UFC 132 Results: Guillard Dominant, Sotiropoulos Knocked Out in Prelims

Headlining UFC 132‘s prelim card was a bout between lightweight contenders Melvin Guillard and Shane Roller, and after coming out aggressive, Guillard continued by putting a heavy pace on Roller early on in the match. After an unintentional finger hit Roller in the eye, momentary stopping the fight, Guillard continued his onslaught, catching Roller with a strong left hook which took the fighter down, before nailing him again with a big knee as the fighter attempted to recover and stand up. As Guillard pounced on Roller the referee stepped in and stopped the bout at 2:12 of the first round.

Starting the match off with exuberant energy, Rafael dos Anjos made quick work of George Sotiropoulos in his first match since losing to Clay Guida last August. Exploding with an early combo, dos Anjos put Sotiropoulos down with a big right hook, in the process ending the fight as the referee stepped in call an end to the fight at a brisk 59 seconds.

Former WEC Bantamweight Championship Brian Bowles was also in action as he faced off in a standup-heavy match with the dangerous striking stills of Takeya Mizugaki. Though both men remained on their feet in the first round, each feeling each other out while trading kicks, and later knees, the second round found Bowles landing a strong right counter and leveling the Japanese fighter. Immediately grabbing his back, Bowles unsuccessfully worked to sink in a choke from the ground until the round expired. As talk focused on Bowles’ potentially broken hand in the corner in between rounds, the fighter was able to stay out of harm’s way in the third as he mounted Mizugaki in a standing position for much of the round before being broken up by the referee. Though Mizugaki made a late run, attempting to deliver blows while the apparently injured Bowles retreated, the judges handed the fight to Bowles, keeping him undefeated in the UFC (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).

In a match which saw Brad Tavares, who stepped in for Jason “Mayhem” Miller when the fighter took the role of coach on the forthcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, taking on Aaron Simpson, the match was both won and lost on the feet, in the clinch and for the vast majority of the bout, against the cage. Though showing remarkable takedown defense, it was Simpson, the two-time NCAA All American wrestler, who controlled Tavares for three rounds, ultimately taking the physically grueling bout by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

The prelim card’s second match was also one of its most exciting, featuring the Nigerian-born WEC veteran Anthony Njokuani and The Ultimate Fighter season 9 finalist Andre Winner. Njokuani’s reach dictated the direction of the first round, keeping the boxer Winner at bay before unleashing with an arsenal of knees, punches and elbows which decimated the Brit, and nearly brought the fight to an end before time expired. Wisely pacing himself instead of punching himself out, Njokuani remained in control in the second, again unleashing on Winner with a series of strikes, leading commentator Joe Rogan to call it “the biggest beating of [Winner's] career.” Though each put little together in the third, Winner put in his greatest effort in the closing minute of the fight, showing off a bit of dirty boxing, yet ultimately offering up much too little much too late. Backing up his undeniable control in the match judges awarded the fight to Njokuani, leaving Winner with his third consecutive UFC loss (30-27, 30-26, 30-26).

The story of the night’s opening bout between Donny Walker and Jeff Hougland was the a pair of guillotine chokes in the first and second round which nearly clinched the fight for Hougland, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt. While Walker was determined to continue pressing on he was continually balanced by Hougland’s left jab which slowly opened up a cut near Walker’s right eye. After again finding himself in trouble in the third, Walker escaping a strong armbar with a heavy slam, the fighter was ultimately unable to muster enough offense to put Hougland in any serious trouble. In his first fight to make it out of the first round Hougland showed off both his cardio and his multi-faceted game plan in taking the unanimous decision victory in his UFC debut (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

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