A middleweight bout between Derek Brunson and Elias Theodorou served as the co-headliner of tonight’s UFC Ottawa event. Elias Theodorou enters tonight’s contest on a three fight win streak, his latest being a split-decision victory over Eryk Anders this past December. ‘The Spartan’ has gone 16-2 thus far in his professional MMA career. Meanwhile, Derek Brunson (18-7 MMA) will be looking to snap a two-fight losing skid in tonight’s co-main event. Brunson suffered a first round TKO loss to Israel Adesanya in his most recent effort at UFC 230. Round one of the UFC Ottawa co-main event begins and Theodorou immediately begins to circle around the cage. He throws a low kick and then continues to circle. Brunson closes the distance and clinches up. He lands a knee. Elias with a good uppercut on the break. Brunson with a good takedown and immediately passes to full mount. Elias gives up his back and Brunson looks to lock up a choke. Theodorou escapes but winds up back in full mount. Another scramble and Brunson is once again on the back of Elias. This time Theodorou is able to break loose and scramble up to his feet. He comes forward with a high kick. Brunson changes levels and looks for a takedown. It is not there. Elias with a good low kick. He circles to his right. Brunson is looking to setup a left hand. Elias with another low kick. Brunson charges after him and lands a low kick of his own. Theodorou misses with a body kick. Brunson leaps in with a knee followed by a left hand. Good shots from Brunson before the break. Elias circles to his left and throws a side kick that misses. The horn sounds to end round one. Round two begins and Theodorou misses with a high kick. He lands a low kick. Brunson leaps in with a right and then a knee. He pushes Elias against the cage and grabs a leg. Punches now from Brunson. Elias clinches up. Brunson breaks free and lands a jab to the body. The fighters trade kicks. Elias goes high but misses. Brunson is trying to time his left. He throws a body kick and then lands a low kick. Theodorou with a front kick and the circles out. The crowd does not appreciate the circling. Brunson with a jab to the body. Elias misses with a spinning back fist. Two minutes remain. Brunson goes for a high kick but Theodorou catches it. Brunson pulls free and then comes forward with a high kick that partially lands. Elias looks to come inside but eats a counter hook. Theodorou spins but eats a left hook for his efforts. Brunson is walking Elias down now. He lands a body kick and then forces the clinch. The fighters break and Elias lands a body kick. Brunson reruns fire with a low kick. The crowd boos as the horn sounds to end round two. Round three begins and Theodorou comes out with a jab followed by a high kick. Brunson with a left hook. Elias with another kick but Brunson is able to get inside and force him up against the cage. Derek Brunson with a takedown. Elias gives up his back but gets back to his feet. Brunson with another big takedown but Elias rolls through and gets back to his feet. Theodorou with a body kick. Brunson answers with a low kick. Heavy boos from the crowd. Brunson lifts Elias up and slams him to the canvas and the crowd finally cheers. Brunson takes the back of Theodorou. Elias scrambles back to his feet and breaks free of the clinch. Two minutes remain in the fight. Brunson forced the clinch but eats a knee. Elias with a good left hand. Brunson replies with a body kick. Both fighters with kicks. Elias attempts another spinning attack that misses. Brunson with a straight left. He follows that up with a jab and then a hook. Brunson with a kick to the body. Elias with one last combination and this one is over as the horn sounds to end round three. Official UFC Ottawa Result: Derek Brunson def. Elias Theodorou via unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 30-27) This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM<doc-sep>On Saturday night, in the co-main event of UFC Ottawa, Derek Brunson picked up a decision victory over Canada’s Elias Theodorou. Mid-way through this fight, Brunson hoisted his foe into the air and slammed him into the canvas. We’ve seen similar slams in the Octagon before — and once with disastrous consequences. In 2018, Jarred Brooks attempted a similar maneuver on Jose Torres and wound up knocking himself out. Derek Brunson saw this fight, and wanted to avoid the same fate when he slammed Theodorou. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1124861170119143425 “That was my exact thought,” Brunson said post-fight (via MMA Fighting). “I picked him up, I locked my hands, I was like, oh, that kid—I think it was Jarred Brooks or something like that—he went, he swung, he dunked him and knocked himself out. I was like, if I knock myself out, it’s gonna be real bad. So I swung his legs and I swam back over and I got north-south position. “But yeah, I wanted to make sure I didn’t knock myself out. That wouldn’t look good. I would have made ‘Sportscenter Not Top 10’ or whatever. That would have been bad.” In the end, Derek Brunson avoided disaster, and got the victory he was hoping for. He’s quite proud of his performance, particularly because it showed off parts of his game we don’t often see. “It’s funny, I’m a knockout guy. In my previous wins, I think all of my last seven wins I got were knockouts in the first round,” Brunson said. “To come out here and get a decision after a rough year, it feels good. Now I’ve got that built in my mind. I can go the distance with a guy who’s known for cardio, who moves around a lot, pretty much had to chase a little bit. So I can take my time and be patient, I know I can knock guys out still. “You’ve got to keep evolving. I heard him saying all week it’s checkers vs. chess,” Brunson said. “I’m a smart guy, I like to think of myself as a smart guy, but sometimes I go out there and do a lot of dumb stuff. So to actually come back and get a smart win, I feel really good about that.” Were you impressed by Derek Brunson at UFC Ottawa? This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/5/2019. This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM<doc-sep>
Derek Brunson is back in the win column. (AP Photo) Middleweight UFC contender Derek Brunson snapped a three-fight losing streak Saturday in Ottawa with a unanimous decision victory over the surging Elias Theodorou. “This is a rebirth. I’m 35 and I’m still getting better.” The contest was fought at a frenetic pace set by both men, but in the end Brunson’s grappling in rounds one and three won the day for him. Scores were 29-28 (twice), and 30-27 for Brunson. Brunson got past multiple kick attempts from Theodorou to score his first takedown of the bout one minute into the first round. From there, he worked immediately to the mounted position, then took the Canadian’s back when he turned to attempt escape. With both legs hooked around Theodorou’s waist, Brunson attempted two deep chokes from the rear before the “Ultimate Fighter” winner escaped both. Theodorou arguably won the second stanza with excellent distance control and footwork, changing stances and landing both roundhouse and linear kicks often. In the third round, however, Brunson stormed back with big takedowns, including one thundering head-over-heels slam: Each time he was felled, Theodorou skillfully worked back to his feet and didn’t hesitate to fire off his own offense with spinning backfists and more kicks from there. Still, it wasn’t enough to sway the judges and Brunson earned the unanimous nod. “You know how it feels,” Brunson continued, after. “It feels real good. I was doubting myself … to come out here and get it done against a cardio machine…feels good.” The win improves Brunson’s record to 19-7. Theodorou’s loss drops his own to 16-3. More from Yahoo Sports: