Ed Herman won a controversial third round submission victory over Mike Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 177, despite appearing to have been finished by a knee to the body in the second round that was mistakenly judged to have been an illegal blow.
Round One:
Herman moving on the outside to start. He misses on a leg kick attempt. He does land an outside leg kick soon after though, and then another.
Now an inside leg kick with Rodriguez lands with power. Right hand for Herman. Push kick to the body from Rodriguez.
Oblique kick for Rodriguez. Rodriguez with a leg kick, but falls backwards off-balance afterwards and has to right himself.
Leg kick from Herman. He lands that again. Push kick from Rodriguez. Power body kick from Rodriguez. Herman with a right hand and then an uppercut as he goes into the clinch. Big elbow lands. Rodriguez reverses the position. Knee to the body from him. Another knee, but Herman reverses him now.
Herman with a knee. Rodriguez tries to moev him around, but Herman stops that and tries for a takedown. Rodriguez does reverse him again, but then decides to separate.
Overhand right from Herman. Rodriguez blasts him with a big elbow and Herman stops in his tracks for a moment looking wobbled. He moves backwards and Rodriguez steps in with a big knee to the body. In the clinch Herman reverses again though and is now trying to clear his head.
Elbow and knee from Rodriguez as he breaks out of the clinch. Right hand for Herman, but Rodriguez throws a counter punch. Right hook lands for Herman and then another punch too.
Herman into the clinch and hoping for a takedown, but Rodriguez reverses the clinch and that’s where the round ends.
Round Two:
Leg kick for Herman. Oblique kick for Rodriguez. Hook from Herman just grazes past Rodriguez. Rodriguez into the clinch against the cage.
Herman turns into him. Rodriguez tries to go for a throw, but it doesn’t pay off. A couple of knees ot the leg from Herman. Now one to the knee, but that enables Rodriguez to turn him. Body-head combo for Rodriguez. Another knee.
They exchange knees to the body. Elbow for Rodriguez. Herman reverses but eats a couple of good knees to the body from Rodriguez.
Herman able tor trip Rodriguez and gets him down. Rodriguez one knee though and stands back up. Rodriguez backs out of the clinch now and is back to striking range, landing a front kick to the body. Now a hard body kick and into the clinch again.
Two right hooks for Rodriguez and then backs aways. Oblique kick. Herman lands an outside lw kick and another. Kick from Rodriguez and a body punch from Herman.
Rodriguez back into the clinch now. Good uppercut for Herman. Rodriguez throws a knee to the body and Herman sinks to the mat clearly hurt.
That could have been the end of the fight by TKO, but the ref thought it was an illegal blow to the groin and gives Herman time to recover. The replay shows it didn’t look anything like close to the groin though, so that’s a huge mistake from the official.
Herman takes a long time to recover and then finally motions to the referee that he’s ok to continue.
Rodriguez soon lands a punishing body kick, but Herman takes it for now. Another lands. Rodriguez continues to target the body and Herman goes down again. He defends himself though and manages to survive until the end of the round.
Round Three:
Inside leg kick for Rodriguez. Herman in on a single-leg attempt against the cage. He works hard for it and gets Rodriguez down.
Herman steps into half guard, but then has to fight to keep Rodriguez down and doesn’t succeed. Still in the clinch Herman works for a knee and then tries for a takedown. Rodriguez starts blasting him with elbows to the head as he’s stooped down though.
Rodriguez lands a few punches to the body and then more elbows to the head and Herman sinks to the mat. Rodriguez in half-guard and tries to trap an arm as he blasts down ground and pound.
Herman works for a kimura attempt. Rodriguez defends it for now, but then Herman gets his arm out and cranks on it, which forces Rodriguez to scramble in order to try to take off the pressure. That enables Herman to get on top and with Rodriguez’s arm cranked in this kimura attempt he’s left with no option but to tap out at 4.01mins of the final round!!
Crazy turn of events here as the truth is that Rodriguez should really have won that fight in the second round with the knee to the body that was mistakenly ruled to be to the groin, while he also had Herman on the brink of defeat on other occasions too.
Still, credit is due to Herman for hanging tough despite having been rocked several times and managing to pull off a tricky kimura submission when it counted.
