Luke Rockhold won in the main event of UFC Pittsburgh: Rockhold vs. Branch (or UFC Fight Night 116) on Saturday, scoring a second-round submission (strikes) of David Branch.
UFC Pittsburgh 2017 results: Luke Rockhold finishes David Branch in 2nd round
Rockhold was victorious in the main event of UFC Pittsburgh on Saturday. We have results for the whole card.
Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images
It’s a big win for Rockhold, who was coming off his first loss in six fights. His last bout was a knockout loss to Michael Bisping, a bout that lost him the UFC Middleweight Championship. Rockhold has also beaten Bisping in the past, and wants to get back in the title picture.
He took the first step towards that goal on Saturday.
Branch came out in the first very aggressive, trying to land with a heavy overhand right, but ate some heavy body kicks for his trouble. After tracking down Rockhold for about a minute, he landed on Rockhold’s chin several times before they tied up. They spent most of the rest of the round up against the fence, with Rockhold securing a takedown in the final 20 seconds.
Rockhold managed to secure a takedown in the second round too, and was in control from there. He had mount on Rockhold and delivered a ton of ground-and-pound with over a minute to go. Eventually, the referee saw enough unanswered shots to stop the fight.
Hector Lombard, trying to recover from a bad losing streak, couldn’t do so against Anthony Smith. Lombard came out strong, taking the first two rounds, but Smith closed the second round in a superior position.
He talked a lot of trash going into the third round, and landed two consecutive crosses right on the button that dropped Lombard. He followed it up with some ground strikes and the referee stepped in for the third-round TKO.
The co-feature of the card saw Mike Perry dust Alex Reyes with a knockout in the first two minutes of the bout. Earlier on the main card, Gregor Gillespie submitted Jason Gonzalez with an arm-triangle, while Kamaru Usman bested Sérgio Moraes with a knockout in the first round.
On the preliminary card, the often-underperforming Uriah Hall earned a big win with a second-round knockout of Krzysztof Jotko. The first round was arguably a 10-8 for Jotko, who held dominant position for most of it. Hall landed a beautiful right cross that floored Jotko in the second though, and followed it up with strikes on the ground for the TKO win.
Below you can find the full fight card results from Saturday.
UFC Pittsburgh full results
FS1 Main Card
Middleweight: Luke Rockhold def. David Branch via submission (strikes) at 4:05 of Round 2
Welterweight: Mike Perry def. Alex Reyes via KO at 1:19 of Round 1
Middleweight: Anthony Smith def. Hector Lombard via TKO at 2:33 of Round 3
Lightweight: Gregor Gillespie def. Jason Gonzalez via submission (arm triangle) at 2:11 of Round 2
Welterweight: Kamaru Usman def. Sérgio Moraes via KO at 2:8 of Round 1
Heavyweight: Justin Ledet def. Zu Anyanwu via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
FS1 Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Tony Martin via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Heavyweight: Daniel Spitz def. Anthony Hamilton via TKO at 0:24 of Round 1
Middleweight: Uriah Hall def. Krzysztof Jotko via KO at 2:25 of Round 2
Lightweight: Gilbert Burns def. Jason Saggo via KO MMAat 4:55 of Round 2
