Parker Porter’s superior cardio helped him on his way to a unanimous decision victory over an exhausted Josh Parisian tonight at UFC On ESPN 18.
Round One:
Punch gets through for Porter and Parisian fires back. They both throw heavy leather at close range and Porter moves into the clinch.
Not much happening there and so they separate. Porter looking to pressure again and backs Parisian back up to the cage.
Knees exchanged and Parisian lands a punch, only to be greeted by two harder ones in return from Porter. Porter back to clinching him against the cage. A few punches and a knee for him.
Back to the center of the cage and Parisian starts to land some hard punches. One punch in particular seems to trouble Porter.
Both men swinging without a great deal of regard for defense at times and so this one could end at any time.
Parisian loses his mouthpiece after an exchange and gets time to put it back in. Porter marching forward throwing hard punches. exchange in close. Spinning backfist from Parisian.
Porter working hard in the opening round and briefly gets Parisian down. Back up again and Parisian is breathing heavy. Porter marches forward with punches and Parisian throws one in response.
Towards the end of the round Porter tumbles to the mat with Parisian quickly on him trying to capitalize with a few strikes before the horn sounds.
Round Two:
Back to punching. Leg kick for Parisian. Leg kick for Porter. Porter lands a punch and Parisian goes down. Porter follows him down and grabs his neck looking for a potential guillotine choke.
Parisian manages to get out and get back to his feet wearily. Parisian trying to get some offense going with labored punches. Porter with a head kick, but no power behind it despite landing clean.
Porter marches Parisian to the cage. They don’t stay in the clinch though. Parisian letting his hands go, but he looks like he’s throwing in deep waters. His gas tank is empty here.
Porter gets an easy takedown. He’s in half guard now. He drops down a few short elbows to the head. He starts to work for a kimura, but eventually gives up on it.
Hammerfists from Porter. Parisian tries to scramble out, but Porter stops that and traps one of his arms. Even so, Parisian continues to battle to get upright and manages to do so. Parisian digs deep and starts punching, with Porter quickly following suit in the final few seconds.
Round Three:
Jab for Porter. Leg kick for Parisian, but it lands to the cup and forces a very brief stoppage.
Porter lands two left hands. Now an outside leg kick. Another lands. Right hand gets through for Parisian. Both land a left hand. Parisian loses his mouthpiece as he’s breathing heavily.
Porter lands and Parisian backs away from danger. Left hand counter for Porter. Two hooks land for Porter. Winging punch from Parisian misses. Jabs landing for Porter now.
Body kick for Parisian and then a front kick upstairs. One-two lands for Porter. Porter with a good right hand.
Jab for Porter. Parisian steps into a leg kick, but eats a series of punches for his troubles. Porter continues to march forward. Parisian tries a spinning backfist.
Crisp right hand for Porter. Jab for him. They clinch in the center of the Octagon. Porter fails on a trip. Parisian trying to let his hands go, but his movement is so labored.
Porter clinching up and lands a knee. Parisian reverses the position. He lands a knee to the body. He’s too tired to really get anything going from the position. They separate enough for Porter to lands a few more punches in the final seconds of the fight.
Decision:
Porter pushed a hard heavyweight pace here and it paid off for him as Parisian ran out of steam early and enabled him to take control with his pressure striking, clinch work and occasional takedown to earn a conclusive unanimous decision victory (30-26 x2, 29-28).
