Francimar Barroso was offered an opportunity, and he made the most of it. The Brazilian light heavyweight took a UFC fight on just two weeks notice against Ednaldo Oliveira, and he outworked the taller fighter throughout the full 15 minutes to take a decision victory. The judges had it 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 for the victor.
Barroso was looking to get the fight to the floor early in the first but Oliveira easily evaded his takedown attempts. Not much was really happening over the first two minutes other than a few kicks. Barroso was circling away from Oliveira, causing him to come up short on most of his punches. Oliveira was trying to goad Barroso into a brawl, but he stuck to the plan and continued to kick the legs.
Oliveira finally found his range a bit early in the second. Oliveira caught a kick and took it down, beating Barroso up with some GnP. He let him up though, which was a bit odd because it was his only real offense in the whole fight at that point. After a long clinch battle against the cage, Barroso landed two big rights and a combo upon separation. Barroso caught his own kick and got a takedown to turn the round around in the second half.
The first two minutes of the final stanza was just a big clinch battle, but Barroso finally got it to the ground and pushed Oliveira against the cage. Oliveira got up but ate a knee for his troubles. They clinched up again for a while until the ref separated them. Both men were very tired down the stretch and grinded it out against the cage to the horn.
Barroso picked up his first UFC win, while Oliveira is now 0-2 in the promotion.
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