At UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida, Brian Ebersole barely squeaked by Claude Patrick to take a split decision victory. Judges' scorecards had it 29-28, 29-28, and 28-29. This Welterweight fight was the 2nd on the PPV card, and was the only PPV fight to go the distance. Ebersole is now undefeated in the Octagon on a three fight win streak, while Patrick earns just the 2nd loss of his MMA career. He is now 14-2 overall, 3-1 in the UFC.

Fans expecting to see Ebersole's trademark unorthodox and exciting style were likely let down by this fight. The first two rounds consisted primarily of a clinch battle along the cage, with both men jockeying for position. In the third round, Ebersole came out sensing he was done on the cards and fighting much more aggressively, though that led to Patrick getting the most dominant position for either man in the fight with a close anaconda choke attempt. The Canadian crown booed the decision at the end, and while there is perhaps a bit to be unhappy about there, that was a very difficult fight to judge and could have gone either way.

What was the high spot of this fight?

That choke attempt from Patrick in round 3 was pretty nice. It looked deep, and Ebersole looked to be in real trouble, but the veteran gutted through it and escaped in a nice sequence.

Where do these guys go from here?

Ebersole is now 3-0 and his late career run up the UFC Welterweight ranks continues. Might as well put him in against a real contender now - I'd say a fight with Martin Kampmann would be a lot of fun.

Patrick doesn't lose much here as he had a good showing against a veteran, and was a late replacement for Rory MacDonald. He earned a decent fight next time out against a lower end top 25 opponent such as Charlie Brenneman.

Watch it now, later or never?

Never. It was mostly the cage battle, and never really managed to get going.

More Bloody Elbow coverage of UFC 140 in the full entry.

• UFC 140 Results: Dan Henderson Calls Out Jon Jones, Wants to Test His Chin - Anton Tabuena
• UFC 140 Results: Jon Jones Told to Check on Lyoto Machida Post-Fight to 'Get Some Fans' - Brent Brookhouse
• UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida Results - Jon Jones is the Best Fighter on Earth - Brent Brookhouse
• UFC 140: Frank Mir Uses a Kimura to Break Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's Arm - Ben Thapa
• UFC 140 Results: Winners, Losers, and Other Thoughts - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida Results - Did Fight Endings Prove MMA is Too Violent to Fully Go Mainstream? - Brent Brookhouse
• UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida Results and Post-Fight Analysis - Brent Brookhouse
• UFC 140 Photo: X-Ray of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's Broken Arm From Bout Against Frank Mir - Anton Tabuena
• UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida Event Video Highlights - Anton Tabuena
• UFC 140 Video Results: Dana White Praises Jon Jones and Frank Mir - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Full Post-Fight Press Conference Video - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Jon Jones Vs. Lyoto Machida In Photos - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Video: Full Fight Highlights - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida Video: Full Fight Highlights - Matthew Roth
• Bad Boy Presents Bloody Elbow Radio - Episode 108: UFC 140 Results Review - Matt Bishop
• UFC 140 Results: Jon Jones Puts Lyoto Machida To Sleep With A Standing Guillotine - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Frank Mir Submits Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Via Kimura - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Stops Tito Ortiz in the First - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Brian Ebersole Picks Up Split Decision Over Claude Patrick - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Chan Sung Jung Knocks Out Mark Hominick Early In First Round - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida - Live Results and Play-By-Play for Pay-Per-View Card - Brent Brookhouse
• UFC 140 Results: Igor Pokrajac Knocks Krzysztof Soszynski Out Early In First Round - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Constantinos Philippou Stops Jared Hamman with Punches - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Dennis Hallman Chokes John Makdessi out In The First Round - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Yves Jabouin Earns Split Decision Over Walel Watson - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida - Live Results and Play-By-Play for ION TV Undercard - Brent Brookhouse
• UFC 140 Results: Mark Bocek Wins Unanimous Decision Over Nik Lentz - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: Jake Hecht Stops Rich Attonito In The Second Round - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140 Results: John Cholish Stops Mitch Clarke with Strikes - Matthew Roth
• UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida - Live Results and Play-By-Play For Facebook Fights - Brent Brookhouse