UFC 98 begins: Takedowns not enough to steal Kaplan the victory
George Roop's takedown defense was shaky at best but in an odd twist when he was on the bottom, he did most of the damage in the opening fight of the night against Dave Kaplan. Kaplan scored eight takedowns during the fight but couldn't improve position to where he could land many elbows or punches. Kaplan also got the worst of the action on the feet as walked straight forward and got picked apart in trying to score those takedowns.
The judges had it 30-27 on two cards for Roop while the other judge had it 29-28 for Kaplan. Roop (9-4, 1-1 UFC) took the split decision victory.
If it's any consolation, Kaplan (2-3, 0-2 UFC) nailed "Entrance of the Night" coming into Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero." He also sported leather head-to-toe and fought in the same red speedos that he wore at the weigh-in. The guy is a character but as we said during our UFC picks write-up, he needs to drop from 155 to 145 and try to make a name for himself in WEC.
YOSHIDA BOUNCES BACK BY SUBMITTING WOLFF
Yoshiyuki Yoshida made quick work of Brandon Wolff in fight No. 2. Yoshida landed a guillotine choke from the top but referee Steve Mazzagatti missed the tap. Yoshida then flipped to his back where Wolff tapped again at 2:24 of the first round.
Yoshida (11-3, 2-1 UFC) erases the memory of a crushing knockout loss to Josh Koscheck back in December.
Related Videos:
Comments