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The main card at UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo kicked off with a bang as Markus Perez went up against hometown lad Wellington Turman in what turned out to be a high octane middleweight clash. Turman finally clinched the back and forth encounter via unanimous decision but the heart shown by Perez will surely have won him a few fans tonight. This was Turman's first win in the UFC.
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Here's how the fight went down
In the first round, Turman got the better of the early exchanges after he connected with some hard punches and after failing once, managed to land the takedown on his second attempt. Perez, however, did not stay on the ground for too long as the fighters moved to clinch. Desperate to make some distance, Perez attempted a spinning back fist that barely connected but gave him the separation he needed. The fighters traded shots in the center of the Octagon briefly before the round ended.
The second round saw Perez taking the fight to Turman by frequently changing his stances, hitting Turman with a hard spinning kick to the body. Turman didn't look like he was hurting too much and landed another takedown. Perez got back up and started swinging heavy without much connection. A hard jab from Turman cut Perez open and as the fighters moved within each other's range, Perez landed a few nasty shots on his counterpart. The round came to an end with Perez defending a standing guillotine choke.
In the ultimate round, Perez initially tried to step on the accelerator but Turman slowly took control. Turman caught Perez with a hard knee to the body which gassed the latter out towards the end of the round. Turman dragged Perez down to the mat and teed off on him, making Perez spend every ounce of energy in his body trying to get back to his feet. As they got back up, a visibly tired Perez valiantly kept coming forward at Turman, connecting with a spinning elbow that rocked Turman briefly. In a frenetic ending, Perez kept throwing shots till the bell rang, putting up a great effort, but coming up just short in the end.
