The Fox Sports 1 preliminary card broadcast for UFC 180 kicked off with a bout between Gabriel Benitez vs. Humberto Brown. Benitez came very close to finishing guillotine chokes in the first round on two occasions but Brown was able to survive the threat. It was enough to win Benitez the round, but not much more. In the second, there wasn’t much action but Brown was deducted a point for repeated low blows, leading to his need to be aggressive in round three. Brown came out, looked for a takedown and was caught in a guillotine choke once again. This time, Benitez finished the choke standing, putting Brown out cold as they went to the mat.
The next fight saw one of the most gruesome moments of the year as Jessica Eye put a beating on Leslie Smith in the first round of their fight that saw a punch eventually cause Smith’s cauliflower ear to rupture, spurting blood out and leading to a long check from the doctor between rounds. Eye had been much quicker and was landing simple combinations at will while Smith struggled to find any effective offense.
The fight was allowed to go to the second round. Unfortunately for Smith, it didn’t go very long before the fight was waived off as her ear was split in two and hanging off of her head.
It was a tough image, but Smith was protesting the stoppage, saying she wanted to continue. Something that makes her far tougher than I am.