This is the UFC 150 live blog for Yushin Okami vs. Buddy Roberts, a middleweight bout at Saturday night's UFC event at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Okami, who has lost his last two fights, will fight Roberts, won his UFC debut at UFC on FX 3, on the main card.
Check out the live blog below.
Round 1: Roberts looks fairly comfortable early with his striking, hitting Okami from distance with a variety of techniques. Okami has enough and closes the distance. He secures a body lock but Roberts manages to stay on his feet. Finally, after over a minute, Okami drags him down. Roberts is active from the bottom, working to stop Okami from doing anything. Okami manages to pass to half-guard and then side control with 60 seconds left. Small punches from the top as he briefly thought about moving to mount. With :25 left, he gets the position. Roberts gives up his back and Okami opens up with strikes. Ref Herb Dean warns Roberts to fight back, and it's a race against the clock for Okami to finish. Dean thinks about it, but lets it go to the horn. It's an easy 10-9 for Okami, though Roberts pops right back up to his feet at the end of the round.
Round 2: A big left hand by Roberts early in the round. He doesn't look the worse for wear. Okami gets inside for the clinch again. He has Roberts down against the cage. Roberts threatens with the guillotine and as Okami tries to escape, Roberts is able to get to his feet. But it's a brief respite. Okami drags him back down again. Full mount for Okami with 2:40 left. Roberts gives up his back again. This is like a repeat of round one except Okami now has an eternity of time to work with. Okami firing off punches from the top. Roberts has his hands up to block the blows but after several dozen, Herb Dean has seen enough and stops it.
It wasn't a thunderous display of ground and pound as Roberts was back to his feet instantaneously after Dean pulled Okami off of him, but it's clear Okami had him trapped and the damage was only going to worsen.
Winner: Yushin Okami via TKO, Rd. 2 (3:05)