That's a fight worthy of a rematch or better yet two more rounds. That's if either Diego Sanchez or Martin Kampmann could've gone another second after beating the hell out of each for 15 minutes.
Sanchez looked like the more busted up fighter, but he still got the nod on all three scorecards, 29-28, for the unanimous decision victory in the main event at UFC on Versus 3.
"I knew I caught him with some big shots too. We both got caught with some big shot. I got cut," Sanchez told UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "I knew I scored points with that takedown. I thought I won the fight by putting the pressure on and controlling the end of the fight."
Kampmann, who said he suffered a broken right hand, sounded devastated by the decision.
"I thought I won the fight. I think I won all three rounds," Kampmann said. "Definitely, Diego caught me with some good shots as well. I think look at his face. I think I won the fight. He was throwing a lot of flurries, but most of it wasn’t landing. I feel I was landing way more and cleaner shots. I'm very disappointed. I can't put words on this."
Sanchez (23-4, 12-4 UFC) landed some heavy shots, but not nearly as many overall as Kampmann. Compustrike said Kampmann outlanded Sanchez in every round. The total was 97-45. Sanchez was also 1-of-15 on takedown attempts. Most of the Mexican-American's punches landed were power shots at 39 of the 45.
FightMetric had Kampmann outlanding Sanchez, but by a closer margin of 79-51. In round-by-round strikes, Kampmann won 2-of-3 rounds. The first was 33-10, second was 27-22 and third was a tie at 19-19. In that final round, Sanchez was 19-of-88 and Kampmann was 19-of-68.
Update: Sanchez and Kampmann were rewarded for great efforts. Their war was dubbed Fight of the Night and each got a $60,000 bonus.
Seconds after the fight, UFC president Dana White tweeted that he thought Sanchez definitely won. Meanwhile, Rogan couldn't understand how Sanchez could've possibly won. That's the kind of fight it was. The first round was a blowout, but the second and third were difficult to score.
Getting the win was heckuva comeback for Sanchez. In the middle of the second round, he looked like he was on his way to a certain loss. The right side of his face was swollen and he had a nasty crescent cut under his right eye. From the opening seconds of the fight, he was also bleeding badly from his mouth.
Sanchez didn't give up and his constant pressure suckered Kampmann into a firefight. With two minutes left in the second, the Dutch striking specialist allowed himself to get trapped on the cage. Sanchez fired 8-10 shots at Kampmann and nailed him with two big lefts. He'd also cut Kampmann over his right eye just seconds before. The blood seemed to throw off Kampmann mentally.
In the third, Sanchez finally scored a takedown. That made him 1-of-15 for the fight. Kampmann (17-5, 8-4 UFC) didn't stay down for the long. The final three minutes were highlighted by Sanchez charging forward and throwing flurries. He landed some good shots, but Kampmann landed even more with excellent counterpunching and movement. By the end of the fight, the other side of Sanchez's face was swollen and covered in blood. As the horn sounded, his corner covered the left side of his face with a towel. The blood flow was so intense it was spurting right through the towel.
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