The first round was an epic, with a little bit of everything. Couture pushed the pace early and appeared to have a superior stand-up game. But Nogueira recovered, landed a hard right hand that knocked Couture down, and then appeared close to submitting Couture on the ground. Couture somehow pulled free from Nogueira's D'Arce choke and got back to his feet, and then they battered each other in the stand-up game some more. It was everything fans could have hoped for in a first round, and more.
The second round was also outstanding. Couture and Nogueira went to the ground, and Couture made the mistake of going down into Nogueira's guard. That gave Nogueira the advantage for most of the round, but Couture somehow got out of it and managed to get back to his feet to survive into the third.
But in the third, Nogueira showed once again that he was the superior fighter. He got the better of Couture on the ground, and left Couture bloodied and bruised. It was a brilliant battle that Nogueira won 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 on the judges' cards.
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Okay, it's a bit much to draw any comparisons to a legend like Randy Couture, but it's not often that a fighter starts his MMA career at 33 and looks like a world beater 22 months later at 35. But just like Couture, who made the transition from wrestling to MMA fighter at age 33, that's where Aaron Simpson is right now. No Simpson wasn't facing a top 10 middleweight but he made Ed Herman look like a clown with zero pedigree. Herman, a runner-up on The Ultimate Fighter 3, was beaten pillar to pillar and in every facet of the game in the opening round. It appeared he may have tweaked his left knee. Even after having his corner check the knee, Herman came out for the second, went down quickly and couldn't continue. Simpson gets his second UFC win at 0:17 of the second round.
Herman, an Oregon-native, had the crowd support but it wasn't enough.
"I was doing well you guys," Simpson told the crowd and UFC announcer Joe Rogan. "I'm getting better. We had a war going. I wanted to go three rounds. Thanks for the booes."
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