Another lukewarm fight here on the UFC 158 pay-per-view card, with Chris Camozzi rallying late to help secure a split decision win over Nick Ring.
A few leg kicks from Ring start this one off in the opening minute. Camozzi’s looking for punches in return, but isn’t quite finding his mark yet.
The next minute passes by with neither man really finding their range properly with punches, but what is noticeable is how low Ring is holding his hands.
There’s a slight clash of heads as they step in at the same time, but both men seem ok. Ring working off his jab and looking to the body at times, but he’s just flicking it out there rather than really landing telling blows.
Camozzi pushes forward with a brief flurry of strikes and Ring hits reverse gear and gets out of danger. In the final seconds again he looks to do so again, but is less successful this time.
An exchange of leg kicks from both men to begin roudn two. Ring finds a home for a left hand, Camozzi misses with a punch of his own.
a couple more punches from Ring – he’s definitely landing with more frequency though they are more point scoring punches than hurtful shots.
Nice knee to the midsection from Camozzi that seems to give Ring pause for thought and he follows up with a punch upstairs that lands.
Camozzi starting to land a few punches, but he’s looking quite slow and plodding with his attacks and Ring’s able to avoid most of his offense and circle around him flicking out that jab.
Nice knee to the head from Camozzi, and Ring has a slight nick below his right eye, but Camozzi nose is starting to bleed freely.
Onto the final round and Ring is still clearly the quicker man in this fight and lands a right and a left leg kick before Camozzi can respond.
They trade a few punches in the middle of the cage and it’s fairly even stuff now. Ring misses with a punch and while off-balance Camozzi gets around behind him and clinches his back, pushing him up against the cage. Ring breaks free though and they reset.
Ring’s definitely more hittable this round and he looks tired. He’s still getting a few leg kicks into the mix, but his opponent is starting to gain the ascendency in the punching department and Camozzi finishes the round with a flying knee.
So it’s down to the judges scorecards, and it’s a split decision verdict, but Chris Camozzi gets the victory (29-28 x2, 28-29).
