Travis Browne finished Matt Mitrione by TKO with hard ground and pound in the third round of their heavyweight encounter tonight at UFC Fight Night 81 in Boston.
Round One:
Body kick from Browne. Both men throw a kick simultaneously with entiehr landing cleanly. Leg kick from Mitrione as Browne tries to counter with a punch.
Mitrione in with a punch, but stumbles on the way back out. Body kick from Browne lands. He lands that again, not as hard this time. Mitrione tries to go upstairs with a kick of his own, but not much behind it.
Now it’s Browne with a head kick attempt that’s blocked. straight left for Mitrione, but comes up a bit short. Kick from Browne. In close Mitrione reels off a few punches that are mostly blocked.
Couple of big right hands for Mitrione. Front kick to the body from Browne. Browne steps in with a right hand, but eats a short left hook in return from Mitrione that drops him momentarily. He’s quickly back up though and seems ok.
Left hand for Mitrione as he lunges in, but again is a little short with it. Another lunging punch from Mitrione. Again he comes in, but no punch with it this time and he just ducks under a counter from Browne.
They look to engage and Mitrione gets poked in the eye. He staggers away after that and there’s a stoppage while the doctor takes a look at it. His eye seems ok and he’s ready to go again. They restart, but it’s only a few seconds before the round ends.
Round Two:
Mitrione comes forward with a fllurry of punches to begin the second round. He lands a leg kick now. He loads up too much on a punch and hits fresh air.
Mitrione again with aggressive striking. Browne looks to fire back and he’s taken another eye poke, but the ref doesn’t stop it so he has to keep fighting. He swings at Browne to try to keep him at bay. Browne still looking to hunt him down and the ref warns him to watch his fingers, at which point Mitrione angrily says he’s seeing double and that forces the referee to stop to check on him.
So we get another stoppage and the doctor takes a look at him. Replays show there was a clear thumb that went into his eye that the ref didn’t spot. After a couple of minutes Mitrione says he’s ok to continue.
Mitrione lunging again with a punch that comes up short and Browne lands a nice kick in response. Front kick to the body for Browne. Now he lands a knee as Mitrione continues to try to load up on single punches that seem a little reckless.
One-two from Mitrione as he steps in. Browne just misses with a head kick attempt. Mitrione lands a punch. He leaps into a punch that misses wildly and Browne then thumps a knee to his head and proceeds to take him down.
Not a good spot for Mitrione with Browne trying for an americana, but Mitrione rolls and while Browne looks to keep him down he’s unable to do so.
Back on his feet Mitrione with a nice connection and Browne responds with kicks. Left hand for Mitrione. Front kick to the body for Browne. He lands a good knee to the midsection. Mitrione continually trying these lunging punches, but Browne is now meeting him each time with a knee to the body.
Round Three:
Kick to the body from Browne and also looks for the front kick upstairs which doesn’t pay off. Leg kick for Mitrione. Switch kick to the body from Browne.
Left hand for Mitrione. He goes for the left again and this one lands with authority. Browne with a jab. He then lands a hard right hand.
Leg kick from Mitrione and Browne lands a counter punch. Right hand for Mitrione. Hook from Browne and he looks to clinch with Mitrione landing a body punch. Browne switching around to Mitrione’s back and then thumps him hard to the canvas. He moves quickly on the mat and is soon into full mount.
Two minutes to go and Browne starts to land ground and pound. Mitrione covering up under fire and he has a huge contusion over his right eye now from a punch a little earlier. Hard elbow strike from Mitrione. Mitrione trying to turn to his back, but he’s unable to and Browne crunches down another huge elbow.
More punches for Browne. He lands a few big lefts and that’s it, the ref steps in and Browne gets the TKO victory with only 51 seconds remaining in the final round.
Rough loss for Mitrione there, with his right eye looking in bad shape from a strike in the third round after having already received two eye pokes earlier in the fight, and to make matters worse he may well also have damaged his shoulder during that big takedown near the end of the fight.
