UFN 75 Results: Josh Barnett Out Works Roy Nelson For Five Rounds, Earns The Decision Win

In the night’s main event, UFC heavyweights Roy Nelson and Josh Barnett collided in the octagon.

In the first round Barnett looked to land a kick to Nelson’s head early, which prompted a takedown from Nelson. He got it and worked from half guard. Nelson stayed there looking to land short punches. After a while of not enough activity the referee stood them up. Barnett landed a nice knee when they clinched. Barnett continued to land nice knees in the clinch, then Nelson broke away. Shortly after that Nelson managed to get another takedown and held top control until the round ended.

In the second Nelson came out and landed some nice strikes early. As the round went on it was Barnett who started connecting with big shots. At one point it looked like he might have had Nelson hurt. Barnett stayed on him, landing big knees in the clinch. Then, Nelson landed a rare head kick. A great round. It might have gone to Barnett for his clinch work and control.

In the third round Nelson grabbed the clinch on the cage early. The referee eventually broke them apart. Barnett really seemed to dominate in the clinch, where he kept landing big knees and uppercuts. Barnett was definitely the fresher fighter. Nelson looked for a takedown but was unable to get it. At one point he lifted Barnett up like he was going to slam him, but Barnett was able to defend the slam.

The fourth round came and Nelson was visibly exhausted. Barnett got him on the cage and started teeing off on him. Nelson survived and fired back his own shots. Nelson went for a takedown, at one point, during a scramble he managed to of down and get Barnett’s back, but just for a moment before Barnett stood up. Nelson tried for a takedown on the cage, but again could not get Barnett down.

Barnett came out in the fifth and landed a spinning back kick to the body of Nelson. Nelson fired back with his own big body kick. The majority of the round took place in the clinch with Barnett landing elbows, punches and knees often. Nelson did get one takedown but was unable to keep Barnett down for very long. At the 20 second mark the both started going after it, trying to land big shots.

RESULT: Josh Barnett def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 50-45)

MMA’S Best React To Nick Diaz 5 Year Suspension
[ooyala code=”9maGRrdzp7l5qKeuSBuRG7MijJu9o26I” player_id=”bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2″ width=”1280″ height=”720″ auto=”true”]