, the judges gave the nod to Philippou; winning his fourth consecutive fight.
The preliminary bouts of the event saw TUF alums Cole Miller and Kyle Noke upset in their decision losses to Steven Siler and Andrew Craig, respectively. In addition, Anthony Perosh took his UFC run at light heavyweight to 3-0.
Full UFC on FX: Alves Vs. Kampmann results:
Shawn Jordan defeated Oli Thompson via TKO at 3:53 of Rd 2
Daniel Pineda defeated Mackens Semerzier via submission at 2:05 of Rd 1
TJ Waldburger defeated Jake Hecht via submission at 0:55 of Rd 1
Andrew Craig defeated Kyle Noke via unanimous decision
Steven Siler defeated Cole Miller via unanimous decision
Anthony Perosh defeated Nick Penner via TKO at 4:59 of Rd 1
James Te Huna defeated Aaron Rosa via TKO at 2:08 of Rd 1
Constantinos Philippou defeated Court McGee via unanimous decision
Demetrious Johnson defeated Ian McCall via unanimous decision (later changed to a draw)
Joseph Benavidez defeated Yasuhiro Urushitani via TKO at 0:11 of Rd 2
Martin Kampmann defeated Thiago Alves via submission at 4:12 of Rd 3
