In a competitive three round fight tonight at UFC Fight Night 27 it was Takeya Mizugaki who emerged the rightful victor on the judges scorecards against Erik Perez by split decision.
These two get cracking early, with Perez cracking off a head kick and then the two men exchanging a flurry of punches with Mizugaki just getting the better of it.
Big body punch from Perez during another exchange. Flying knee from Perez clatters into Mizugaki, but as Perez backs up it’s apparent that his nose is already bloodied up from an earlier exchange.
Perez attempts another flying knee, but doesn’t quite find his mark. Soon after he gets a takedown though. There’s a little ground action, but nothing too meaningful before Mizugaki eventually gets back up with a couple of minutes of the round remaining.
Half a minute later Perez has him down again up against the cage, but can’t keep him there.
Perez starts swinging and Mizugaki ducks under and lands a nice takedown. He takes Perez’s back as his opponent tries to stand and attempts to get into position for the rear-naked choke. Perez gets up though and spins around looking to take down Mizugaki which he does though they pop back up almost immediately as the round ends.
Onto round two and Perez fires off a kick then looks for another flying knee. Little wild exchange with punches winging past the heads of both men.
Another tast exchange and both men are doing a good job of keeping their heads off-center as they strike to make life difficult for each other.
Good knee from Mizugaki and Perez presses him up against the cage looking for a takeodwn which he’s unable to complete.
They reset in the center and Mizugaki gets the better of an exchange of punches in close. Mizugaki looks for a takedown, but it’s stuffed.
Big left hook scores for Mizugaki and he clips him with a right too. Perez goes back to pressing him up against the cage looking for a single leg takedown. Mizugaki sinks to his knees as Perez continues trying to get him fully to the mat, but is unable to and they go back to the feet.
Into the final minute and a right hand from Mizugaki lands hard. Head kick misses from Perez. In the final 10 seconds Perez barrels in for a takedown, but Mizugaki meets him with a punch then stuffs the shot.
Final round is underway and Perez is first to land with a leg kick. in close both men let the leather fly and Mizugaki’s again getting the better of it.
Push kick from Perez keeps Mizugaki at bay, but not for long. Mizugaki digs to the body and then catches a kick to land a brief takedown.
Back on the feet it’s Perez who manages to get a takedown against the cage, but he just can’t keep Mizugaki down. He settles for the clinch, but Mizugaki reverses and then lands a takedown of his own.
Mizugaki takes his back and sinks in a rear-naked choke. It looks very tight, but Perez somehow manages to spin out and is back upright before quickly looking to take his opponent back to the mat. Mizugaki’s showing an excellent ability to find his way to his feet though and they clinch again.
Final 10 seconds Mizugaki starts to tee off and Perez returns fire until the final bell.
So, it’s down to the judges and they deliver a split decision verdict, but Mizugaki gets the win (29-28 x2, 28-29).
