Tonight, the UFC headed out to Duluth, Georgia for UFC Fight Night 35. The headlining fight featured a clash between former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and Constantinos Philippou.
Hosted in the Arena at Gwinnett Center, the show kicks off with two online preliminary fights starting at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. From there they head to Fox Sports 1 with four more fights at 5 p.m. The main card will also be featured on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7 p.m.
This post will cover the live results of all the preliminary fights.
They break down like this:
Fight Pass/UFC TV/Roku prelims:
Vinc Pichel vs. Garett Whiteley – Lightweight
Charlie Brenneman vs. Beneil Dariush – LightweightFS1 prelims:
Ramsey Nijem vs. Justin Edwards – Lightweight
Isaac Vallie-Flagg vs. Elias Silverio – Lightweight
Trevor Smith vs. Brian Houston – Middleweight
Alptekin Ozkilic vs. Louis Smolka – Flyweight
Charlie Brenneman vs. Beneil Dariush – Round 1 – Dariush with a left that lands and Brenneman comes forward, throws a punch and clinches up. Uppercut lands hard for Brenneman. Left hand from Dariush and Brenneman drops. Dariush pouring it on while Brenneman looks for the desperation single. Dariush has the back and tries to switch to a rear naked. Brenneman taps out and it’s over. Good showing from Dariush in his UFC debut. Beneil Dariush wins by submission (rear naked choke), round 1.
Vinc Pichel vs. Garett Whiteley – Round 1 – Pichel moving forward and just missing with a right hand. Whitely looking just to get comfortable, throwing a body kick. Two hard punches by Pichel. Had kick by Whitely is blocked and Pichel lands a leg kick. Leg kick in return from Whitely. Pichel with a big takedown. They’re restarted on the feet after no real action and Whitely flurries and lands a knee to the body. Pichel looking for a takedown and Whitely tries to pull a flying triangle and slips off. Pichel with a takedown and he ends up trying for a heel hook but can’t get it and now Whitely with a very quick turn into an anaconda choke attempt. Pichel defends and gets out well. Whitely with a knee to the body. Big counter from Whitely lands. Another Pichel takedown and the round is over. 10-9 Pichel.
Round 2 – Right hand by Whiteley. Hard body shot by Pichel and now a huge flurry to the head and a takedown. Good sequence from Pichel. Whiteley defending well but Pichel lands a hard flurry and tries to take the back. Whitely escapes to his feet and Pichel lands a hard flurry. Another Pichel takedown and a hard elbow. Big shots from the top by Pichel and he almost falls into a triangle choke but instead is passing guard. Pichel to side control. Pichel takes the back now. 10-9 Pichel.
Round 3 – Whiteley staying on the outside hitting Pichel with straight punches. Jab from Pichel as he backs Garett into the cage for a clinh. Takedown from Pichel. A Pichel left hand lands hard. Whiteley attempts a triangle, but Pichel avoids it and comes back hard with a right hand. Pichel with knees to the shoulder from side control. Whiteley bridges out and finds himself defending a front choke. He escaped the D’arce choke and ate a knee as he returned to his feet. Another takedown from Pichel. Whiteley drops for a kimura, but is quickly reversed by Pichel. Pichel with a belly-to-back suplex attempt as the bell sounds. 10-9 Pichel. Vinc Pichel wins by unanimous decision (30-27 x 3).
Alptekin Ozkilic vs. Louis Smolka – Round 1 – Headkick whiffs for Smolka. Ozkilic responds with a body-head combo. Takedown from Ozkilic. Missed armbar attempt from Smolka leads to a pass into side control. They come up in the clinch with Ozkilic unleashing to the body and Smolka hitting knees. Straight from Smolka wobbles Ozkilic, but he gets rocked in return by a right hand. After a scrambling clinch, Ozkilic gets another takedown. After passing, Ozkilic loses control trying to take the back and they’re back on their feet. Smolka getting the better of the exchanges in the closing of the round. 10-9 Ozkilic.
Round 2 – Ozkilic catches Smolka with a lead left hook to open the round and follows it up with a right hand. Smolka relentless and starting to land his straight punches. Kick from Smolka lands. Ozkilic with a takedown and reversed a choke attempt from Smolka. Back on the feet and Smolka lands knees to the body as he’s backed into the cage. Ozkilic lands as he escapes a MT clinch but looking slower now. Big elbow lands from Smolka. And a right hand.Ozkilic with a takedown. Smolka rolls for a leg lock. One more takedown from Ozkilic to close the round. 10-9 Smolka.
Round 3 – Ozkilic with a doubleleg to open up the round but he couldn’t hold Smolka down. Jab then right hand from Smolka. Smolka controlling the distance an landing with high volume. Ozkilic exhausted as he wings hooks. He dives for a desperated takedown that goes no where. Smolka landing consistently with jabs and straight rights. Ozkilic with another takedown, but can’t keep it on the ground. Another takedown from Ozkilic and he gets back control. Smolka shakes him offand goes for a D’arce choke with a minute left. Ozkilic escapes but Smolka stays on top then into mount. He pours on ground and pound but Ozkilic is able to survive to the final bell. 10-9 Smolka. Louis Smolka takes the unanimous decision (29-28 x3).
Trevor Smith vs. Brian Houston – Round 1 – Smith opens with a series of kicks before going for the takedown. Houston eats a knee to the head as he escapes the clinch. Takedown from Houston. Smith scrambles into bottom sprawl position before returning to his feet and defending the clinch with his back against the cage. Exchanges on the feet coming out mostly even. Smith eats a a right hand as he hits a takedown. Pass to half guard and Smith goes for an arm triangle, but Houston survives. Smith moves into mount, but doesn’t land much from the dominant position. 10-9 Smith
Round 2 – Houston getting his leg worked over but he lands a hard left hook that opeed up the forehead of Smith. Smith shooting a lot but Houston defending the takedown attempts well. Smith didn’t respond well that round to being split open and Houston likely took the round. 10-9 Houston.
Round 3 – Houston getting loose while Smith looks like he’s fading. Smith still trying to walk forward but Houston is loose. Houston just circling and picking and pecking with his punches. Not a ton of action which allows Smith to just kind of outwork him over the second half of the round. 10-9 Smith.
Official scorecards: 29-28 Smith, 29-28 Houston, 29-28 Smith.
Isaac Vallie-Flagg vs. Elias Silverio – Round 1 – Vallie-Flagg coming forward while Silverio tries to counter or catch him on the way in. Now Silverio with a takedown and he’s on top. Back to the feet and Silverio drops him with a big punch. Silverio has him turtled up and he lands a series of very heavy punches. Big 10-9 round for Silverio.
Round 2 – Good left hand counter by Silverio and he tags him again. Vallie-Flagg is leaving big openings. Takedown by Silverio. Illegal knee by Silverio leads to him losing a point. Replay shows it may have been legal. Now Vallie-Flagg comes out hard, trying to get a two point round. Silverio with a hard combo that hurts Vallie-Flagg. 9-9 Silverio.
Round 3 – Silverio coming forward and really working Vallie-Flagg over. Silverio has him down, tries to take the back and can’t but he’s really just dominating this fight. Silverio gets the back again and he really tries to lock up a rear naked choke to get the finish but he can’t. 10-9 Silverio.
Official scorecards: 29-27 across the board. Elias Silverio wins by unanimous decision.
Ramsey Nijem vs. Justin Edwards – Round 1 – Nijem with a two punch combo that lands right away. Knee by Nijem and Edwards lands a nice punch in return. Body kick by Nijem. Edwards with a big left hand counter to a Nijem body kick. Jab by Nijem and Edwards is mostly looking for big counters. Knee by Edwards lands hard and a head kick just misses and as he tries to follow up with a flurry, Nijem returns fire. Spinning kick to the body by Edwards in return after a Nijem uppercut. Nijem tries for a heel hook after an odd scramble on the ground but the round ends. 10-9 Nijem.
Round 2 – Edwards catches him with an arm-in guillotine that looked close to ending it but Nijem does manage to pop his head free. Nijem went for a takedown and then landed a knee and a heavy flurry that has Edwards staggered. Nijem to mount and now to the back and he’s trying to finish with a rear naked choke, but Edwards escapes. Another chok attempt doesn’t finish. Edwards tries to roll forward but can’t escape from the rear body triangle. Round ends and 10-9 Nijem.
Round 3 – Nijem gets the fight to the floor quickly. Edwards bleeding from near the eye. Nijem in full control but Edwards coming forward and trying to find a way to end the fight. Big spinning kick from Edwards lands but Nijem takes it and then gets another takedown. Edwards landing some good punches and Nijem comes back with a few also. Edwards tries for a calf slicer near the end of the round and time runs out. 10-9 Nijem.
Official scorecards: 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. Ramsey Nijem wins by unanimous decision.
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