A match-up of heavy hitting middleweights took place on the main card of tonight's (Sat., July 5, 2014) UFC 175: "Weidman vs. Machida" pay-per-view (PPV) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, as former Ultimate Fighter contestants Uriah Hall and Thiago Santos met in the center of the cage to exchange leather.
It was fun.
They came out letting 'em fly, throwing spinning shit (shout out to Nick Diaz, or whatever), and trading punches in the pocket. Santos worked a lot of leg kicks, both inside and out. Hall appeared to be feeling the effects, too, limping by the midway point of the opening round.
Despite that, he put the pressure on later, feinting and firing away with shots that were finding their mark. He got cocky quick fast in a hurry, dropping his hands and moving his head around like Roy Jones Jr.
He couldn't finish, however, and his limp was pronounced heading to his corner. Once he got there, the doctor came in and the camera zoomed in on his foot. It looked like he had a broken toe and maybe a broken foot, but his corner convinced the doctor it was already like that, so the bout was allowed to continue.
WHAT?!?
Joe Rogan on color commentary marveled at Hall's ability to continue, and then damn near had an orgasm when he was throwing kicks with the very same foot that was apparently badly injured.
AS REAL AS IT GETS!
The doctor checked on him once again before starting round three as Rogan shouted that Hall is totally okay to continue fighting despite the fact that his toe was clearly broken at this point. After a short chat, the doctor bailed and Hall answered the call for the final frame.
Despite his toe looking like this (warning: graphic picture in that link).
Santos fired away with punches in an attempt to catch up after how badly he was outclassed in the first and how he came up short of evening the score in the second. Halfway home and the stats showed it was near even in punches, so he was catching up.
In his zest to end well, Santos landed a nut shot that briefly halted the action. When they restarted, Hall worked for a submission but couldn't get there before the horn sounded and Santos ended on top throwing punches.
Judges scorecards read as follows: 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27, all in favor of Hall.
He earned it, right?
For complete UFC 175 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here.