UFC 327 ‘Prochazka vs. Ulberg’ play-by-play, results & round scoring

Jiri Prochazka (203)
vs. Carlos Ulberg (204)Paulo Costa (205) vs.
Azamat Murzakanov (205)Curtis Blaydes (261) vs.
Josh Hokit (233)Dominick Reyes (205)
vs. Johnny Walker (205)Nate Landwehr (145) vs.
Cub Swanson (146)Patricio Freire (145) vs.
Aaron Pico (145)Randy Brown (171) vs.
Kevin Holland (171)Live NOW! Mateusz
Gamrot (156) vs. Esteban Ribovics (155)Lupita Godinez (116)
vs. Tatiana Suarez (116)MarQuel
Mederos (155) vs. Chris Padilla (158: Missed Weight)Kelvin Gastelum (185)
vs. Vicente Luque (185)Francisco Prado (170)
vs. Charles Radtke (170) Sherdog’s live
UFC 327 coverage will begin Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Francisco
Prado (170) vs. Charles
Radtke (170)

BETTING
PREVIEW | SCOUTING
REPORT | ODDS: Radtke (-185), Prado (+154)

Round 1

Here is a grammatically correct sentence in the English language:
“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.”
Look it up. While you were away, “Chuck
Buffalo” Radtke (11-5, 4-2 UFC) was walking out to the cage ahead
of the first fight of UFC 327. To forego the standard introductions
and pleasantries—to quote gold standard play-by-play caller Jon
Anik, we never take your viewership (and readership) for
granted—Radtke will try to buffalo skidding Argentinian Prado
(12-4, 1-4 UFC). Fists are soon to fly before referee Marc Goddard,
and they wade towards one another without a glove touch in
sight.

Prado crowds the American early, walking him down but not offering
much in the way of big swings for the first 20 seconds. Prado
eventually fires first with a heavy low kick, clipping Radtke with
a left hand and following it with a hard body kick and another left
to the midsection. Radtke has to blink it out and steels himself,
checking a leg kick and tripping Prado up with a lunging single-leg
takedown. Radtke scoops up Prado’s leg and dumps him to the mat,
and he smoothly lowers himself down into the guard and fights off
an initial reversal attempt. Prado explodes to his seat, and Radtke
gladly welcomes this as he sneaks around to take the Argentinian’s
back. Radtke has his right leg draped around Prado’s own leg, using
it to climb around to pursue full mount. Prado sits up further and
tugs on the fence links to improve his position, doing so all while
Radtke is imposing his weight on him from behind. Prado posts off
his right arm to work his way up, and Radtke quickly mat returns
him and follows a rolling Prado to reassume the back take.

Prado twists and turns, with Radtke draping his right arm around
the chest. Prado offers up a feeble kimura attempt that is more
about controlling the wrist, but he has to abandon it when Radtke
slides around to get into half guard on top. Radtke postures up
every so often to pump his fist into Prado’s upper chest, but few
of his blows have any mustard on them. Prado scoots his way to put
his back to the fence and wall-walk, and he suddenly rolls over to
snag hold of a leglock. “Chuck Buffalo” buffaloes his way out of it
and twists himself around to reassume top control. He maintains
this position until the round concludes.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Radtke
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Radtke
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Radtke

Round 2

Prado starts off the round advancing like the previous frame,
albeit less aggressively and taking shots on the way in. Radtke
probes out a jab a few times to disrupt Prado marching after him,
and he strafes to the side to evade big swings that follow. Radtke
keeps putting his jab in the youngster’s face, and he shoots down
low for a single that he completes with relative ease. Radtke is so
quick on the draw that he gets Prado down and assumes back control
before Prado can realize what happened. Prado stands and leans over
to try to shimmy “Chuck Buffalo” off of him, but the Valle Flow
Striking product is heavy and keeps a tight grip around the waist
with his legs. Radtke keeps hold of Prado’s left arm to set up a
straight armlock, and he lets Prado fall over to his back to start
pursuing chokes from this position instead.

Radtke locks down the body triangle and starts pawing at Prado with
extremely light punches, using them perhaps only to make Prado
think something bigger is coming to open the neck up. The Argentina
native does not fall for it, instead staying composed until he can
explode and turn himself all the way around to get on top. Prado
sits up to jack down two hard elbows, and Radtke answers his third
buck with an armbar setup. Prado stands up to shake his limb out of
the danger and reasserts himself back on top. Off his back, Radtke
is aggressive with elbows, slashing them upwards and gashing open
Prado’s forehead. Blood sprays from the veritable axe wound, and it
is pouring out all over the American. The round ends, and for a
moment when the cutperson tends to the damage, one can nearly peer
into the hole all the way to Prado’s skull. Just bleed.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Radtke
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Radtke
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Radtke

Round 3

With a huge chunk out missing in the center of his forehead, Prado
is nevertheless cleared to continue his fistfight. It takes one
single punch from “Chuck Buffalo” to smear away the Vaseline and
force the blood to flow. Prado starts off aggressively, his corner
imploring him to finish the fight lest he come up short on the
scorecards. Radtke is ready for it, and he trades a few punches
until Prado pushes off in an exchange and jams at least one full
knuckle deep into Radtke’s eye socket. It is a horrific poke, and
Goddard quickly brings in the doctor to check on it. During the
stoppage time, Goddard goes over to Prado’s corner to shout at the
fighter’s Argentinian teammate, Santiago Ponzinibbio, for issuing
corner advice while during foul stoppage time. The physician tells
Radtke that there appears to be no visible damage to the eye
itself, and the crowd starts chanting for Goddard to take a point.
Radtke tries to flush out the eye with some water, and he tells
Goddard he is good to go and passes the finger vision test. Goddard
listens to the audience and enforces the rules, deducting one point
from the offending Prado. They resume four-plus minutes to go, and
Prado comes out like his hair is on fire. He shuts down a takedown
shot from Radtke and rails him in the stomach with a flush kick.
Radtke sells out for a single, dropping down to his knees to
complete the takedown, but Prado stonewalls him this time around
and backs him off with a thudding left hand. Prado, leaking from a
hole in his head and way down on the scorecards, swings with
everything he has in every one of his strikes. Radtke shoots in on
his hips, and Prado times this perfectly to snatch up a guillotine
choke. Prado clings to the submission with everything he has,
nearly mounting his opponent with the maneuver.

The intense squeeze from Prado forces crimson fluid to further
flood from his forehead all over his face, but the submission is
unable to get the job done. Radtke wriggles out of the choke and
finds himself in the open guard of his adversary. The offense of
Radtke is not particularly his focus, as he can ride out the round
to a likely victory. Prado turns to his knees, and he falls into
rear-naked choke danger with 25 seconds to go. He turns back over,
and surrenders his back. Radtke considers an arm-triangle choke,
but Prado spins around thanks in part to how slippery he is covered
in plasma, and he bashes Radtke a few times until the
canvas-painting match expires.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-8 Radtke (30-26
Radtke)
Dayne Fox scores the round: 9-9 (29-27 Radtke)
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-8 Radtke (30-26 Radtke)

The Official Result

Charles Radtke def. Francisco Prado via Unanimous Decision (30-26,
30-26, 30-26)

Kelvin
Gastelum (185) vs. Vicente
Luque (185)

BETTING
PREVIEW | SCOUTING
REPORT | ODDS: Gastelum (-250), Luque (+205)

Round 1

Moving right along, two grizzled UFC vets with a combined 49 bouts
in the Octagon between them come to blows at 185 pounds. With 25
appearances with the promotion on his ledger prior to this pairing,
Gastelum (20-10, 1 NC; 14-10, 1 NC UFC) is the relative elder
statesman as the winner of the 17th season of “The Ultimate
Fighter.” Kill Cliff FC’s Luque (23-12-1, 16-8 UFC), who was part
of Team Blackzilians on the 21st season of the same reality show,
has only fought 24 times on the roster. Veteran referee Kevin
MacDonald and his sweet moustache will appropriately handle this
preliminary pairing, one that commences without a glove touch.

Gastelum goes right after the fellow former welterweight, kicking
his way into a big left hand. Gastelum takes a flush kick and
counters over the top, throwing with venom as Luque has to back
himself up to the wall. Every impact from Gastelum has a loud sound
to it, and he keeps Luque to his back foot aiming shots at his
discretion. Luque whips a low kick at his foe and lashes out with
two punches, and Gastelum ducks and hurls his left hook. Gastelum
hooks his arms beneath Luque’s backside to lift him up and put him
down with a double-leg takedown, and he succeeds in grounding the
Brazilian. Luque is quick to turn to his knees, so Gastelum leans
on him imposing his weight and kneeing Luque in the sternum.

Luque works his way back to his feet, but it is Gastelum who keeps
grinding until Luque shoves him back. Gastelum lumbers his way back
in behind a left hand, and Luque times a picturesque uppercut to
knock the TUF 17 winner clean off his feet. Luque leaps on top into
the guard of his foe to finish the job, and Gastelum slows him down
and threatens an armbar to a triangle choke off his back.
Luque lets him roll over so he can set up his favored anaconda
choke, sliding his left arm under the chin and rolling himself
over. As Luque turns to his back, the choke is absolute. Out of
options and about to go out on his shield, Gastelum has no choice
but to tap out. MacDonald waves the fight off, and Gastelum
appears surprised that he got clipped and caught in that
submission. The victorious Brazilian discloses in his post-fight
interview that he weighs about 200 pounds in the cage now, and that
he plans on sticking around at middleweight for the foreseeable
future.

The Official Result

Vicente Luque def. Kelvin Gastelum R1 4:08 via Submission (Anaconda
Choke)

MarQuel
Mederos (155) vs. Chris
Padilla (158: Missed Weight)

BETTING
PREVIEW | SCOUTING
REPORT | ODDS: Padilla (-180), Mederos (+150)

Round 1

It may not be Taco Tuesday, but it’s the next best thing as “Taco”
Padilla (17-6, 4-0 UFC) is fighting. For those not keeping score,
the Californian has defied expectations and the betting odds to win
his first four fights in the promotion. Whether his streak ends or
Mederos (11-1, 3-0 UFC), who has won three straight in the UFC,
comes to a halt, they will have the next 15 minutes to decide.
“Taco” may have opted for a few more tacos during training camp, as
he missed the lightweight cap by two pounds ahead of their match.
He gives 20% of his purse, a clap of hands and zero nonsense to his
opponent, as referee Keith Peterson stands ever vigilant.

Mederos advances and is quick to see that Padilla might try to
grapple with him, as Padilla drops way down to motion an ankle pick
or some such move. Mederos shuts it down and pushes his foe away,
only for Padilla to crowd him and tie him up in the clinch against
the fence. Mederos again breaks off, and “Taco” slowly marches him
down behind a big right hand. They clash front kicks at the same
time, with Padilla composed and methodical as he approaches.
Mederos’ head movement is not keeping him safe as he sticks around
too long in the pocket and eats strikes. Padilla backs him to the
fencing again, kneeing him in the breadbasket while he holds him
there. Mederos would prefer the open cage, and he pays for it on
the way out by taking an elbow off the temple. Mederos resets and
crashes forward with a double, only to bang square into the man who
calls himself “Taco.” Mederos stop a trip-to-throw attempt by
planting his feet, and when he kicks his way forward, Padilla tries
it again.

Mederos is constantly fight off his back foot as Padilla continues
to crowd him, with “Taco” not committing to big strikes but rather
picking his shots clinically. Padilla gets caught sticking around,
struggling to find his range and get out of the crossfire of the
heavier fighter. Padilla forces a clinch, and the whole time they
are trading, Padilla’s coach is talking more trash than a club
hockey player chirping from the bench. Mederos drills Padilla
coming in with an elbow that slashes open a wound above Padilla’s
eyebrow, causing blood to leak directly into his right eye. The
round ends.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Padilla
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Padilla
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Padilla

Round 2

Despite a dime-sized hole in Padilla’s head that leaks the first
time it gets struck, he is fine to continue and gets right back
onto his train of beating Mederos to the punch and kick. He calmly
chains strikes together, varying his target ranging from the calf
to behind the ear. Padilla opens up with several front kicks,
spurring Mederos into rushing at him with left hooks that further
inflict some facial damage. Padilla kicks the lead leg twice and
then the body, and his third kick is caught. He backpedals, and
Mederos ties him up for a possible takedown but nothing comes of it
as Padilla steers them to the fencing. Mederos gains a lick of
space to slash out with a number of hard elbows, and Padilla stays
right in his face taking damage and hitting back just as hard.
Padilla’s pressure is overwhelming, so Mederos posts off and
thrusts his thumb into Padilla’s eye. Padilla does not take long
before wanting to get back after it, stringing powerful punches
together. Mederos gives him pause with a low kick, but Padilla is
quick to get right back on the attack.

Mederos welcomes pocket exchanges even though he is at the volume
disadvantage, with Padilla peppering him with offense for days.
Mederos connects with another flush elbow, and he scoops a hefty
left hook behind it. Padilla tries for a vertical elbow, and
Mederos ducks it and shoots in on the hips to no avail. Padilla
lands his upward-arcing elbow when loosing it again, and he walks
through several leg kicks that trip him up to close in on his
adversary. Mederos takes body shots and slings back four punches
upstairs when he finds a moment to strike. Padilla walks face-first
into a stern elbow, and he shakes his head and picks up his
lunchpail to keep going strong. The round ends with Padilla getting
ushered to his seat after landing a trio of low kicks.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Padilla
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Padilla
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Padilla

Round 3

Mederos wants to touch gloves to start off the last round, and he
is warned for outstretched fingers when doing so. Padilla stalks
him down, shoulder-rolling a hook to author a right hand over the
top. Padilla rips the body and closes in to clinch, landing a knee
before getting pushed back with an elbow. Padilla plods ever
forward, knowing that he will likely be facing more elbows, so that
he can put hands on his foe. Mederos manages to score when Padilla
advances, and then Padilla jams a knee into his chest. Mederos
hacks with elbows, and surprisingly, the huge gash on Padilla’s
head is not drowning him. Padilla jacks Mederos in the jaw with two
punches to set up a double, and he gingerly deposits the MMA Lab
product to his seat. Padilla jumps down to get his left leg around
Mederos’ thigh, and Mederos pulls on the fence several times to
stand back up even as Peterson slaps his hand away and tells him to
knock it off.

Mederos manages to get some space, and he scores a heavy right hand
and an elbow while Padilla is walking straight into the fire.
Padilla connects with a knee that changes Mederos’ expression, and
he follows the possibly fatiguing or injured Mederos down but not
recklessly as to take an elbow that is waiting for him. Padilla
throws everything at his opponent, and Mederos is starting to get
sloppy as he is getting bullied. Mederos sits down on his punches
when Padilla tags him with a right hand, and Padilla hacks out with
an elbow and takes a knee as well as an eye poke on the way out.
Padilla complains after Mederos’ middle finger goes into the eye
socket, and Peterson has no choice but to deduct a point from the
fouling Mederos. The crowd is thrilled that Peterson took a point.
Padilla wants to get right back to business, not letting the
slowing Mederos have a breather, and he marches forward with
impunity throwing caution to the wind. Mederos looks to slug back,
but the technician that is Padilla has thoroughly flustered and
puzzled him across nearly 15 minutes of stand-up. Padilla goes
right after Mederos, ignoring big elbows to crash into him and
thump him up with a couple knees before the bell sounds.

It takes a bit of time for the judges to collect the scorecards,
and at least one official is not pleased by the scores that have
been issued and visibly shows the disgust on his face. When the
numbers are initially read by Bruce Buffer, Padilla is awarded the
win by majority decision, with two 29-27 scores that overrule the
28-28. After the next bout, the UFC booth displays the scorecards
for this match back on the screen, stating that there was an
inaccurately tabulated round. The result is changed from a majority
decision to a majority draw, as one of the two 29-27s was flipped
to a 28-28. Your guess is as good as ours.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-8 Padilla (30-26
Padilla)
Dayne Fox scores the round: 9-9 (29-27 Padilla)
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-8 Padilla (30-26 Padilla)

The Official Result

Chris Padilla vs. MarQuel Mederos is Ruled a Majority Draw (29-27,
28-28, 28-28)

Lupita
Godinez (116) vs. Tatiana
Suarez (116)

BETTING
PREVIEW | SCOUTING
REPORT | ODDS: Suarez (-155), Godinez (+130)

Round 1

A potential strawweight title eliminator and notable ranked pairing
sits low on the prelims, as the UFC buries its No. 2 and No. 6
115ers beneath a slew of other quite unranked bouts. Suarez (11-1,
8-1 UFC) is aching to put further distance from her championship
loss to Weili Zhang, while Godinez (14-5, 9-5 UFC) would like
nothing more than to upset the apple cart and get a crack at gold
herself. The only women’s bout on the billing is officiated by
referee Herb Dean, and it opens with a fist bump.

Suarez introduces herself with a jumping side kick, and Godinez is
out of the way in time. Suarez slowly works her way in, and she
gets nailed with a hard right hand that stuns her to her core.
Godinez slings her opponent to the floor, where she starts pounding
on Suarez with more right hands. Suarez turns around to try to
stand up, and when she does, Godinez lifts her up and throws her
unceremoniously to the floor. Godinez knees her foe in the stomach
when Suarez gets back up again, and she finds Suarez shooting in on
her hips for a double. Suarez is now in the driver’s seat, pushing
past Godinez’ left leg that briefly tried to set something up and
push her off. Suarez establishes herself in half guard, but she
largely smothers.

Suarez keeps holding on from above, landing the occasional
hammerfist or elbow to stave off any referee reset. Suarez smacks
Godinez and then elbows her, and Godinez answers back with an elbow
off her back. Suarez is much more interested in maintaining top
control to try to clear out any cobwebs than doing much damage or
losing position. Godinez frames off with her legs, forcing Suarez
to change her position and keep striking. She stays there until the
horn sounds, and judges could go either way.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Godinez
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Godinez
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Suarez

Round 2

Suarez races out of her corner to engage, pushing out a few jabs
and a pair of front kicks behind them. Suarez initiates a clinch,
takes a right hand on the inside and drives a knee to the solar
plexus. Keeping to the tie-up, Suarez further pounds the body with
knees until she shoots for a takedown. On her second effort, the
former title challenger dumps Godinez on her face. Godinez climbs
back up, and Suarez mat returns her and takes her back. Suarez gest
her hooks in, but uses one leg to shut down Godinez’ attempt to
escape and take some of her focus away. Suarez wraps her left arm
under the chin, fastening the rear-naked choke as Godinez is calm
and composed.
As Suarez readjusts her grip, it is now dead-to-rights and Godinez
has nothing left to do. Right before she loses consciousness, the
light flickering from her eyes, Godinez surrenders for the first
time in her career. Suarez dismounts her defeated foe when the
tap is registered by Dean, and she screams as loudly as she can to
unleash her emotions after a crucial win. She declares that she
wants another crack at the belt, and dedicates her victory to her
deceased brother who lost his battle with cancer.

The Official Result

Tatiana Suarez def. Lupita Godinez R2 2:29 via Submission
(Rear-Naked Choke)

Mateusz
Gamrot (156) vs. Esteban
Ribovics (155)

BETTING
PREVIEW | SCOUTING
REPORT | ODDS: Gamrot (-180), Ribovics (+150)

Round 1

A battle of elite MMA teams nearby in Florida will treat fans and
end with bragging rights for the victorious camp. American Top
Team’s Gamrot (25-4, 1 NC; 8-4 UFC) will come to blows with Kill
Cliff FC rep Ribovics (15-2, 4-2 UFC), and it could be real “Fight
of the Night” bait for these two top-tier lightweights. Before
getting after it, they bump fists while referee Kevin MacDonald
watches on.

Ribovics is quick to start up with his kicks, going to the lead
leg, high and then low again. Gamrot keeps his gloves up to defend
the one upstairs, and he flashes out a few jabs to keep Ribovics
honest. Ribovics lunges forward behind his fists, and both men
pound strikes off one another’s gloves. Gamrot snatches up a single
and puts the Argentinian to his back, landing right in side
control. Gamrot keeps heavy chest pressure, smacking Ribovics with
the occasional blow to stay busy.

Ribovics explodes to turn himself over, getting to his knees while
Gamrot still rides him, all the while working him in the temple
with his right hand. Ribovics crawls around to get to the fence,
and he wall-walks to stand again. Gamrot sucks away his hips to
drag him to his knees again, and Ribovics is looking to his corner
for advice while the cheap suit that is Gamrot is clinging to him.
Gamrot has his right arm draped across the chest like a malevolent
seat belt, but there is a stalemate between the two as neither can
escape or advance for a prolonged stretch. Gamrot wriggles his way
around to put Ribovics on his back again, and Ribovics pushes off
the wall with his feet. Gamrot is in side control chest-to-chest,
thwarting Ribovics’ escape attempt and punishing him with a few
elbows to the side. As Ribovics turns to his seat, the round
concludes.

Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Gamrot
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Gamrot
Scottie Smith scores the round: 10-9 Gamrot