On Saturday, July 26, the UFC held UFC on Fox 12: Lawler vs. Brown from the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.

In the night’s main event, a welterweight title shot was on the line as former title challenger Robbie Lawler locked horns with the red-hot Matt Brown. Lawler fell short in his previous quest for UFC gold, dropping a unanimous decision to Johny Hendricks at UFC 171 in March. The 32-year-old bounced back in May, stopping Jake Ellenberger at UFC 173. Brown, meanwhile, rode a gaudy seven-fight winning streak that included six stoppages via strikes into the contest. In his most recent Octagon appearance, Brown stopped Brazilian Erick Silva in a fight of the year candidate at UFC Fight Night 40.

The co-main event of the evening featured Pride veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira against hard-hitting Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Nogueira had been out of action since claiming a decision win over former champion Rashad Evans at UFC 156 in early 2013. Rumble triumphantly returned to the promotion in April, dominating Phil Davis at UFC 172.

The 12-fight event kicked off Saturday at 4:15 p.m. ET with four fights streaming on UFC Fight Pass. Four additional preliminary card bouts followed live on Fox at 6 p.m. ET, with the four-fight main card beginning at 8 p.m. ET, also on Fox.

Main Card Summary

Robbie Lawler earned his rematch with Johny Hendricks by earning a hard-fought decision over a game Matt Brown. Lawler looked to be just a step ahead of Brown for the majority of the fight. Lawler used his left hand to push Brown’s aggressiveness away. Brown’s nose was bloodied up early from that left hand. Brown came back strong later in the round by connecting with some elbows from inside the clinch. The second round was Brown’s. He came back with his aggressive ways. He landed kicks to the body and even briefly took Lawler down. Brown couldn’t keep his momentum going through the third and the fourth as Lawler got into his rhythm and went to Brown’s biggest weakness with kicks to the body. Brown knew he needed the finish in the final round and came out like a bat out of hell, but he seemed to have injured his right hand on a punch that caught Lawler’s forehead and he was tentative with that punch for the remainder of the round. In the end the “Ruthless” one won his second fight in a row to get his title shot.

Anthony Johnson continued his rampage at light heavyweight by dispatching Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in less than a minute. From the first time Johsnon hit Nogueira you could tell this one wouldn’t last long. Rumble landed uppercuts against the cage and the Brazilian crumpled to the floor.

Dennis Bermudez improved his winning streak to seven by outclassing the always-tough Clay Guida before submitting him in the second. Bermudez was on his game from the beginning. He was not phased by Guida’s unorthodox, bouncing style and was able to slip jab after jab in as well as numerous kicks to the body. He took Guida’s back late in the round, but didn’t have enough time to work. In the second round Bermudez’s skill continued to shine. Guida hit him with some good right hands, but he still kept coming inside. Bermudez brought Guida to the ground and instantly mounted Guida. Guida tried to get back to his feet, but Bermudez took his back. Bermudez got his arm under the chin and Guida had to reluctantly tap out.

Bobby Green and Josh Thomson kicked off the main card with a technical striking battle where Green just edged the hometown hero. None of the rounds were very decisive in this one, but not because of a lack of action. Both man landed solid strikes throughout. Thomson would fire off combinations finished with head kicks that just grazed Green. One of the factors in this fight might have been Green’s taunting. He shook off every Thomson strike that landed cleanly as if to show that he wasn’t hurt in the slightest. Green’s striking answer was speed. He cut Thomson with a left hand and landed a beautiful jumping knee to the body and in the end two out of the three judges scored the fight in his favor.

Preliminary Card Summary

Jorge Masvidal was nearly finished early, but rallied late to earn a unanimous decision over Daron Cruickshank. Cruickshank sent Masvidal crashing to the mat early in round one with a right hand. Masvidal looked like he might be out, but somehow bounced right back up to his feet. Cruickshank continued to look for the kill shot for the rest of the first round, but it never came. Masvidal didn’t take the risk of getting caught with one of those huge shots again by taking the fight to the ground in both of the final two rounds. Masvidal looked close on a few chokes, but just like his opponent in the first, Cruickshank was resilient, but fell on the judges’ scorecards.

Patrick Cummins absolutely rag dolled Kyle Kingsbury en route to his second UFC victory. Ragdoll was not an exaggerated term. Cummins tied the UFC light heavyweight record with 11 takedowns throughout the course of 15 minutes. Kingsbury looked like the thicker fighter, but Cummins clearly had the advantage in grappling strength. Cummins landed solid punches and elbows every time the fight went to the mat, but never turned it on enough to earn the finish.

Tim Means weathered an early storm from Hernani Perpetuo and came back to get his first win in his second UFC stint. As usual Perpetuo came out very aggressively. That seemed to stun the usually aggressive Means a bit and it took the American a bit to get going. Once Means did get going though it was a thing of beauty. Means started with leg kicks that began to chop the Brazilian down. In the second round Means landed a big left hand and followed it up with a knee that had Perpetuo on his heels. The third was much the same. Means used his reach advantage to pick apart a much less aggressive Perpetuo. After the final bell Perpetuo informed Means that he broke his arm at some point in the bout.

For the first time in UFC history a preliminary card took place on Fox and the first fight was a quick one. Brian Ortega submitted Mike De La Torre in under two minutes. Both fighters came out aggressively, but in that aggression Ortega was able to take the back of De La Torre. Ortega went right for the rear-naked choke and John McCarthy stepped in and stopped the fight once he saw De La Torre going out.

In the final Fight Pass prelim Thiago dos Santos e Silva defeated fellow UFC newcomer Akbarh Arreola. Aggression is part of the criteria judges look at and dos Santos e Silva was certainly the aggressor in this one. He brought the pressure to Arreola from the very beginning and was even able to knock Arreola off of his feet with a very hard outside leg kick early on. Arreola was not without his moments though. His signature move throughout was a stiff left kick to the body, but dos Santos e Silva shook all of those off. Dos Santos e Silva turned on the aggression even more to secure the win. He nailed Arreola with punches, knees, and elbows from inside the range in the final moments of the bout.

Gilbert Burns bested Andreas Stahl in a battle of UFC newcomers. It was definitely a battle for both men who came into their Octagon debuts unbeaten. Stahl wanted to keep the fight standing and was able to do so for the most part, but Burns ended up beating the Swede at his own game. Stahl landed the higher volume of strikes, but Burns landed the more meaningful ones and was able to get the fight to the ground briefly on two occasions. With Vitor Belfort in his corner, Burns did some great work from the clinch. He landed solid knees and even connected with a spinning elbow when breaking the clinch on way to his unanimous decision victory.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk got the better of Juliana Lima to improve her unbeaten record to seven wins and no losses. The answer for Jedrzejczyk throughout was technical striking. She prevented thirteen Lima takedowns through the first two rounds and got more comfortable with her striking as the fight wore on. The Polish fighter didn’t just use her hands. She through in low kicks, knees, and even nailed Lima with an Anderson Silva-esque front kick to the face late in the second round. In the final round Lima was able to get the fight to the mat, but Jedrzejczyk was able to get the fight back to the feet in the final seconds to put the cherry on top of her victory.

Prior to returning to his home country of Israel to fight in an ongoing war, Noad Lahat picked up his first UFC victory. Lahat did his work in the first two rounds to earn the victory. In the first round he took down Steven Siler three times and controlled the pace and the fight stayed in his world. In the second Siler did a better job of keeping the fight standing and stuck Lahat with a nice uppercut. In the final moments Lahat brought the fight to the ground and almost locked up a slick triangle choke, but Siler was able to defend. The final round was controlled by Siler both on the feet and in the grappling arena, but the AKA product just needed to survive to win and he did.

FULL RESULTS

Robbie Lawler def. Matt Brown by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)Anthony “Rumble” Johnson def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO (punches). Round 1, 0:44Dennis Bermudez def. Clay Guida by submission (rear-naked choke). Round 2, 2:57Bobby Green def. Josh Thomson by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)Jorge Masvidal def. Daron Cruickshank by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)Patrick Cummins def. Kyle Kingsbury by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-25, 30-24)Tim Means def. Hernani Perpetuo by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)Brian Ortega def. Mike De La Torre by submission (rear-naked choke). Round 1, 1:39Tiago dos Santos e Silva def. Akbarh Arreola by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)Gilbert Burns def. Andreas Stahl by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)Joanna Jedrzejczyk def. Juliana Carneiro Lima by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)Noad Lahat def. Steven Siler by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)