By Mark Gessner

UFC 127: Penn vs Fitch
Live on Pay-Per-View from the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia

1. Kyle Noke vs Chris Camozzi (Middleweight Division)

Round One: Both fighters were evenly matched in the opening minute of the fight with a kick based striking offense. A minute into the fight, Noke cinched in a body lock from the clinch position and scored a trip takedown, moving immediately into a full mount. Camozzi attempted to get free from the mount, but Noke took his back in the process. Noke locked in a rear naked choke and submitted Camozzi only ninety seconds into the fight.

Official Decision: Kyle Noke defeats Chris Camozzi via submission at 1:35 of the first round

Gessner's Glance: Impressive win by Noke in front of his home country. It was a great early takedown and Camozzi was in a volatile position trying to escape a full mount, which Noke took advantage of by taking his back. Talented fighters will end fights once the take their opponent's back, and Noke did so here. Good submission victory to open the pay-per-view.

2. Chris Lytle vs Brian Ebersole (Welterweight Division)

Round One:  10-9 Lytle. Lytle locked in three guillotine chokes throughout round, but Ebersole showed good submission defense in escaping the chokes all three times. Lytle spent majority of round in top position before Ebersole was able to move into top position following a failed kneebar attempt by Lytle. Ebersole closed out the round in top position connecting with numerous shoulder strikes.

Round Two: 10-9 Ebersole. Following back and forth stand up striking in opening three minutes of the round, Ebersole dropped Lytle with a big knee up against the cage. He dominated Lytle for the final two minutes of the round, continuing to display great ground and pound offense. 

Round Three: 10-9 Lytle. Lytle got the stand up edge in first three minutes of the round but continued to look completely gassed out following the knee he took in the second round. Ebersole closed out round strong though following a failed kneebar submission attempt by Lytle. Fight could have gone either way but I was leaning Lytle 29-28 on my score card.

Official Decision: Brian Ebersole defeats Chris Lytle via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Gessner's Glance: Really good back and forth fight throughout. Lytle opened rounds strong, but Ebersole closed out the rounds stronger. Both fighters were very evenly match, but Ebersole drained the life out of Lytle with the big knee he connected and dropped Lytle with at the halfway point of the card. While I had Lytle winning on my card, I could see how judges could award the second and third rounds to Ebersole. Half a minute of ground and pound is not enough to overcome four legitimate submission attempts in the first so I'm not sure exactly how one judge scored this a 30-27 fight.

3. George Sotiropoulos vs Dennis Siver (Lightweight Division)

Round One: Siver 10-9. Back and forth standup striking to open the first three minutes of the fight. Siver took the round by dropping Sotiropoulos twice with left hooks and was in control for the final 2 minutes of the opening round.

Round Two: 10-9 Siver. Throughout the round, Siver blocked Sotiropoulos' takedown attempts with ease and answered with strong counter punches to every combination that Sotiropoulos threw. It was a much closer round than the first that could have gone to either either fighter but I felt Siver had the edge due to his counter striking. 

Round Three: 10-9 Siver. Sotiropoulos could not take the fight the ground where he had the edge. Siver stuffed his takedown attempts with minimal effort and dominated the stand up battles. Great standup by Siver. 30-27 Siver on my card.

Official Decision: Dennis Siver defeats George Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-28, 30-27)

Gessner's Glance: Sotiropoulos' best chance for defeating Siver was taking the fight to the ground and locking in a submission. Siver displayed phenomenal takedown defense however and did not let Sotiropoulos take him down once, and made all of his takedown attempts look weak in the process. Great upset victory by Siver, defeating the favored George Sotiropoulos in front of his home country. 

4. Michael Bisping vs Jorge Rivera (Middleweight Division)

Round One: 9-9 draw. Bisping was absolutely dominating Rivera in the opening three minutes of the fight. He then landed a blatantly illegal knee to the head of a grounded Rivera, causing the referee to step in, stop the fight, allowing Rivera to recover and deducted a point from Bisping. Following the restart, Bisping continued to out strike a dazed Rivera to close out the round.

Round Two: Bisping backed Rivera up against the cage and began unloading on him with punch after punch after punch to the head and body. Rivera covered up his face but Bisping continued to land combination after combination before Rivera dropped and the referee stepped in and ended the fight.

Official Decision: Michael Bisping defeats Jorge Rivera via TKO at 1:54 of the second round

Gessner's Glance: I guess if you're not cheating, you're not trying? There was zero reason whatsoever for Bisping to hit Rivera with the knee to the head in the first round. He was in control and getting the better of Rivera in the opening half of the round. Despite taking the five minutes he had from the referee to recover, Rivera was unable to completely after the knee and it showed. The fight could not have been stopped soon enough and it appeared that the referee was waiting for Rivera to drop before he'd step in to stop the fight in the second round, even though Rivera was defending in the most elementary way possible. 

5. BJ Penn vs Jon Fitch (Welterweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Penn. Numerous strong rear naked choke attempts by Penn throughout the round but they were countered by great submission defense by Fitch. Fitch closed out the round with a strong final ninety seconds but it was too little, too late to take the round. Great opening round to the main event.

Round Two: 10-9 Fitch. Fitch pressed Penn up against the cage early in the round and was in control for the first three minutes of the round. Penn was able to takedown Fitch, but following another failed rear naked choke attempt by Penn, Fitch was able to work his way into top position. He dominated from top mount to close out round. Paul Heyman on twitter made the point that Jon Fitch looked more aggressive, while BJ Penn looked more strategic. Great main event through two rounds.

Round Three 10-8 Fitch. Penn scored the takedown fifteen seconds into the final round, but Fitch immediately transitioned and moved into a top mount position. From there, Fitch absolutely dominated with a ground and pound for the final 4:20 of the fight. 29-27 Fitch on my card.

Official Decision: BJ Penn and Jon Fitch fight to a majority draw decision (29-28 Fitch, 28-28, 28-28)

Gessner's Glance: It was a back and forth fight throughout the duration, and was hard to score, so while draws suck much like in the Edgar vs Maynard fight that opened up the year at UFC 125, it was again understandable. I don't understand how two of the judges could have given the second round to Penn who was in control of the round for maybe one of the five minutes, but they're judges, they're always right, and who are we to question they're rulings. (Please pick up on the dripping sarcasm)

Overall Show Thoughts: A really good show from top to bottom. Despite not having the name value that UFC 126 had, I felt that this was a better show with better fights. Kyle Noke looked excellent scoring the submission victory over Camozzi only a minute and a half into their fight. Brian Ebersole looked good in his UFC debut against UFC veteran Chris Lytle picking up a decision victory in a closely contested fight that could have gone either way. Dennis Siver made George Sotiropoulos look like a joke by stuffing every single takedown attempt with relative ease and outclassing him in stand up striking. 

Michael Bisping despite getting the win, comes out of the show looking like a classless prick. When you're beating an opponent, there is zero need to go for an illegal knee to a defenseless grounded opponent. Rivera was unable to recover following the knee, and Bisping took advantage of that. While Bisping may have given a half-ass apology during his post fight interview, but telling Rivera after the TKO to "go home loser," along with appearing to have spit at Rivera's corner says a lot more than a weak verbal apology.

Much like UFC 123, I again feel that regardless of a title being on the line or not, the main event of a show should always be five rounds. Since 123 in November, UFC President Dana White has been working to address this issue but the change could not come soon enough. As of right now, UFC 130 in May does not have any advertised title fights so hopefully the change is implemented by then.

As for Penn vs Fitch, it is starting to look like the sport might be passing Penn by. He looked good in the first round, but after that, the fight was all Fitch. While it was a nice quick knockout against Matt Hughes in his last fight, we really did not see BJ Penn following his fifty minute dismantling by Frankie Edgar in their two title fights for the Lightweight Championship. 

Following the fight, CompuStrike released that Fitch out striked Penn 134-0, with forty-two of the strikes being power shots. With numbers like that, Penn scoring the initial takedown before Fitch transition to top mount could be the only thing that saved it from being at 10-7 round. That is a remarkable mismatch in striking. Even Penn said in his post fight interview that the draw came as a surprise as he thought Fitch won the fight. 

While many people give Georges St. Pierre a lot of criticism for not finishing fights (me being one of those people), the same case can be made for Jon Fitch. While he is the consensus number two welterweight in the sport right now behind GSP, his last seven fights have all gone to decision. The last victory he had by stoppage was him choking out Roan Carneiro in June of 2007. While you may outclass and out fight your opponents throughout the duration of your fights, by not finishing off your opponent, you leave yourself open for decisions that do not go your way, like tonight's majority draw.  

Thanks again very much for clicking the link that brought you to my coverage of UFC 127: Penn vs Fitch. If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or critiques, feel free to email me at kliq4life28@gmail.com or tweet me at Twitter.com/MarkGessner. I'll be back this Thursday with my coverage of UFC on Versus 3, headlined Diego Sanchez vs Martin Kampmann. For your sanity, join me for UFC, which I'm positive will be nowhere near as infuriating as TNA Impact. 

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