Mike Perry dropped Alex Oliveira with punches and nearly pounded him into unconsciousness with ground-and-pound, but in the end he had to settle for a decision.
After starting slow in the first and then hurting Oliveira (19-7-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the second, Perry (13-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) cruised to a unanimous decision with scores of 29-28 across the board.
The welterweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC on ESPN+ 8 event at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale. It streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and ESPN2.
In the early going, it seemed as if Oliveira’s size and power might carry the day in this bout. He pushed Perry around in the clinch and opened a cut under his eye, but as the round wore on Perry began to find his comfort zone.
A short left hand from Perry put Oliveira down for the first time, and marked a bit of a shift in momentum, as Perry grew more aggressive in his attacks and Oliveira found himself on the defensive.
After trapping Oliveira on the mat up against the fence, Perry unloaded with a series of lefts late in the second, but it was an attempted kick by Oliveira in the final seconds of the round that may have hurt him most, leaving him limping back to his corner on an apparently wounded toe.
Oliveira would continue on into the third, but it was all he could do to keep from getting overwhelmed by the power and the pressure of Perry, who stung him several times in search of the finish.
Once the fight went to the judges, all three saw the fight for Perry, giving him the win with scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 29-28.
Perry’s victory gets him back in the win column for the first time since last July. Oliveira has now lost two straight.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 8 results include:
- Mike Perry def. Alex Oliveira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Glover Teixeira def. Ion Cutelaba via submission (rear-naked choke) Round 2, 3:37
- Cory Sandhagen def. John Lineker via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Roosevelt Roberts def. Thomas Gifford via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Takashi Sato def. Ben Saunders via TKO (punch and elbows) – Round 2, 1:18
- Augusto Sakai def. Andrei Arlovski via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Carla Esparza def. Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Gilbert Burns def. Mike Davis via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:15
- Jim Miller def. Jason Gonzalez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:12
- Angela Hill def. Jodie Esquibel via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Dhiego Lima def. Court McGee via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 8, check out the UFC Eventssection of the site.
