Nogueira Drops Couture in UFC 102

Sports Betting News - August 30th, 2009 - Written by Glen

Nine televised fights and eleven overall made up UFC 102, with the headlining fight of Nogueira against Couture. No title fighters were scheduled for the night, but over all the action was overwhelming as each of the fighters bloodied eachother up. While not every fight went as expected, the night was still a powerhouse of an evening, but Nogueira walked away the victor.

Randy Couture was the was the crowd favorite, with fans chanting his name throughout the rounds. Despite the morale boost from the crowd, he still failed to surpass Nogueira in scores the first round. The second round followed a similar pattern, as did the third. Couture kept up with Nogueira, but ultimately couldn't provide the damage needed to win the fight.

Couture had opened up with the first few blows, but as the old idiom goes, first blood is not as important as the last. While Couture's early strikes bloodied up Nogueira, the latter turned the tables to begin Couture's uphill battle. The fight seemed relatively even, with both fighters trading blows, grappling and reversing, and staying one step ahead of one another.

Couture had been up and down half the night, though each time Nogueira sent him down, his perseverance brought Couture back up. By the third round, Couture had lost the scores for all three rounds. The clutch came when Nogueira sent Couture to the ground and began to give Randy a taste of the hammer-fisted blows that gave the latter a taste of what he typically forces other fighters to endure. The score ended as 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, in Nogueira's favor. Both fighter's were awarded with the "Fight of the Night" bonus.

Thiago Silva and Keith Jardine, two fighters who lost their previous bouts, entered the Octagon on the main fight card, but the fight proved to be short and bittersweet. Thiago was the underdog, according to the odds, but barely into the first round, Silva obliterated Jardine for the victory. Other memorable fights include Nate Marquardt battled the Brazilian Demian Maia. Marquardt dealt the "Knockout of the Night" to Maia, ending the battle in the first round.

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