Sam Stout claimed his second career victory over Spencer Fisher tonight at UFC on FX 4 to conclude their entertaining trilogy of fights in the UFC.
Stout and Fisher wasted no time in getting down to business, essentially taking off right where they left it in their last two encounters several years ago.
The flurries of punches were coming fast and furiously and Fisher appeared to be a little quicker at this stage and was finding a home for his strikes more often.
Whether it was due to that or part of his gameplan all along, Stout then swooped for a takedown attempt and landed it successfully. Some ground and pound followed – nothing substantial, but point-scoring nonetheless before he backed up and let Fisher stand again.
Not for long though as Stout again charged in for a second takedown and was partially successful, though Fisher quickly managed to use the cage to get up and out of harms way, leaving the two to go back to the striking for the remainder of the round.
Spencer is the considerably older fighter, but in the early stages od the second round he still appeared to be the faster of the two in the striking department.
As well as edging the striking exchanges he was able to stuff a takedown from Stout as well which must have been discouraging for the fighter.
If it was Stout didn’t show it though and instead started to vary his own offense, working nicely to the body with punches and then starting to find a home for his left hook. A nice takedown followed which could have been crucial from a judging perspective and with the round coming to a close it was Stout who now had the momentum with him.
Fisher appeared to find his second wind heading into the third and was back to landing fast, crisp combinations and also mixed in a nice spinning elbow that gave Stout pause for thought.
Stout’s face was now starting to look banged up, especially under his right eye. He was still very much in the fight though and emphasized that by securing a couple of takedowns late in the fight before the two traded strikes toe-to-toe in the last 20 seconds, leaving the judges with a tough decision to make.
In the end they clearly valued Stout’s takedowns highly and all three judges saw it unanimously in his favor, 30-27.
The clean sweep scorecard is a bit harsh on Fisher who was very much in this fight and looked in better form than we’ve seen him for some time. That’s not to detract from Stout though who showcased a much improved wrestling game in this fight that will surely stand him in good stead going forward.
