Bloody Elbow will provide live results, detailed play-by-play and a forum for cheerful discussion as tonight’s UFC Fight Night 36: Machida vs. Mousasi fight card takes place from Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Top middleweights enjoy the spotlight as former champions Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi square off in the main event while the mutually surging Ronaldo Souza and Francis Carmont tangle in the co-main. Also on the main card: Reigning welterweight King of Pancrase Takenori Sato makes his Octagon debut opposite fiery Brazilian Erick Silva, TUF Brazil 2’s Viscardi Andrade and talented Swede Nicholas Musoke look to follow up on their demonstrative premieres in a welterweight clash and the UK’s Andy Ogle draws multidimensional juggernaut Charles Oliveira in a featherweight bout.
The main card ignites at 10:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 after the seven-fight preliminary card scrolls through on UFC Fight Pass (7:30 p.m. ET start time). The full lineup for the Fox Sports 1 featured card follows.
UFC Fight Night 36 Main Card
Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi
R1: Mousasi with an inside low kick. Machida turning his hips to feint kicks before unlatching a low kick. Not a lot of hands from either two minutes in. Mousasi flicks a leg kick and narrowly evades a burst of Machida’s counter-fire. Machida fires off his signature left straight while sliding to the right. Mousasi comes up well short on a right kick.
Machida ducks under Mousasi’s jab and stings him with a hard left. Machida begins to own the distance game with occasional kicks from outside interspersed with blazing punches while darting in, and Mousasi chases him, still unable to cut off the cage effectively. 10-9 Machida.
R2: Machida bolts out of his corner and cracks home a kick. “The Dragon” is a sea of feints, which set up counter-strikes from odd angles or unexpected attacks. Machida unreels a high kick that lands hard in the crook of the neck. Machida is utterly dominating the range until the one-minute mark when Mousasi thumps him with a fast volley of straights and follows up with a low kick; his first and only bit of memorable offense yet. 10-9 Machida.
R3: Mousasi starts to key off Machida’s frequent pivot to his right with a busy left hook. Mousasi is able to initiate a clinch and lands short knees to the thigh. Machida manages to slip his foot inside and break the clinch with a clever thrust kick. Machida slices in another lightning-fast flurry with his hands and tacks on a clean left roundhouse kick that to the middle of Mousasi’s face, causing a nosebleed.
It’s all Machida until late in the round again, as Mousasi drills him with a boring right hand as he’s retreating right. Machida tries a step-in horizontal elbow that just misses and then pursues a takedown from the clinch. 10-9 Machida.
R4: Mousasi explodes into a takedown and catches Machida off-guard, and a frantic scramble ensues. Mousasi keeps driving but Machida manages to get his legs underneath him and stand up with an underhook. Inside low kick lands hard for Machida. Machida circles out left and switches to conventional stance, then knifes in with a left but catches Mousasi with a foot sweep when he dodges it.
Mousasi gets butterfly guard and rather quickly hits a sweep. Machida goes after a kimura immediately but Mousasi counters it. Machida transitions nicely but his omoplata attempt is too loose. Thirty seconds left and Machida has still dictated the action off his back. He postures up with twenty seconds left and Machida blocks the punch, squirts out and then shakes Mousasi off his back in the transition. Mousasi lands an illegal up-kick and regrets it before it even lands. Despite docking Maximo Blanco a point for an accidental low blow on his first infraction earlier, Yamasaki lets this one go, showing great consistency. 10-9 Machida.
R5: Mousasi whiffs with two punches. Machida pulls out all the stops and attacks with a martelo Capoeira kick. Machida now working in his step-in knee. Oddly, Mousasi hasn’t really adjusted his steady paced stalking despite being unable to get in range. Mousasi tries to counter-clinch Machida’s next incoming knee but ends up in guard due to Machida’s counter wrestling.
Machida gets in high half guard and aggressively pursues the mount but can’t get it. Mousasi tries to elevate the hips again with butterfly guard and gets halfway there before Machida transitions to his back. With both hooks in, Machida flattens Mousasi out; he escapes with ten seconds left and Machida closes the round with a flying Superman punch. 10-9 Machida for a clean 50-45 sweep on my card.
- Lyoto Machida defeats Gegard Mousasi by unanimous decision (50-45 x 2, 49-46)
Francis Carmont vs. Ronaldo Souza
R1: Tentative start through the opening minute. Carmont side-steps with a left hook. Jacare throws a spinning back fist and clinches up, teleporting instantly to Carmont’s back. He laces up the body triangle. Carmont defends well with a two-on-one grip but can’t spin out fro the body triangle. He resorts to standing back up but Jacare picks out his support leg to pull him back flat.
Carmont fends off the stellar submissionist for about two minutes. Jacare finally sneaks his forearm under the chin to the roar of the crowd, but Carmont’s rock-solid defense continues in fighting it off. Jacare gets risky with 30 seconds left and contemplates a cage-walk armbar from back mount. Carmont, still holding that two-on-one grip, manages to spin out and get on top just before the bell sounds. 10-9 Jacare.
R2: Carmont comes out firing with punches and follows with a left high kick after switching stances. Jacare matches his aggression with a quick salvo of punches and a takedown attempt that Carmont negates. Carmont now using his length more effectively with jabs and left kicks. Carmont almost gets clipped backing out with his hands down and Jacare senses it, bursting forward with more punches that evoke a smile from Carmont.
Carmont misses with a big right hand. Jacare bobs his way into range but can’t find the right hand, nor the resulting takedown attempt. Carmont gains more momentum with a retreating left hand and a nasty one-two. Carmont now sitting down on his punches and plunging beefy shots at Jacare, who’s only narrowly avoiding or shielding them. 10-9 Carmont.
R3: Carmont steps in with a sharp low kick. Jab and left kick combo from Carmont, who’s controlling the pace and range much better in later rounds. Jacare times a duck-under takedown on Carmont’s punch release and again magically appears on Carmont’s back. Jacare gets the half-nelson from back control, looking to set up an arm-triangle if Carmont spins out. Carmont just stays on one knee and leans on the fence in a moment of indecision and Jacare slips into back mount again.
Carmont spends the round’s remainder trying to escape or punch his way out of the position, but no dice. 10-9 Jacare for a 29-28 his way by my tally.
- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza defeats Francis Carmont by unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27)
Takenori Sato vs. Erick Silva
R1: Silva capitalizes on the lopsided match-making with some style: he hurts Sato with a body kick that lands with the foot, then channels some martial arts deity by jumping up and heel-kicking Sato’s head in mid-air. That would be a first in MMA. Sato turtles while clinging on to the vaguest possible semblance of a single leg and Silva bombs hammer-fists off his head to score the stoppage in definitive big-brother fashion.
- Erick Silva defeats Takenori Sato by KO (punches), Round 1
Viscardi Andrade vs. Nicholas Musoke
R1: And Musoke is sizable for the weight class. Despite his high, tight stance, Musoke is taken down when Andrade is able to time a level change. Andrade plugs Musoke with left hands when tries to post up and escape, but Musoke stands up on his next try. Andrade detonates a nuclear bomb and absolutely clobbers Musoke with a meatball of a right hand, blasting him flat on his back.
The tumble was convincing enough to elicit a celebration from Andrade but his walk-off knockout aspirations are interrupted when Musoke stirs into action and threatens with an armbar from his guard. Musoke slips loose and seems to have recovered, attacking with his hands but being wary of Andrade’s cinder-block right. 10-9 Andrade.
R2: Musoke initiates a clinch and works for a takedown with the body lock, almost taking Andrade’s back as he’s defending. Andrade spins to face Musoke and dodges an incoming knee. They separate and Andrade goes to the gut with his right hand. Musoke clinches up again and cracks Andrade with a punch and high kick when he ejects from the pocket with his hands down.
Musoke sustains the pressure by hitting a takedown against the fence and standing up to side-step around guard and fire big punches. The process repeats and Andrade controls his posture and pulls him into a closed guard. Musoke hum-drumming with short hammer-fists to create space, then uses the can opener to dislodge himself from Andrade’s smothering guard with some old-school flavor. 10-9 Musoke.
R3: Musoke counters Andrade’s now predictable right hand with a tight combo while pivoting off-center. Musoke snares up the clinch, seemingly stifling Andrade’s power by jamming it with close-range tactics. He stays adhered and takes Andrade’s back when he escapes sloppily, perhaps frustrated. Musoke gets both hooks in and fishes around for a rear-naked choke, though in a bit of a casual manner with just two minutes left.
Musoke now cinches the body triangle and Andrade tries to roll out to break it but can’t, and ends up adjacent to the fence. Musoke’s control is even more effective with less room for Andrade to escape and the crowd voices their displeasure at his control-heavy approach. Musoke rides out the round in back control, which seals the fight for him. 10-9 Musoke for a 29-28 his way on my card.
- Nicholas Musoke defeats Viscardi Andrade by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
Andy Ogle vs. Charles Oliveira
R1: Ogle comes out and establishes phone-booth range with short, crisp combinations and an aggressive clinch. He puts Oliveira in reverse until the Brazilian changes gears and knifes in for a takedown. Oliveira takes Ogle’s back as he’s trying to escape and cinches up the body triangle in standing back mount. Ogle rests back on the fence and hand-fights Oliveira’s rear-naked choke attempt.
Ogle goes down on his back, likely from Oliveira’s weight and constricting body triangle, and resumes the hand-fighting from there. Oliveira is relentless, punching to the head when Ogle fights off his hands and going back to the choke when Ogle defends the punches. Ogle rolls his way out of the body triangle but Oliveira still has back control with both hooks in. Oliveira’s dominant position is defended well by Ogle, preventing any substantially threatening offense. 10-9 Oliveira.
R2: Oliveira is after another takedown right away, and nearly transitions to back mount again as Ogle defends but the UK’er ends up on top. Oliveira sits up against the fence and Ogle can’t trap his legs to prevent the cage walk. Back in the center, Oliveira throws a left and attacks with a body lock takedown as Ogle unfurls a kick. Ogle gets back to his feet but eats a knee for his troubles.
Oliveira times his takedown as soon as Ogle plants to throw strikes, this time cinching up a D’arce choke from the front headlock. Ogle fights free and pushes Oliveira on the fence with underhooks. After a pause, Ogle scoops Oliveira off his feet and slams him. Oliveira’s busy guard equalizes things and he closes the round in back control. 10-9 Oliveira.
R3: Oliveira pings Ogle with a straight and then jumps on him, willing to initiate a scramble and transition from there. Ogle shuts down Oliveira’s slippery counter and then stuffs the double leg on the feet, taking top position. Oliveira engulfs Ogle with his spidery legs and ties on a tight triangle, causing Ogle to tap quickly.
- Charles Oliveira defeats Andy Ogle by submission (triangle), Round 3
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