UFC 157 results: Nah-Shon Burrell beats Yuri Villefort in great opener

Two Strikeforce fighters were given the opportunity to open the UFC 157 card, and they made the most of it. Nah-Shon Burrell and Yuri Villefort battled all over the cage and engaged in some great scrambling, but in the end it was Burrell's bevy of significant strikes that earned the favor of the judges. Burrell took a unanimous decision over the Blackzilian fighter, with scores of 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28.

Burrell got to striking right away in the first, but Villefort caught a kick and took it down. He immediately took his back and slapped on a rear naked very quickly. Burrell defended well though, pulling the arm away and escaping. Villefort landed some hard leg kicks. Burrell started to find his range and worked the body well, mixing in some uppercuts. Burrell caught a leg kick, but Villefort went for a leg lock. Burrell hit a nice switch after escaping and got back up with some big punches. They both landed heavy strikes down to close out the stanza.

They continued to trade early in the second, with Villefort gaining an advantage with big kicks and combos. Burrell caught a kick and dumped Villefort on his butt once, but had no interest in engaging on the ground. Burrell connected with a couple of nice uppercuts off of different setups. Villefort's nose was bloodied and he started to miss a little more, which Burrell took advantage of with counters.

Villefort switched it up in the third and went back to a takedown right away. Like the first, he immediately looked for a choke. He lost it, but used great technique to get the back again. Burrell escaped quickly though. Villefort hit another takedown after avoiding a Burrell uppercut. He looked for a heel hook but ate a lot of punches that forced him to give it up. Burrell looked for a couple of guillotines but couldn't lock it up. Villefort looked for another takedown but got shucked off, and ate a huge front kick to the face. They threw down over the final 10 seconds.