Chris Duncan earned a unanimous decision victory over Mateusz Rebecki in a bloody battle for the ages tonight at UFC On ESPN 71.
Round One
Early kicks and punches exchanged. Solid right hand from Duncan. Rebecki with a grazing left and right.
Inside leg kick form Rebecki. Body kick for Duncan. Right hook from Rebecki puts Duncan down but he gets right up.
Rebecki presses forward and Duncan threatens with an uppercut but eats a punch too. Knee strike from Duncan. Rebecki wades in again and Duncan lands a good elbow, but then falls to the mat. Both men ok though and they are soon back up again and trading strikes.
Hard right hand from Duncan. Body kick from him. Leg kick from Rebecki. Step-in elbow from Duncan. Inside leg kick and a grazing hook from Rebecki. Rebecki has swelling to the top of his forehead and a cut eye too at this stage in the fight.
Body kick from Duncan. Kick from Rebecki as Duncan was throwing his own and that knocks Duncan off-balance to the mat. Rebecki gets on top. Duncan gets to his knees and stands. Rebecki stays clinched to his back as they go over to the cage.
Back to striking range. Jab from Duncan. Glancing right hook from Rebecki. Front kick to the body from Duncan.
Round Two
Right hook for Rebecki. One-two from Duncan. Right hand from Rebecki. Body kick for Duncan. He lands another of those. Now an uppercut.
Jab for Duncan. Left hook, inside leg kick and another hook from Duncan. Two solid left hands from Rebecki. Now a grazing right.
Hard right hand from Duncan sends Rebecki back on his heels. Now a kick. Duncan trying for a knee, but Rebecki eats that to land a takedown.
Duncan battles back to his feet nicely. Jab for Rebecki. Now an overhand. Rebecki marching forward and lands a left hook, while eating a punch in return.
Right and a left from Rebecki. Another left and right get through. Body kick for Duncan. Low kick for Rebecki, uppercut from Duncan.
Duncan with an elbow. Now a hard body kick. Left hand from Rebecki. Another overhand left from him. And again.
Jab for Duncan. Low kick from Rebecki. Gruelling fight here. Knee from Duncan to the body. Final right hook for Rebecki. Rebecki goes back to his corner with his right eye completely swollen shut.
Round Three
Three-piece combo from Rebecki. He goes for a takedown, but Duncan stuffs it. One-two for Duncan. Leg kick from Rebecki. Right hand from him. Now a left hand. Grazing right hook from Duncan.
Jab for Duncan. Rebecki tries to return fire, but Duncan connects with solid punches. Rebecki with a takedown and Duncan threatens with an anconda choke in response, but Rebecki rolls away.
Body kick for Duncan. Low kick from Rebecki. Jab from Duncan. Knee to the body for him in close. Rebecki with a right hand and Duncan clocks him with an elbow. Duncan bleeding from below his left eye.
Solid punches from Rebecki. Duncan tries to clinch but nothing doing. Nice stick from Rebecki. Uppercut. Punch from Rebecki Heavy left from Duncan whose bleeding heavily now down his cheek.
Duncan clinches up and walks over to the cage. They go back to the center of the Octagon. Both men still swinging with everything they’ve got despite being covered in blood already.
Duncan clinches and lands a knee to the body and then upstairs. Uppercut from Rebecki and then just gets out of the way in time from a big knee from Duncan. Rebecki’s earlier cut now bleeding even more. What a war!
Decision
Both fighters took a crazy amount of punishment here without any thoughts of backing down. It’s unfortunate there can only be one winner when they both gave everything they had, but it’s Duncan who has done enough to secure a unanimous decision victory (29-28 x2, 30-27).
