Battling Brits go 1-1 in UFC 75 Prelims

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By Thomas Gerbasi

LONDON, September 8 – British heroes Jess Liaudin and Terry Etim put together mixed results in UFC 75 prelim bouts at the O2 Arena, with the London-based Frenchman, Liaudin, winning in dominant fashion over Anthony Torres, and Liverpool’s Etim losing his first pro bout via a lopsided decision to Gleison Tibau.

“Having lived here for 12 years, it was amazing to fight in front of such a huge crowd in my own backyard,” said Liaudin, and with the welterweight’s second consecutive UFC victory in the UFC 75 opener, a first round TKO of Hawaii’s Torres, the only question that should remain about the Londoner should be how in the world did his manage to lose eight times in his mixed martial arts career.  He’s been that impressive thus far in the Octagon, submitting Dennis Siver in a single round in his April debut and now stopping Torres before an appreciative hometown crowd, using his superior striking to rock the Ultimate Fighter season two alumnus, dropping him twice before an unanswered series of blows prompted referee Mario Yamasaki to intervene at the 4:10 mark.

I’m so happy that he stood with me,” said Liaudin, now 12-8. “It showed the world that I could bang as well.”  With the defeat, Torres falls to 5-2.

Streaking Brazilian lightweight Tibau notched his third straight UFC victory and fourth consecutive win overall with a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Etim.

Scores were 30-27 across the board for Tibau.

Etim tried to get his submission game going in the first after being slammed to the mat, but Tibau, the Jiu-Jitsu ace, refused to give the 21-year old the opening he needed and he looked to lead Etim into a mistake.

That mistake appeared to happen on a couple of occasions in round two, as Etim gave his back up to Tibau and then almost got caught in an armbar.  Etim gamely fought out of both precarious positions, but he was starting to lose the points battle to his more experienced foe.

With Etim’s unbeaten record on the line, he aggressively strode forward in the final round, looking to use his striking to even the score, but when he got too close, Tibau again pounced with a Octagon-rattling takedown and went to work on the mat.  With a minute and a half left, Tibau worked to the mount position and fired away with strikes, bloodying Etim’s nose as the seconds ticked away and the victory was secured.

Tibau ups his record to 27-3; Etim falls to 10-1.

Using a steadily escalating rate of attack, Brazilian light heavyweight prospect Thiago Silva upped his unbeaten slate to 11-0 with a second round stoppage of UFC debutant Tomasz Drwal.

Drwal (14-2) edged out a fairly uneventful first round due to an early takedown and solid strikes, with Silva’s best shot being an accidental low kick that called a brief halt to the action.  By the second round, it was Silva landing the bigger shots, and while both men appeared fatigued, Drwal was really gasping for every breath he could get, and as soon as Silva noticed that it was only going to take a few more shots to finish his foe, he went in for the kill, hurting Drwal with a right hand, and then finishing the bout with a left which brought in referee John McCarthy at the 4:23 mark as the Krakow native hit the canvas.

After getting submitted in the first round of his UFC debut by Jess Liaudin in April, Germany’s Dennis Siver (11-4) made sure that lightning didn’t strike twice in his second Octagon bout, as he fought off a tight triangle choke attempt in the first round to knock out Naoyuki Kotani (17-7-5) in the second stanza of their lightweight bout.

The end came at the 2:04 mark of round two, when a thudding left hook dropped Kotani to the canvas.  A brief follow-up barrage forced referee Yves Lavigne’s hand, and the bout was wisely stopped.

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