UFC 105 came to us all live from Manchester, England on November 14, 2009. Though there were several interesting fights on the card, the main event between Randy Couture and Brandon Vera was the most noteworthy. How would Couture do in his return to the light heavyweight division? Would Vera prove himself to be championship caliber?
Read on to find out.
Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera: Right out of the gate, Vera announced himself as a worthy opponent when he connected with a hard high kick followed by a right hand that stunned Couture. But once the former UFC champion clinched with his opponent moments later, Vera was unable to mount much offense against him for the rest of the stanza. On the flip side, beyond one takedown and some mild dirty boxing, Couture didn't mount much either, even if he did control things. Thus, the first round was hard to call.
The second round was much more exciting. Vera connected with two consecutive hard kicks, the latter of which hurt his adversary to the body. When he followed that painful kick up with a knee to the midsection, Couture went down. Still, "The Natural" managed to gain guard and eventually got up. But that definitely wasn't enough to win him the round.
The final stanza saw Couture come out and do a good job of dirty boxing, connecting with several punches on his way in or while holding Vera's head. Further, he dictated the majority of the pace of the round. That said, Vera did land one nice body kick and surprisingly took Couture down and gained the mount before his adversary got away. Still, Couture's dirty boxing throughout the round deservedly netted him the stanza.
So Vera won the second round, and Couture deserved the third (by a slimmer margin). Who won the first?
Can you say The Natural?
Randy Couture wins via unanimous decision.
More UFC 105 Results
Ross Pearson defeats Aaron Riley by TKO at 4:38 of round two.
Matt Brown defeats James Wilks by way of TKO at 2:27 of round three.
Andre Winner defeats Rolando Delgado by KO at 3:22 of round one.
Michael Bisping defeats Denis Kang by TKO at 4:24 of round two.
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