Columbus, OhioNationwide ArenaUFC 68: Full Results Of "The Uprising"Reported By OnlyUFCUFC 68: The Preliminary FightsJason Gilliam vs. Jamie VarnerLightweight FightRound One: After clinching with Gilliam, Varner scored a quick takedown. He advanced to Gilliam's back, and then finished things off with a rear naked choke.Jamie Varner won via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:34 of Round One.Gleison Tibau vs. Jason DentLightweight FightRound One: After some hesitation on the fight, Tibau eventually scored a takedown. He moved to side control and attacked Dent with some elbows, but he was never able to get a finish within reach. After losing side control to Dent's half-guard, Tibau tried for an arm triangle, but he didn't get it deep enough. The referee eventually stood up the fight, where Tibau managed a late-round takedown. Definitely a Tibau round.Round Two: Tibau scored a takedown early in the round, but his ground-and-pound was not eventual enough to prevent a referee intervention. Once back on his feet, Dent started connecting with some strikes, but Tibau halted his opponent's rhythm with another takedown. He delivered some shots on the ground as the round ended.Round Three: The Tibau takedown machine continued—he brought his opponent down early in the round, but he once again failed to get a finish from ground-and-pound. When the fight was stood up, Dent attempted some striking, but he slipped and exposed himself to Tibau's wrath. Gleison finished the round while in mount position.Gleison Tibau won via unanimous decision (30-27x3).Jon Fitch vs. Luigi FioravantiWelterweight FightRound One: After a striking exchange, Fitch tripped Fioravanti and quickly advanced to side control. He landed some knees to the body and then captured Fioravanti's back, but he couldn't get much done from that position. Fioravanti eventually worked Fitch off and landed a punch as the round ended.Round Two: Fitch executed a slam early in the round. Fioravanti tried to counter with a leg submission, but Fitch worked out and took Luigi's back. He eventually locked in the rear naked for the win.Jon Fitch won via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:05 of Round Two.Rex Holman vs. Matt HamillLight Heavyweight FightRound One: The fight opened with some awful striking that resulted in a light cut to Hamill. Holman, however, gassed during the exchange. Hamill eventually got a takedown, took his opponent's back, and unloaded strikes for the stoppage.Matt Hamill won via TKO (strikes) at 4:00 of Round One.UFC 68: Main Card FightsRenato Sobral vs. Jason LambertLight Heavyweight FightRound One:They circle a bit to open things up. Sobral connects with a leg kick; Lambert ducks from the impact, and Babalu throws some punches at his opponent's head. He takes Lambert down and works for control. He's working from Lambert's half guard.Lambert brings Sobral into his full guard; Babalu tries to work Lambert into the corner for an advantage. Sobral sends some shots in from atop, but they're not doing too much damage. Babalu eventually works Lambert into the cage and goes for his opponent's back. He almost secures the back; he finally gets it, and begins working for the rear naked choke.Sobral spends quite some time trying to get the choke, but he can't quite secure it deeply. Lambert works to his feet, and the two fire from clinch. Both men now have cuts.Lambert eventually rocks Sobral with some shots; Sobral hits the mat to avoid more damage. Lambert hits a few ground punches as the round ends.Round Two:They go right at it to open things up. Lambert scores a takedown, but Babalu shows competency from his back. Babalu eventually gets back to his feet, but Lambert returns with yet another takedown. He's working from Sobral's half-guard.Lambert throws some shots to the body from the top; he continues with some shoulder shots to the face. He then earns some room and nails Babalu with a few punches to the face. Babalu uses this opportunity to close his guard, but he can't stop Lambert from raining down the occasional blow.As Babalu tries to lift his legs - perhaps for a triangle - Lambert connects with an elbow and some more punches to the face.The referee stands the fight up due to a lack of action, but immediately upon the stand-up, Lambert rocks Babalu with a left. He finishes the fight with some hard punches on the ground—Babalu is out.Jason Lambert won via KO (strikes) at 3:36 of Round Two.Matt Hughes vs. Chris LytleWelterweight FightRound One:Lytle comes out swinging, and almost catches Hughes with a wild punch. He quickly locks in a guillotine, but Hughes doesn't look like he's about tok tap out.At 1:20, Lytle still has a guillotine in. Hughes is turning purple, but he's still fully awake and working hard to get out of the hold. Lytle finally gives up on the hold, and Hughes is now working from Lytle's half guard.Hughes then secures something of a headlock and works some strikes from the top. Lytle breaks the hold and Hughes is working from Lytle's butterfly guard. Lytle tries for yet another guillotine, but he's not doing enough to put Hughes to sleep.Hughes moves into side control and looks for the crucifix-style hold he used on BJ Penn and Carlos Newton. Lytle's doing a better job of keeping his arm close, however, but he's still not immune from the occasional Hughes elbow.Lytle suddenly brings his legs all the way up to Hughes' head as a defensive move, but Hughes is able to get Lytle's arm for a late armbar. The bell clearly saves Lytle.Round Two:Lytle once again responds to a Hughes takedown with a guillotine attempt, but it doesn't stick, and Hughes is back in Lytle's half-guard. By devoting so much energy to the guillotine attempt, he opens control on the guard and allows Hughes to move to side control.Hughes begins destroying Lytle with punches and elbows to the head. Hughes finally moves to full mount, but Lytle works hard enough to reduce the position to half-guard. He then, using the cage, flips to get on top of Hughes. He can't really do much from that position, and Hughes reverses to get back into side control.With twenty seconds remaining, Lytle has a legitimate chance to survive the round. Hughes accomplishes little as the bell rings.Round Three:We get the same start as last round - Hughes moves right to side control, but unlike last time, he's much less aggressive with strikes. Hughes begins to look for an america attempt, but he doesn't feel comfortable enough to commit. He throws some light punches to Lytle's face, but he's not doing nearly enough to finish the fight off.With about fifteen seconds left, the situation is the same - Hughes is accomplishing little from the top, but he's way too strong to be shaken off by a tired Lytle. At the very end of the round, Hughes goes for an armbar attempt, but Lytle shakes out of it as the bell sounds.Should be an easy decision for Hughes, but when one considers how heavily favored Hughes was coming into the fight, it wasn't a great performance for the former Champion.Matt Hughes won via unanimous decision (30-27x3).Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonaldMiddleweight FightRound One:They circle to start off. MacDonald goes for a leg kick, but Franklin counters with a punch to the face. MacDonald, nonetheless, gets control of Franklin's leg and goes for a takedown. Franklin defends the takedown well, and fires some knees and punches to MacDonald's face.MacDonald closes the gap and they clinch up. They trade a few light knees, but nothing of note happens in the lengthy clinch. They separate at the three minute mark and begin circling again. Franklin connects with two or three punches; he connects again when MacDonald attempts to charge in.They clinch with just over a minute remaining, and Franklin knocks Macdonald to the ground. He rains blows to the downed opponent, but MacDonald defends well enough to avoid getting finished. They return to stand-up.MacDonald shoots and grabs a leg. He gets the takedown and works from Franklin's guard; Franklin eventually reverses the position and gets on top of MacDonald as the round ends.Round Two:Franklin continues working the counterstriker role. MacDonald shoots for Franklin's leg, but he can't get the takedown. Franklin throws some strikes.They separate, and MacDonald once again gets hit with a countershot. Unfortunately, Franklin isn't showing enough killer instinct to bring the fight to a close.MacDonald grabs a leg once again. He takes Franklin down from behind, but he's too high on Franklin's body to put the former Champion in real danger. Franklin counters and ends up in side control.Franklin finally moves to full mount on MacDonald, but after a few punches, he stops going for the kill. MacDonald improves his position temporarily at about 3:45, but Franklin moves back into mount. He starts swinging, and MacDonald gives up his back. Franklin, while on top of MacDonald's back, throws some rather soft punches to MacDonald's face.Franklin then turns the fight back around to get a mount, and unloads hard on MacDonald. The bell comes before Franklin can earn a stoppage, but MacDonald throws in the towel immediately after the round.Rich Franklin wins via TKO (tapout between rounds) after Round Two.Drew McFedries vs. Martin KampmannMiddleweight FightRound One:McFedries looks to connect right away; he shows much more aggression, and knocks Kampmann to the mat at about 40 seconds. He tries to put Kampmann away on the ground, but he can't get the job done. They're back to standing.McFedries continues connecting with shots, but Kampmann eventually connects with a countershot. McFedries is still, by far, getting the better of the stand-up.After eating some more punches, Kampmann scores a takedown on McFedries. He gets side control and tries to move into mount, but McFedries is doing a decent enough job of controlling from the back.Kampmann throws the occasional elbow from side control, but he's not doing much damage. He supplements the elbows with some knees to the body.Kampmann suddenly locks in an arm triangle, and McFedries goes to sleep.Martin Kampmann wins via submission (arm triangle) at 4:06 of Round One.Tim Sylvia vs. Randy CoutureUFC Heavyweight ChampionshipRound One:They touch gloves, and we're off. Couture rocks Sylvia with a hard right hand; Sylvia hits the mat. Couture advances with some more shots to the downed Champion; he then takes Sylvia's back and starts going for a rear naked choke.They remain in this position for minutes; Couture's getting close to the rear naked choke, but Sylvia's fighting it off as well as possible. We approach the round's final minute, and the position hasn't changed.Couture starts to get a bit closer to the choke at 4:30, but Sylvia still has his arms in an ideal defensive position. The round comes to a close with the two throwing some punches; the late-round view reveals Sylvia's nose is bloodied.Round Two:They start trading a bit as the round opens. Couture's actually getting the better of Sylvia, but he's failing on a takedown attempt. They work into the cage as Couture tries for a one-legged takedown. He eventually gets it, but Sylvia uses his long legs to keep Couture off.Sylvia throws a few shots from the bottom, but doing so allows Couture to come in closer and throw some shots of his own. He works from Sylvia's closed guard.Sylvia's actually doing more damage in this position; he hits Couture with an elbow. At 3 minutes, he uses his legs to force Couture off; Couture fires right back and remains on top of the Champion. He closes the gap and begins connecting with some ground-and-pound. One minute left. Big John stands things up at 4:30.Towards the end of the round, Sylvia went for a knee, but Randy caught the leg and took Sylvia down for the bell.Round Three:Couture connects with a left hook early in the round, but Sylvia also gets a punch or two in on the challenger. At 1:00, Couture connects with a nice right hand.Couture continues his domination on the feet; he's not necessarily doing significant damage, but he's winning the round without a doubt.At 3:15, Couture scores yet another hard right hand. Sylvia's just not doing anything, which is allowing Couture to do all the punching. Sylvia gets a knee to the body at one point, but it wasn't anywhere near as effective as Couture's offense.With about thirty seconds left, Couture goes to work with a hard overhand right. Sylvia hits a few shots from counter, but Couture is still doing most of the damage.Round Four:Couture shoots for an early takedown, but Sylvia uses good sprawl defense. Moments later, Couture trips Sylvia for another takedown.Randy Couture works from Sylvia's guard; he connects with one or two shots, but there wasn't enough action to avoid the referee stand-up.Couture continues his dominance on the feet. He then scores a takedown and moves to side control on Sylvia.With one minute left in the round, Couture works his way to mount. Sylvia works out rather quickly, though, and begins throwing some punches while controlling the top of Couture's body. He doesn't do much from that position.Round Five:Even though Sylvia, who is being dominated, needs to win the stand-up war, it's Couture who continues getting the better of the punch exchanges. He takes Sylvia to the ground and works from side control, then half-guard. At one point, Sylvia gets Couture's ankle for an attempted submission, but it doesn't work.Couture works from side control as the round's halfway mark approaches. He's not doing too much other than knees to the body, but it doesn't matter at this point. Unless Sylvia gets a knockout, Couture is going to win.Couture improves to mount with ninety seconds to go. Sylvia rolls out and stands up, but Couture takes him back down almost instantly. The fight ends as Couture maintains his dominant position. We have a new UFC Heavyweight Champion.Randy Couture wins the UFC Heavyweight Championship via unanimous decision (50-45x3).
Niles, Ohio
