Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) just completed the Facebook undercard portion of its UFC 136: “Edgar vs. Maynard 3” event tonight (Sat., Oct. 8, 2011) at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
The four-fight offering was “headlined,” so to speak, by a heavyweight slugfest pitting 29-year-old Joey Beltran against a debuting Stipe Miocic.
The Croatian, who wears the checkered shorts in honor of his hero, Mirko Filipovic, brought a style of striking Beltran hadn’t seen since he fought Pat Barry.
We all remember how that went. If you don’t, it wasn’t pretty for “The Mexicutioner.”
China was representing in “The Lone Star State” with Zhang Tiequan in a featherweight battle against Darren Elkins, just his second within the weight class.
His first go-round resulted in a quick guillotine submission win, a feat he nearly pulled off again tonight. That was until Elkins popped his head out and completely took over.
Smooth sailing from there.
“The Mongolian Wolf” might have a slick guillotine — as evidenced by it being his only relevant offense on the night — but failing at multiple submission attempts isn’t how you win fights, ladies and gents.
After 17 months away from fighting, Eric Schafer made his debut at 185-pounds in a match-up against heavy-handed grappling guru Aaron Simpson.
Emphasis on heavy-handed.
“The A-Train” went running on through station “Red” with big power and a tenacity that Schafer simply could not match. When all was said and done, Simpson took care of business “unanimously.”
-Stipe Miocic def. Joey Beltran via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
-Darren Elkins def. Tiequan Zhang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
-Aaron Simpson def. Eric Schafer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-Mike Massenzio def. Steve Cantwell via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
