UFC Fight Night 83 has been a card unfortunately plagued with injuries and replacements. Sam Alvey, Sarah Moras, Brandon Thatch, John Lineker, Trevor Smith and headliner Tim Means have all pulled out from the event, meaning the line-up is nearly recognisable from its origins. Yet, credit to the UFC, it managed to get the card to air, and as such we bring you the UFC Fight Night 83 results.
In the main event, it was the battle between cowboys, as Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone fought Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira. The fight marked both Cerrone’s debut at Welterweight, a weight class above his usual territory of 155lbs, and his first appearance since losing his championship bout with Lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos.
In the end Cowboy won. Cowboy Cerrone, that is.
With an incredible highlight reel of vicious kicks and knockouts, it’s easy to forget how good Cerrone can be with submissions, and tonight, Cerrone tapped his opponent with a beautiful triangle choke in the first round.
At first, it looked like the larger opponent would be able to outmuscle Cerrone in his first appearance at 170lbs, but Cerrone, perhaps sensing this, timed a takedown to perfection and got to mount quickly. From there, he had the choke on in moments, and Oliveira tapped immediately.
Cerrone, previously ranked at #5 in the Lightweight division, tonight made a stake in his new division.
“Today’s the best I felt,” Cerrone said in his post-fight interview. “Because I didn’t have any worry. This [fight] was for me.”
When asked about his future, and if he’d be sticking to the heavier weight division, Cerrone was his typical unfazed self.
“I get to do [150] and [170] now, so everybody if you wanna get hurt? I know a guy.”
In the co-main event, Middleweights Derek Brunson (#13) and Roan Carneiro (#15) faced off in an attempt to get closer to the top ten ranking zone in their division, with Brunson emerging victorious.
The two threw caution to the wind, and offered viewers a scrappy affair. Eventually, Carneiro overextended with a wild right hand that flew wide of his target, and sent him to the floor with the momentum. Brunson jumped onto his opponent, and with Carneiro’s head trapped against the cage, there was only one outcome. After a furious barrage of punches, the referee stepped in, and Brunson walked away with the first round victory.
“Forget punching yourself out,” Brunson said in his post-fight interview. “I work hard. I hit you once, it’s go time baby.”
The night was also home to two vicious and rapid knockouts.
First, at Middleweight, we saw Chris Camozzi starch veteran Joe Riggs in under 30 seconds with repeated knees. After the bout, it emerged that the blows had broken the arm of Riggs. At 33, with a broken arm and having lost three times in his last five appearances, Riggs is a fighter with a lot of mileage on the clock (he’s fought 59 times) and retirement may loom.
Second, we saw Cody Garbrandt rendering Augusto Mendes unconscious in the Bantamweight division. Plenty of eyes were on Garbrandt, with him training out of the Alpha Male team. With him getting first round KO victory, we’ll likely see him being paired up with a higher level opponent next.
In the first fight of the night, we saw James Krause face off with Shane Campbell in a great contest. Campbell, despite a phenomenal comeback late in the third round lost to Krause via unanimous decision.
Krause very nearly finished the bout by rear naked choke in the first round, but was denied by the bell. In the end, this turned out to be the theme of the contest, with Campbell just not being able to match the grappling skills of Krause throughout round two.
In the third, however, Campbell fought back, ending up on top of Krause delivering vicious heavy strikes. Much like Krause in the first, the bell ended the action before the referee needed to step in. That late shift in momentum proved to be too little too late for Campbell though, and Krause walked away with a hard fought decision victory.
UFC Fight Night 83 Results:
Maincard:
Donald Cerrone def. Alex Oliveira via Triangle Choke in Round One
Derek Brunson def. Roan Carneiro via TKO in Round One
Cody Garbrandt def. Augusto Mendes via TKO in Round One
Dennis Bermudez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via unanimous decision
Chris Camozzi def. Joe Riggs via TKO in Round One
James Krause def. Shane Campbell via unanimous decision
Undercard:
Sean Strickland def. Alex Garcia via TKO in Round Three
Oluwale Bamgbose def. Daniel Sarafian via KO in Round One
Anthony Smith def. Leonardo Augusto Guimares via unanimous decision
Nathan Coy def. Jonavin Webb via unanimous decision
Ashlee Evans-Smith def Marion Reneau via split-decision
Lauren Murphy def. Kelly Faszholz via TKO in Round Three
Shamil Abdurakhimov def. Anthony Hamilton via unanimous decision
