UFC Fight Night 45 Prelims Results:Gleison Tibau Decisions Pat Healy
UFC Fight Night 45 is underway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, and has been an entertaining bag of mixed results. Opening the card was women’s strawweights Tina Lahdemaki and Claudia Gadelha, making history as the first strawweight female bout in the UFC. With a title fight on the line against the winner of TUF 20, all the pressure was on these undefeated prospects. The Brazilian dominated the first round on the ground, displaying her world class Jiu Jitsu.
The second round went to Lahdemaki with her aggressive boxing, the third round was there for the taking and Gadhela’s work on the ground was the difference here. Gadelha moves to 12-0 with the unanimous decision. That was a great fight! Bit surprising to hear a judge score the fight 30-26…On to the Fox sports prelims…
Opening the FS1 section of the card were lightweights Yosdenis Cedeno and Jerrod Sanders, and the first round was all Cedenos. After catching a kick and dropping Sanders, Cedeno smothered his man on the mat. Sanders, unable to walk back to his stool unaided, was waved off by the doctors. For some reason Bruce Buffer announced it as a TKO at three minutes of round one.
Bantamweights Hugo Viana and Aljamain Sterling threw down next, and the first round was almost all the Serra-Longo product Sterling’s; after nearly being in trouble early on, Sterling took control of the fight with his reachy striking. Round two was more flashy kicks from Sterling, but Viana did manage to pop off before being taken down and beat on.
More smothering wrestling by Sterling in round three, as he wrapped up the fight with a ground and pound TKO. It’s been a great month for Ray Longo and Matt Serra, as Sterling moves to 10-0. Jessyman Duke and Leslie Smith were on tap as women’s bantamweights, and Duke was the victim of a second straight UFC loss. ‘Peacemaker’ landed a huge flurry of punches, kicks and knees against the cage, as Duke crumbled and the ref stepped in.
Gleison Tibau and Pat Healy serve as the feature prelim bout, and a big takedown early on led the Brazilian to a one sided first round. ‘Bam Bam’ put in a better showing in the second stanza but really needed a finish to get the win. In a predictably gritty third round, Healy pressured Tibau against the fence. The official decision was needed, and it was Tibau who sent ‘Bam Bam’ to his fourth straight loss.
Results
Gleison Tibau def. Pat Healy by unanimous decision
Leslie Smith def. Jessyman Duke by TKO (punches and knees) round one
Aljermain Sterling def. Hugo Viana by TKO (hammer fists) round three
Yosdenis Cedeno def. Jerrod Sanders by TKO (retirement between rounds) round one
Claudia Gadhels def. Tina Lahdemaki by unanimous decision
