UFC Events
UFC FIGHT NIGHT 55 LIVE RESULTS: Penick's round by round report for "Bisping vs. Rockhold" event in Australia
Nov 7, 2014 - 10:50:47 PM UFC FIGHT NIGHT 55 LIVE RESULTS: Penick's round by round report for "Bisping vs. Rockhold" event in Australia

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 55
NOVEMBER 8 (NOV. 7 IN U.S.)
LIVE FROM SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

=====UFC Fight Pass Prelims Quick Results=====

-Marcus Brimage def. Jumabieke Tuerxun via KO (head kick) at 2:56 of the first round

Note: Absolutely sick knockout. Tuerxun ducked his head down and Brimage caught him on the jaw with a kick. Tuerxun just went out cold, and Brimage added a few unnecessary strikes to him on the ground before the ref could get there. Major highlight for Brimage.

-Daniel Kelly def. Luke Zachrich via submission (kimura) at 4:27 of the first round

Note: Sloppy as all hell, but tons of damage done. Kelly hurt Zachrich bad, and when Zachrich tried to recover by bringing it to the ground, Kelly beat him up with ground and pound before locking on the kimura for the win.

-Chris Clements def. Vik Grujic via TKO at 3:06 of the first round

Note: Grujic started off well enough with a takedown and some solid clinch work, but Clements hurt him badly midway through the round, then followed up with a huge flurry of strikes that sent him down at the cage.

-Louis Smolka def. Richie Vaculik via TKO (stepping sidekick) at :18 of the third round

Note: This was one hell of a fight start to finish. Vaculik had the edge for the opening round, bloodying Smolka up and hitting him with constant combinations. Smolka rebounded well in the second, making things more competitive, and then in the third he hit sweet chin music on Vaculik to send him to the ground. Not even kidding, it was a stepping sidekick to the jaw that put Vaculik down, and Smolka followed up with strikes on the ground. Fantastic finish.

-Sam Alvey def. Dylan Andrews via KO at 2:16 of the first round

Note: Andrews knocked himself out as he tried to throw Alvey, as he landed hard on his head. Alvey capitalized, turned into him, got right into mount, and finished Andrews off with a few strikes.

-Anthony Perosh def. Guto Inocente via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:46 of the first round

Note: Great win for Perosh. He just outworked Inocente from the outset. He landed a hard strike before clinching and bringing the fight to the ground, and he took his time working and doing damage before finally scoring the choke late. Impressive performance.

-Jake Matthews def. Vagner Rocha via technical submission (rear naked choke) at 1:52 of the second round

Note: Just another fantastic finishing sequence. Matthews landed a brutal superman punch that hurt Rocha, and he took him down in the same motion. He locked on a rear naked choke with no hooks in that turned into a bit of a bulldog choke, and Rocha went out cold. Just a great performance in front of a hometown crowd.


=====UFC Fight Pass Main Card=====

-After an action-packed preliminary card, we've got four fights left to go here to finish out the night. There's been a mixture of high level finishes and sloppy yet damaging action so far, and we're likely to see more of both on this main card. We start at heavyweight.

-And in shitty news, Dana White just tweeted that Ian McCall is sick and may not be able to fight tomorrow night. Well, that sucks.


MAIN CARD FIGHT ONE: SOA PALELEI VS. WALT HARRIS (HEAVYWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Palelei shot in early in the round, but Harris held it off. Very tentative action from both. Palelei again shot in, but got stuffed, and ate a few strikes up against the cage. Palelei landed a hard right hand. Harris threw a body kick that was blocked. So little actually happening in this round. Harris landed a left hand. Some boos sprinkle in from the crowd. Palelei threw a head kick but it was blocked. Harris landed a hard body kick, the most significant strike of the round thus far. He got back in with a kick to the body. Palelei landed a jab. Palaelei went high with an ugly kick that was blocked before the end of the round.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Harris. Awful round. Harris gets the edge off stuffing takedowns and landing the most significant strike of the round, but barely anything happened on either side.

ROUND TWO: Palelei landed a hard inside leg kick that buckled Harris slightly. Palelei landed another short combo. Palelei landed a hard right hand. Palelei tried to keep pressuring and Harris landed a body kick. Palelei pressed in with a few more strikes. Harris just didn't have much of an answer as he was getting walked down. Harris landed a counter strike that connected. Palelei tried to fire back. Now it was Palelei looking slower. Scratch that, both were just plodding along. Palelei scored a late takedown and started scoring with strikes as he sat on top of Harris. Harris covered up and Palelei kept throwing until the ref stepped in.

WINNER: Palelei via TKO at 4:49 of the second round

STAR RATING: (*) Bad fight. Palelei saved us from another five minutes of it, though, so there's that. Easily the worst fight of the night, and sucked the life out of the crowd for most of it.


FIGHT TWO: ROBERT WHITTAKER VS. CLINT HESTER (MIDDLEWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Hester landed a hard jab that briefly staggered Whittaker off the bat. Whittaker landed a huge counter right as Hester connected on a punch of his own. Whittaker landed a few strikes as Hester shot in. Hester's takedown attempt went nowhere. Whittaker landed a jab. He landed a hard jab that hurt Hester. Whittaker looking quite good to start things off in his middleweight debut. Great head movement from Whittaker as he landed a few strikes and avoided counters. Whittaker tried to get in an elbow. Hester threw a spinning back fist that Whittaker managed to partially block. Whittaker continued throwing punches and kicks. Whittaker knocked Hester down with a right hand. He unloaded strikes on the ground. Hester tried to shoot in to recover, but Whittaker avoided it and landed more strikes. Hester rolled to a knee and Whittaker slowed down. He landed some knees, then shot for his own takedown as Hester turned into him. Whittaker took him down into half guard and landed a knee to the body. Whittaker tried to improve his position. Hester got his back to the cage, but got dragged down, and Whittaker moved to mount. Hester kicked off the cage and swept. He landed a few strikes on top before Whittaker kicked him off to end the round.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Whittaker. Good, competitive round, but still clearly Whittaker's.

ROUND TWO: Whittaker landed a nice leg kick with a strike behind. Whittaker connected on another combination. Hester fired back and landed some strikes of his own. Whittaker then landed three hard strikes. Hester fired back. Ridiculous back and forth here. Hester landed a couple of strikes and ended with a knee to the body. Whittaker landed a jab. Whittaker landed more. Hester clinched and backed Whittaker to the cage. Whittaker held off a takedown attempt and fired off a right hand. He landed a knee with a right hand behind it. He landed another hard right. Whittaker landed a knee to the jaw and Hester dropped to his knees and covered up. Another flurry from Whittaker and the ref stepped in. Fun fight, great middleweight debut for Whittaker.

WINNER: Whittaker via TKO at 2:43 of the second round

STAR RATING: (***) That was really fun. It wasn't the most technical overall, it didn't have the highest stakes, but it was entertaining, and had a little bit of drama throughout. Really nice middleweight debut for Whittaker.


FIGHT THREE: ROSS PEARSON VS. AL IAQUINTA (LIGHTWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Pearson immediately tried to close the distance and walk Iaquinta down. Pearson landed a hard counter-right as Iaquinta tried to connect. Iaquinta landed a kick. Pearson fired back with a right hand. Pearson with another counter-right. Pearson landed a good body shot, but ate a right hand at the same time. Pearson landed an inside leg kick. Pearson caught a kick, but missed the follow up strike. Pearson landed a jab. Iaquinta connected on a left hand. Pearson got in a knee to the body. Pearson threw a left hook. Iaquinta got in a nice uppercut, but Pearson responded with a right hand. Pearson landed a short two-fight combo. Iaquinta landed a nice right hand. Pearson landed a head kick, though it wasn't a full-force strike. Iaquinta shot and they traded strikes afterward to end the round. Competitive opening frame.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Pearson. Solid offense on both ends, but I think Pearson slightly got the better of it. Close though, and could have gone the other way.

ROUND TWO: Pearson again came straight ahead. Iaquinta landed a few strikes on the outside. Pearson landed a hard leg kick. Pearson missed a front kick, and Iaquinta responded with a counter-combination. Pearson landed a few strikes and they traded punches. Iaquinta sent Pearson down with a right hand. Pearson popped back to his feet and Iaquinta tried to stay on him. He rocked him at the cage. Pearson tried to fire back and Iaquinta dropped him with another combination. Another strike on the ground and the ref stepped in. Huge, huge, huge win for Al Iaquinta.

WINNER: Iaquinta via TKO at 1:39 of the second round

STAR RATING: (***) Just a major finish for Iaquinta. This was a very competitive fight, against a very respected and talented vet, and Iaquinta got the better of it. Yet another finish on this card, and we're now ten for ten in that category on the night. That is officially a record for consecutive finishes on a UFC card in the modern era, and they could set another record with every fight finishing if we get a stoppage in this main event.


MAIN EVENT FIGHT FOUR: LUKE ROCKHOLD VS. MICHAEL BISPING (MIDDLEWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Bisping circled on the outside early as Rockhold tried to walk him down. Bisping tried to press in, but Rockhold stayed out of range. Bisping landed a leg kick. Rockhold quite calm as he let Bisping try to fire out first. The crowd was vehemently in Bisping's corner. Bisping missed as he tried to throw out a winging strike. Rockhold closed in to clinch. Bisping complained about a headbutt and got separation. Incidental contact, but it served to halt the action and get him away from the clinch. Herb Dean restarts them in the body lock on the cage, despite Bisping's protestations. Rockhold landed a body kick on the restart. He got in another after they circled and Bisping backed out. Rockhold landed a kick to the body. Rockhold landed a hard kick to the body. Rockhold landed a right hook as Bisping stepped in. Rockhold landed an inside leg kick and circled out after it was caught. Rockhold landed the counter right again as Bisping lunged in. Rockhold landed a knee to the head as Bisping leaned in. Bisping threw an inside leg kick. Rockhold missed a big strike attempt. Bisping landed a jab. He blocked a kick. Rockhold landed a body kick. He landed another and backed Bisping up. He started picking things up a bit. Rockhold landed another body kick. He connected inside. He blocked one from Bisping, then threw out a straight left. Bisping landed a right hand and a leg kick. Rockhold landed a kick. Rockhold threw a left at the horn. No first round finish here.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Rockhold. He did almost all the damage, and really controlled the way that round played out.

ROUND TWO: Rockhold landed a nice straight left early as Bisping tried to throw a kick. Rockhold landed a pretty kick to the head. Rockhold dropped Bisping with a left kick to the head. Rockhold pounced with strikes. Bisping tried to recover, and Rockhold locked on a guillotine choke. He rolled through, and Bisping tapped. Statement freaking win for Luke Rockhold.

WINNER: Rockhold via submission (guillotine choke) at :57 of the second round

STAR RATING: (***+) The fight wasn't really surprising, we knew coming in that Rockhold was a better fighter than Bisping, but that's still a damned fine finish. It's all the more impressive given Bisping's never been submitted. It's a shame that Belfort loss happened for him, because he's just been absolutely fantastic outside of that. Give him the title fight tomorrow and I'm in, but I still want to see the Jacare rematch as well.

-That's the event for tonight. A record-setting eleven finishes in eleven fights made for one hell of an event, and that main event provided a big statement for Luke Rockhold as a title contender. Thanks for joining us here tonight, tune in tomorrow for our second of two live reports on the weekend with UFC Fight Night 56!