The first two main card fights are now in the books from the UFC Fight Night 81 card in Boston, and one of them was pretty gross. The first was a solid lightweight fight that ended up being fairly one-sided. The second ended up with a man having a growth the size of a golf ball sticking out from his face. Read on for all the gory details!
Travis Browne defeated Matt Mitrione by TKO (strikes), 4:09 of round three
Browne and Mitrione, as expected, exchanged on the feet for the entire first round. Browne used a lot of front kicks to the body, while Mitrione tried to load up a big shot. Meathead finally connected about halfway through the round, dropping Browne to the canvas, but he was up quickly. Browne connected with his own short left, but Mitrione shook it off. Mitrione took a nasty eye poke late in the stanza but shook it off and continued.
Mitrione opened the second very aggressively, and managed to hurt Browne again. It looked like he got poked in the eye again, but the referee didn't step in. Mitrione tried to fight with one eye closed, but eventually told the ref that he was seeing double and the ref asked the doctor to check it. After a long conference, Mitrione decided to continue. Browne tripped an off-balance Mitrione and worked from the top. Browne looked for a couple of subs but Mitrione got back up. Browne scored with a few timed knees to the body late.
Browne connected with a big right, and slammed Mitrione to the mat in the third before moving to mount. Browne opened up with some big punches and a hard elbow. Browne wasn't putting all of his power into the shots, but Mitrione was totally stuck and the ref stopped it. After the fight, Mitrione's eye looked absolutely disgusting - it looks like someone blew up a balloon coming out of his face.
Francisco Trinaldo defeats Ross Pearson by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
The first round was pretty much all striking, with an emphasis on head kicks. Trinaldo stunned Pearson a bit at the end of the round, and closed it out with an emphatic slam. The second saw Pearson get a takedown early but he wasn't able to do much with it. Trinaldo scored with a couple of big knees against the cage, while Pearson responded with an uppercut. After some clinch work, they exchanged head kicks and combinations.
Trinaldo opened the third by wobbling Pearson with a left, and got some good work in against the cage. He opened up a small cut over Pearson's left eye. Pearson connected with a solid right high kick and a left. Trinaldo responded with a big head kick of his own, but Pearson caught it and took Trinaldo down. It didn't stay there long though, as Pearson wasn't looking to engage there. Trinaldo was moving away a lot, but his strikes were coming in a little slower. Pearson wasnt able to take advantage though, as he got clipped by a winging Trinaldo right.