UFC Fight Night 112 took place tonight at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first bout of the main card featured B.J. Penn and Dennis Siver in a fight that was originally set to occur back in June 4, 2016 at UFC 199, only to have both fighters dropped from the card.
Former UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Welterweight Champion “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn came in tonight on a four fight skid that saw his most recent loss come by way of TKO at the hands of Yair Rodríguez at UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Penn. Penn was looking to right the ship this evening with a victory.
Skilled striker Dennis Siver entered the octagon in hopes of breaking his current two fight losing streak that saw his last fight end in a decision loss to Tatsuya Kawajiri at UFC Fight Night: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne. At UFC Oklahoma City he set his sights on earning the victory over Penn.
The first round saw Penn come out strong establishing control of the center of the cage as both fighters felt each other out; things moved into the clinch and saw Siver go for the take down, however Penn’s stellar takedown defense negated the attempt. The fighters continued to exchange shots with Siver going with far more kicks, he punctuated the round with a hard right. This got Penn circling to the left away from Siver’s punching power. Penn’s was looking more tentative at that point, and Siver was starting to land more shots and seemed to be walking away with the round.
Round two saw Siver start back where the previous round ended with more kicks, that was until Penn landed a hard jab. That repeated as Siver went back to working his kicks, until again Penn landed a hard uppercut that sent the German to the mat. Penn rushed in and worked into side control where he stayed until the end of the round. Chalk round two up to Penn.
The third round saw more of the same with Siver coming out with even more kicks, recovered now from that hard uppercut and pushing the pace. Siver landed almost at will
on a tired looking Penn, whose leg was showing the accumulated damage of Siver’s kicks. Siver took round three with ease.
In the end, it went to the scorecards, and came back a majority decision in favor of Dennis Siver. Penn exited the octagon without a word following the bout.
Dennis Siver def. B.J. Penn by Unanimous decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-27)
