Caio Barralho was able to control Armen Petrosyan on the mat tonight at UFC On ESPN 39 to emerge with a unanimous decision win.
Round One:
Inside leg kick for Petrosyan. Head kick attempt from Borralho. Now a left hand from Borralho. He drives forward and lands an early takedown.
Petrosyan huddled close to the cage, but Borralho takes his back and is working for a submission. He almost loses position, but adjusts and stays on him.
Borralho now locking in to the body triangle and is fishing for the rear-naked choke. Petrosyan defending it for now.
Half-way through the first round now. Punch lands for Borralho as he continues to try to set up the submission attempt.
Petrosyan doing well to survive through this spell and there’s not much happening as a result as the time ticks down.
Round Two:
Borralho circling on the outside to start the second round. Leg kick from Petrosyan and misses with a head kick attempt.
Body kick from Petrosyan. Right hook gets through for Petrosyan. Both try to kick at the same time. Now Borralho drives into a takedown and lands it nicely.
They are up close against the cage again and Borralho gets to side control and then into full mount. Borralho escaping, but Borralho is looking for a guillotine choke. Petrosyan gets free though and stands over Borralho, kicking his legs.
The ref stands them back up. Glancing jab from Borralho. Inside leg kick for Petrosyan. Both men punch at the same time. Kick from Borralho.
Borralho nicely times another successful takedown. He’s looking for mount again and Petrosyan gives up his back. Borralho takes it and has his hooks in as he starts looking for the rear-naked choke.
Borralho happy or the control time here it seems and doesn’t make much effort to try for the submission.
Round Three:
Petrosyan whiffs on a few punches but lands a body kick. Right hand from Petrosyan. Now kicks. Borralho just misses with a big left hand.
Now Borralho gets into the clinch against the cage. Borralho just grinding in the clinch here and the ref is warning them to get more active.
Borralho shunts around to the mat and tries to pull Petrosyan down, but only succeeds in dropping down himself. Petrosyan stands over him and lands kicks to the legs.
ref tells him to stand up with 90 seconds remaining. Borralho drives into a takedown right the way across the Octagon and then does land it. Petrosyan stands back up against the cage though.
Borralho remains clinched up. More grinding work from him. He lands a few knees to the thigh.
Petrosyan manages to battle his way out of the clinch and launches into a big kick just as the round and the fight is coming to an end.
Decision:
So Borralho landed some very nice takedowns here and had lots of control on the mat, but his early attempts to find a submission seemed to fizzle out and he ended up opting for more of a grinding approach en-route to a unanimous decision victory (30-27 x2, 29-28).
