Glover Texeira took Anthony Smith’s measure in the first two rounds then overwhelmed him the rest of the way to earn a fifth round TKO victory in the main event of UFC Fight Night held Wednesday night (Thursday Philippine time) at VyStar Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.
Texeira, trailing in the first two rounds, mauled a winded Smith in the third and fourth rounds, mounted him in the fifth before raining down ground-and-pound forcing referee Jason Herzog to stop fight early in the final round.
Smith was in control early in the fight connecting almost at will with his right hand behind left jabs. Texeira was cut between his eyebrows and blood dripped down the right side of his nose into his mouth.
Texeira turned the fight on its head in the third when he knocked Smith down with a left hook. He then pinned Smith against the cage and began to hit him with damaging punches and elbows.
Smith somehow survived the third round but was similarly pounded to a pulp in the fourth. In between the fourth and fifth rounds Smith, perhaps hoping for his corner to stop the fight said: “My teeth are falling out.”
But his corner sent Smith out to the fifth round just the same. Thankfully Herzog stopped the fight to spare him unnecessary damage.
In the co-main event of the evening Ben Rothwell came into Octagon to his favorite ominous introduction music and then went on to dominate Ovince St. Preux virtually the entire bout en route to a three-round split decision victory.
Rothwell stalked St. Preux – who kept circling to his left along the cage – during virtually the entire fight.
Rothwell pinned St. Preux into the cage late in the first round but St. Preux managed to pry himself free. Late in the second round, as he circled backward, St. Preux connected with a counter left hook which rocked Rothwell.
St. Preux tried to pull out the victory as he stood up to Rockwell late in the third round and traded heavy blows at the center of the Octagon. It proved too little, too late as Rothwell earned the split decision victory.
In a preliminary bout Ricky Simon lost his magnificent mullet but had enough takedowns to eke out a three round split decision win over Ray Borg. Simon landed seven takedowns to hike his record to 26 and tie Urijah Faber for the second-most takedowns in UFC bantamweight history.
Drew Dober leaned on his powerful left hand to score a second round TKO over a game Alexander Hernandez. Twice Dober rocked Alexander with a left hook that sent Hernandez reeling backwards into the cage. As Dober moved in to finish the fight Hernandez lunged forward and had enough to force a takedown and gain some time.
Late in the round Dober caught Hernandez a third time with his left and unloaded more blows to the head and face. A groggy Hernandez did not have anything left to force another takedown and the referee waved off the fight to award the TKO victory Dober.
