Canadians Bocek, Grant post big wins
Canadian fans are putting American crowds to shame. T.J. Grant and Ryo Chonan just engaged in a grapple-fest that most U.S. crowds would have booed throughout. The two fighters switched dominant positions, executed great escapes and rained down solid ground and pound. In the end, Grant was simply more effective and aggressive when he had dominant position. Grant grabbed a split-decision win.
Two judges had it 30-27 and 29-28 for Grant while Cecil Peoples scored it 29-28 for Chonan. Peoples was fooled by Chonan, who scored more takedowns and more often had top control but rarely tried to inflict damage on the ground.
Grant was also the clear winner when the fight was on the feet. Chonan walked straight forward, holding hands low and took a lot of abuse with his head snapping back on several uppercuts.
In the next bout, Mark Bocek overwhelmed David Bielkheden with his groundwork. Bocek got the fight into the clinch almost immediately. He controlled the action against the cage, scoring a takedown via single-leg with 3:41 left in the first round. He got in some punches over the next three minutes. He got to side control on several occasions and then finally scored the mount with 51 seconds left in the round. Bocek used some vicious elbows to get Bielkheden to give his back, where he slapped on a rear-naked choke as the the sounder came down with 10 seconds left. Bielkheden couldn’t hold out and tapped at 4:57.
Listen after UFC 97 is complete as Cofield and Ariel Helwani from Versus.com do the ESPNRadio1100 postfight show from the Bell Centre starting at 1:30 a.m. ET. You can listen here.
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