The Maine-iac is Back – Sylvia decisions Vera on UFC 77 Main Card
By Thomas Gerbasi

CINCINNATI,


October 20 – You can’t teach size and you can’t teach experience. Rising star Brandon Vera found that out the hard way at the U.S. Bank Arena tonight, but he still acquitted himself well before falling short via a competitive three round unanimous decision to former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia in the main undercard bout at UFC 77.

Scores were 29-27, and 29-28 twice for Sylvia, who was victorious in his first start since losing his UFC Heavyweight title to Randy Couture at UFC 68 in March and a subsequent back surgery.

“Brandon’s a tough kid and I think in a couple of years he’ll be a force to be reckoned with,” said Sylvia before calling out French contender Cheick Kongo after the bout.

“It kinda threw me off my gameplan a bit, but no excuses,” said Vera, who said that he broke his left hand in the first round. “I’ll be coming back real soon.”

Immediately after the two touched gloves in the middle of the Octagon, they clinched, with the much bigger Sylvia immediately taking Vera to the fence to impose his size on his opponent. Both fighters traded knees at close range, with neither holding a clear advantage. After a brief break with under three minutes left, Vera tried to strike from a longer range but was again brought in close by the ex-heavyweight champ. Finally, with under 1:30 left in the round, the fighters started trading punches at more frequent intervals, with Sylvia holding a slight edge, even though Vera was able to land with a flush left hook that may have been the biggest shot of the round.

Vera took the action to Sylvia to begin round two, landing with a high kick before Sylvia again stifled ‘The Truth’s attack by pushing and keeping him against the fence. After a few moments, Vera reversed position, but again the action was stalled until referee Yves Lavigne restarted the action. Once broken up, the two traded briefly but then wound up against the fence again, much to the chagrin of the crowd. With a little over two minutes left, Vera changed the complexion of the bout with a takedown, and while on the mat, he was able to score with knees to the body until Sylvia grabbed hold of his foe and stalled the action. Suddenly, both fighters attempted to stand up, but Vera’s knee to Sylvia’s head took place while ‘The Maine-iac’s knee was still on the mat, forcing a warning and a stoppage from Lavigne. Once action resumed, Vera went on the attack with thudding kicks and punches just before the bell.

With the fight close, Sylvia pressed forward as the third round began before ending up in his familiar spot with Vera along the fence, where the two again traded knees. Midway through the round, the two broke and Sylvia opened up with both hands, not hurting Vera, but scoring points nonetheless. After another clinch against the fence, the bout was re-started by Lavigne and Sylvia jumped on Vera again, this time cutting him on the forehead, and by the end of the bout, with his teammates Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler cheering him on from Octagonside, Sylvia finished strong, firing away with both hands and with leg kicks until the bell.

With the win, Sylvia improves to 26-3. Vera falls to 8-1.

Hometown favorite Jorge Gurgel saw his two fight winning streak snapped in the lightweight swing bout as Alvin Robinson outworked him on the ground en route to a three round unanimous decision win.

Scores were 29-28, and 29-27 twice for Robinson.

As expected, the pace was frantic at the outset, with Gurgel (14-3) and Robinson (10-2) soon winding up battling it out on the mat. By the 3:30 mark, Gurgel made his move and he worked his way into side control, and kept turning to keep Robinson from getting set for an offensive or defensive retort. With under a minute and a half left in the frame, Gurgel had moved his foe to the fence, but he was unable to put together a sustained
offensive attack, and by the time he got full mount, the bell sounded to end the round.

After a brief exchange of blows to open the second, the fight went to the ground again, with Robinson holding the advantage this time. Gurgel battled his way into Robinson’s guard with a minute gone though and with the crowd cheering him on, he looked for an opening to strike while Robinson peppered him with punches from the bottom and then worked his way into Gurgel’s guard. While there. Robinson pounded away with punches and hammerfists and the packed house grew silent, only to perk up when their man got a reprieve with the sounding of the bell.

Robinson kept pressing the action as the third round commenced, grounding and pounding Gurgel, who looked for a submission from his back. The “Kid” kept working though, never allowing Gurgel enough time to retaliate, and the Cincy resident showed the scars of battle on his bruised and swollen face as he was game but unable to turn the tide.

Stephan Bonnar followed up his July win over Mike Nickels with a second round TKO over Eric Schafer in their light heavyweight bout, giving ‘The American Psycho’ his first two fight winning streak since 2006.

After pointing his fist at Schafer (9-3-2) before the opening bell, in no doubt a tribute to one of his fighting heroes, Cincinnati’s own Aaron ‘The Hawk’ Pryor, Bonnar (14-4) came out fast, but Schafer was able to score with the first takedown of the bout with a little over two minutes gone. Bonnar made his way back to his feet after a few moments, but was dumped back via a nice slam by Schafer. Eventually, ‘Red’ worked his way to Bonnar’s back and sunk both hooks in, looking for the choke. And though he appeared to hit pay dirt with under a minute left, Bonnar broke free, and by the end of the round he got back to the business of putting an offensive attack together.

The bout quickly went to the mat to open the second stanza, with Bonnar ending on top of the action. From there, he worked his ground and pound, visibly jarring Schafer, who was forced to hold on. After a steady stream of punches passed through Schafer’s defenses, the Wisconsin native gave up his back and Bonnar kept pouring it on, forcing a stoppage by referee John McCarthy at the 2:47 mark.

In the pay-per-view opener, an exciting middleweight bout between prospects Alan Belcher and Kalib Starnes came to an abbreviated end when a nasty gash on the forehead of Starnes forced a halt to the contest in the second round.

Belcher, looking to make a good impression on television, came out fast with knees, opening a cut on Starnes’ forehead. But the Canadian, showing the fruit of his labors with 1976 Olympic Gold medalist Howard Davis Jr. fired back with crisp strikes to get Belcher’s attention. ‘The Talent’ enjoyed the exchanges and he pounded away with both hands - as well as his knees, feet, and elbows - in response, giving him the round.

Neither man showed any intention of shying away from the battle in round two, and Starnes continued to land with more accurate punches, but they were having little effect on Belcher, whose strikes were definitely heavier and doing more damage. Eventually, referee Yves Lavigne halted the action and had the ringside physician inspect Starnes’ widening cut, and on his advice, the bout was stopped, giving Belcher, now 11-3, the TKO win. With the loss, Starnes falls to 10-3-1.