Beating the Odds: UFC 171
Tyron Woodley took care of business at UFC 171. | Photo: Dave
Mandel/Sherdog.com
The UFC 171 co-main event between Carlos Condit and Tyron Woodley did not go as the oddsmakers expected on Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Woodley -- a +170 underdog, according to BetDSI.com -- was in control from the start, mixing straight rights, right hooks and uppercuts with spinning elbows and well-executed takedowns. Condit (-200) appeared to injure his knee while being taken down in the second round, and American Top Team’s Woodley finished it with a perfectly timed outside leg kick. The impact of the blow caused Condit’s leg to buckle and resulted in a technical knockout 2:00 into round two.
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The first preliminary bout provided the first upset at UFC 171. Scottish judoka Robert Whiteford (+183) used a combination of leg kicks, high kicks and dominant grappling to nullify the favored Daniel Pineda (-217) in the first two rounds of their featherweight encounter. Although Whiteford’s ground skills were made to look almost amateur in his promotional debut against Jim Hettes at UFC Fight Night 30, the American Top Team representative deftly defended heel hook, kimura and triangle choke attempts from Pineda. The judges awarded Whiteford a unanimous decision: 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.
A former two-division Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder, Pineda has lost four of his last five bouts.
Finally, Francisco Trevino (+140) kept his undefeated recorded intact, carving out his 12th straight victory. Leading up to Trevino’s fight with Renee Forte (-165), many analysts pointed to the Macaco Gold Team representative’s perceived lack of competition. Forte was at his best in the first round, where he paired takedowns with strong positional grappling. “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” Season 1 graduate even took the unbeaten muay Thai stylist’s back at one point. However, Trevino used elbows, knees, multi-punch combinations and a superior gas tank to keep the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt at bay. He also mixed in some takedowns of his own for a successful Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, as all three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for the Texas-based lightweight.
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