In a somewhat controversial decision following a largely forgettable fight at ‘UFC On Fuel TV 3’, Amir Sadollah was awarded a split decision win over Jorge Lopez.
The two men appeared a little hesitant to engage in the early stages of this fight, with Sadollah keeping his distance, while Lopez was using his jab to decent effect when he did try to move into striking range.
It wasn’t until later that we got to the first real meaningful action as Lopez got Sadollah up against the cage and then hoisted him up and dumped him on the mat.
He wasn’t able to do a whole lot with the position though and Sadollah gradually worked his way back to his feet, shrugging off a kimura attempt on the way.
Not the most exciting round, but overall Lopez was looking the busier fighter at this tage.
After some clinch work early in the second round Lopez looks to take Sadollah to the floor again, but he isn’t able to do it this time and Sadollah attempts a standing guillotine choke.
It looks tight, but Lopez is able to roll out of it onto the mat and gets on top before attempting to take Sadollah’s back. He’s unsuccessful though and Sadollah is able to spin around and press him up against the cage.
They break free after a failed takedown attempt from Sadollah and he seems to be getting into the fight now, pushing forward with a little more urgency as he attempts to get into striking range and land something meaningful. He finds a home for a few leg kicks, but Lopez catches one of them and uses it to take him to the mat, though his opponent works back to his feet in the final seconds of the round.
Clinching up against the cage in the opening stages of round three it’s almost a replica of the previous round with Lopez looking for a takedown and Sadollah attempting to counter with a guillotine choke, but there’s nothing doing on this occasion.
They break briefly giving Sadollah the opportunity to land a nice left hand followed by a front kick to the face, but then Lopez closes the distance again, gets him up against the cage and lands the takedown.
There’s nothing much happening on the ground though so with a minute left they are sent back to their feet by the referee.
Sadollah tries to get something going on the feet but is again stifled by Lopez and so changes things up with a takedown of his own, though he isn’t able to keep the fight their for long and so the round fizzles out.
Sadollah looks disappointed at the conclusion of the bout, but despite a lackluster display on his part there’s a surprise in store for him as the judges hand him the split decision win (29-28 x2, 28-29).
Lopez looks gobsmacked and to be fair so does Sadollah who appears to be apologetic as he commiserates with him. Definitely a somewhat controversial decision here.
